Joey McGuire assures Texas Tech is past Brendan Sorsby gambling saga

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said it was business as usual in football operations despite the turmoil surrounding the Brendan Sorsby gambling saga. The 54-year-old Texas native credited the school’s leadership and promoters when asked Tuesday at Big 12 media days how he handled an offseason he couldn’t have imagined in his younger days as a coach. “We’ve all been in this together,” McGuire said. “I have good mentors and I have a very strong football team. If you walked into this building right now, or even in January, at any point in this saga, the football side, you wouldn’t think anything is wrong, different.” McGuire again defended the school’s support of Sorsby, including plans to let him play even after transferring from Cincinnati, admitted he bet on Indiana games while he was a freshman with the Hoosiers. Sorsby played the final two seasons with the Bearcats before joining the defending Big 12 champion Red Raiders in a lucrative deal for his name, image and likeness. The QB ultimately abandoned his legal efforts to regain his eligibility after the NCAA suspended him for gambling, and said he would wait until next year to enter the NFL draft. Texas Tech, which went 12-2 last season, supported Sorsby when he went to rehab for his play and after he sued the NCAA to regain his eligibility. “I will never change the fact that I will support my players,” McGuire said. “It’s very easy to tell a mother or father that you’re going to be there to help their son become the man they’re supposed to be, and then all of a sudden, every time adversity comes, or something like the situation we had, you turn your back on them.” McGuire said he has spoken to Sorsby over the past two days and that Sorsby is training in the Dallas area, where he played in high school. McGuire said he expects Sorsby will make occasional trips to Lubbock and will have access to the school’s athletic facilities. “The main reason I want to be there is because I have addicts in my family,” the coach said. “Some of them are no longer with us. But the most important thing for me right now is that he continues to get help so that there is no relapse and he can be the person and the player that he is supposed to be.” Tight end Terrance Carter Jr. said he stayed in touch with Sorsby during the offseason after their relationship blossomed in just a few months together. “When we found out he was going to rehab, I sent him a little message: ‘I love you, brother,'” Carter said. “We still send a lot of messages today. So I can say our relationship is strong. For me, it’s more than football. So being there for my brother is all I can do.” Will Hammond could end up as Red Raiders’ starting quarterback Will Hammond started twice and came off the bench once for an injured Behren Morton before tearing the ACL in his right knee last season. McGuire said Hammond could be ready for the season opener Sept. 5 against Abilene Christian, but it’s possible the Red Raiders wait until Game 3, Sept. 18 against Houston. If not for his knee injury, Hammond could have been the projected starter this season, and Carter said he has confidence in the quarterbacks regardless of Sorsby’s status. That’s not to say Sorsby’s former teammates were indifferent to his plight. “Coach McGuire always preaches the ‘what’s next’ mentality,” said center and captain Sheridan Wilson. “It’s unfortunately just another ‘what’s next’ moment. It breaks my heart, obviously. It breaks a lot of people’s hearts because he’s a friend of ours. We’d love to have him on the team, but at the end of the day we’re still chasing the Big 12 championship. We have to move on. While Texas Tech officials have been widely criticized over the possibility of Sorsby playing for the Red Raiders after admitting to betting on his team’s games team at Indiana, McGuire said his fellow coaches were supportive behind the scenes Some of the criticism came after Texas Tech released a video in which president Lawrence Schovanec, athletic director Kirby Hocutt and McGuire attempted to explain why they supported Sorsby “Some of the statements we made, we were making at the Red Raiders,” McGuire said. What we were trying to explain in any video or anything like that was to get our fans and our boosters and our alumni to understand exactly what we were trying to do. We owed it to them. And really, they’re the only people we owe it to.” Associated Press reporting.