Cincinnati is seeking $1 million from its former starting quarterback, Brendan Sorsby, for breaching his NIL agreement with the university upon transferring to Texas Tech earlier this year. Yes, a Big 12 school is now suing the same guy who took snaps in a Bearcats uniform roughly three months ago.
The university claims Sorsby was contractually obligated to pay an exit fee within 30 days of leaving the team; Sorsby declared his intent to transfer on Dec. 15, and signed with Texas Tech upon officially entering the portal on Jan. 2. Cincinnati released the following statement to The Athletic on Wednesday.
“In his lucrative NIL agreement with Cincinnati Athletics, Brendan Sorsby committed to stay and play for two seasons as a proud Bearcat representative,” the university told The Athletic. “He also agreed that if he left the university before that time, he would pay the university a specific amount for the substantial harm that his breach would cause.”
Brendan Sorsby’s Backstory
Sorsby started his career at Indiana and transferred to Cincinnati in 2024, and went on to play 24 games as a Bearcat in his second stop. Some reports suggest Sorsby received as much as $6 million last year alone for his duties at quarterback; The school got substantial quarterback play and Sorsby, with his agreement to the university, profited from his name, image and likeness while at Cincinnati.
From above, Sorsby played football and Cincinnati paid him an amount likely agreed to well before the 2025 season even kicked off. No, Sorsby won’t be playing football in Ohio next season but where exactly in his all-too-limited agreement did he say he would? Look, I’m all for multi-year contracts and lucrative offers tethering top talent to a university, but that’s simply not the case here.
Chad Brendel of BearcatJournal.com added another rationale for Sorsby’s alleged refusal of the agreement’s “exit fee.” If nothing stakes these contracts into the ground legally, then the school, frankly, has nobody to blame but themselves for drafting up a useless piece of paper.
If Sorsby and his representation had any reason to believe the quarterback’s contract wouldn’t hold up in court, I can’t entirely blame them for making the portal leap and dealing with the fallout later. Fact is, this lawsuit almost certainly won’t stop Sorsby from playing football in Lubbock next season and could do legitimate damage to Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield‘s recruiting efforts in the NIL space.
It’s hard to argue that Sorbsy, who already played two complete 12-game regular seasons as a Bearcat, caused $1 million in damages to a school that already spends the maximum $20.5 million annually on student-athlete compensation. Sorry, it’s just not going to play.
Sorsby has one year of eligibility left to play at Texas Tech. The Bearcats host the Red Raiders for the school’s 100th homecoming on Oct. 24, 2026.
