LSU’s $3.5 million NIL offer to Cincinnati transfer QB Brendan Sorsby revealed
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby took over the title as college football’s most-expensive player after reportedly inking a $5 million agreement with Texas Tech, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Sorsby formally committed to the Red Raiders on Sunday night over heavy interest from LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin.
According to Nakos, Sorsby’s deal with free-spending Texas Tech will make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in college football in 2026 after former Georgia QB Carson Beck signed a $3-3.5 million deal with Miami last offseason that could reach $5-6 million with incentives. Duke quarterback Darian Mensah earned $4 million this past season after transferring from Tulane.
But before the oil money-backed Red Raiders raised the financial bar, LSU and Kiffin reportedly offered Sorsby a financial package much more in line with the Mensah deal last year, proposing a $3.5 million offer, according to documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger. LSU’s Sorsby offer included a third-party NIL marketing deal through the Tigers’ multi-media rights partner, Playfly Sports Properties, that would be exempt from counting against the school’s revenue-sharing cap, per Dellenger.
The 11-page NIL contract between Playfly and Sorsby, obtained by Dellenger, was never signed and is purely a prosped service agreement. Though it does provide an interesting look at how schools are utilizing outside NIL agreements to develop a compensation package without exceeding college football’s $20.5 million salary cap that stems from the House vs. NCAA settlement in June.
Dellenger also points out the proposed contract would be, in theory, only a portion of Sorsby’s total compensation. The NIL deal even includes certain language suggesting LSU also planned to compensate Sorsby through direct revenue-share payments from the school likely in the range of at least $1 million for a total figure that would be competitve with Texas Tech‘s $5 million package, per Dellenger.
The $3.5 million NIL deal is a marketing guarantee created by Playfly though NILSU MAX, an independent, self-sustaining collective formed in conjuncton with LSU athletics and Playfly to “identify and secure NIL opportunities for Tiger student athletes,” according to the university’s website.
As Dellenger points out, the Sorsby contract obtained by Yahoo! Sports “shines a light on the method in which universities — not just LSU — are assembling financial packages for some athletes: with a portion of direct university revenue-share payments, plus a portion of NIL third-party guarantees that have been promised yet not cleared.”
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos