Things are getting contentious between Cincinnati and Brendan Sorsby. 

Sorsby blew up during his second season as the Bearcats’ quarterback and became a coveted commodity in the transfer portal before eventually landing at Texas Tech. 

Sorsby Bowl 1.0 took place on the hardwood on Tuesday when the Red Raiders beat Cincinnati 80-68 in Lubbock. It was a game that the Bearcats desperately needed in their push back onto the NCAA tournament bubble. 

And in the aftermath of a backbreaking loss for Cincy, Sorsby took to Twitter to throw in a dig at his old squad. 

As you might imagine, it didn’t go over well. 

I hate to see this. I’ve accepted the reality that in the NIL and transfer portal era, teams are going to lose stars to rivals and conference peers. But I hate the idea of a player then kicking that fan base while it’s down.

Sorsby is totally free to have whatever fun he wants on Twitter, but I was bummed to see it. 

And I figured it was just Sorsby messing around…until this story dropped the next day.

I have no idea if that played a role in Sorsby’s tweet or not, but it made me wonder if it was more layered than we realized. So is Sorsby actually at fault for this getting to the lawsuit stage?

It’s complicated.

On3’s Andy Staples has a great breakdown of the situation. 

A $1 million penalty for leaving to play at another school was included in the two-year contract that Sorsby signed before the 2025 season. But Sorsby and his representation have called the Bearcats’ bluff that they would actually come after the money. 

Sorsby’s side has leaked that he made less than $1 million last year ($875,000), and they’re arguing that a $1 million buyout for one year of a contract worth $875,000 is “an unlawful penalty under Ohio law.”

Now a court will have to decide whether this is a punitive amount, or a realistic representation of the financial damage to Cincinnati.

Look, it makes sense that Sorsby’s representation would go this route. If it works, it would save their client a lot of money.

I would think it’s a pretty easy case to show that losing a QB who was worth $5 million on the open market after a breakout season is easily a $1 million hit to the Bearcats’ bottom line, but others disagree. 

And, full disclosure, I have a mere communciations degree. I’m no legal expert. 

This could end up being a major precedent-setting case for college football, and college sports as a whole. Right now, schools have almost no recourse when players leave on a whim. If they can’t even recover money that’s explicitly written into the contracts being signed, they’re basically powerless.

I’m all for players having more power. I’m all for the players getting more money. It’s long overdue. But the scales have been tilted way too far away from the schools in this era. In a just world, Sorsby and/or Texas Tech would enforcably be on the hook for the buyout money. 

Staples reported that Texas Tech and the Big 12 were aware of the $1 million buyout. Sorsby’s $5-6 million deal with the Red Raiders likely included the understanding that $1 million of it would go towards the buyout. 

Tech is well within the rules to take Sorsby. But if everyone knew the buyout was there, then just send the money (via Sorsby).

Whether you want to admit it or not, and whether those benefitting from the current insanity want to hear it, college football desperately needs at least a little bit of order.

Requiring Sorsby to pay up would at least be a step in the right direction. 

What You Need to Know

• Four Big 12 teams are listed as on the bubble in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update. 

• Here’s why BYU didn’t know about the investigation involving WR Parker Kingston sooner. 

• The Big 12 got huge news regarding the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City this year.

• There’s one key word in Jerome Tang’s contract that could decide the legal battle between K-State and Tang over his $18.7 million buyout. 

• The SEC and Big Ten are firing back at Texas Tech megabooster Cody Campbell’s push to open the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. 

• How much did former Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt get paid to go to LSU? Here’s some insight from On3

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