Cody Campbell explains structure of Brendan Sorsby’s NIL deal at Texas Tech

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The Texas Tech Red Raiders have found plenty of newfound success, winning the Big 12 and going to the College Football Playoff a season ago. With quarterback Behren Morton exhausting his eligibility, the Red Raiders have hit the Transfer Portal to bring in a talented and experienced signal caller. They landed on Brendan Sorsby.

By all accounts, landing Sorsby wasn’t cheap. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, that deal to bring him to Texas Tech is in the $5 million range. That’s higher than the deals the top quarterbacks on the move a season ago were commanding.

Texas Tech booster and board member Cody Campbell recently appeared on Will Cain Country. He explained that the quarterback position was suffering from a supply and demand issue, which led to some of the massive numbers seen, like that of Sorsby.

“Well, he wasn’t cheap,” Campbell said. “It’s interesting in the portal, and I’ve been pretty directly involved with now three portal cycles, and there is a supply and demand factor at each position. For instance, this year, there are a lot of receivers in the portal. So, receivers didn’t bring as much money as even offensive linemen in some cases because there weren’t as many offensive linemen. This year, there were only a few elite quarterbacks that were available. So, if you want one, if you want to compete at the very highest level as Texas Tech does, you have to lean in and you have to spend the money to get them.”

One thing is clear: Brendan Sorsby is one of the top transfers in the country. According to the On3 College Football Top Transfer Portal Player Rankings, he’s the ninth-ranked player overall this cycle. He’s also the third-ranked quarterback.

Despite the reports, Campbell explained that the deals are necessarily straightforward. They’re a blend of House Settlement money and NIL, and the NIL can’t be guaranteed at this point.

“So, we did and we figured it out,” Campbell said. “But all the deals — that’s not as straightforward as you’d think it might be. There is an NIL component to it, which is permitted. There is a hard salary cap, we call it the heavy powder. The real guaranteed money that comes from revenue sharing. So, people report these huge numbers and it’s not always entirely transparent where those numbers come from. But when they’re reported, typically by an agent who’s trying to build his business or show he can get these big deals or whatever, they report the highest possible amount that a person can be paid. If all the NIL deals are done, if they’re all approved by the College Sports Commission, all those sorts of things.”

Coming out of high school at Lake Dallas in Texas, Sorsby was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2022. He’d initially go to Indiana before transferring to Cincinnati. In 2025, he’d complete 61.6 percent of his passes for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns. That was against five interceptions. He also rushed for 580 yards and another nine touchdowns.

“At Texas Tech, we’ve been really careful to make sure that we are following the rules. To the extent that NIL is part of it, that can’t be guaranteed. The deals have to be gotten, but then they actually have to be approved. So, Sorsby has an opportunity to make a lot of money at Texas Tech,” Campbell said. “And he probably will, because the program’s become more high-profile. In a town like Lubbock, where you don’t have a pro sports team, the communities and the local businesses do support Texas Tech athletes very well because those athletes are their best opportunities to have celebrity endorsements… We have that advantage.”

It certainly seems like Cody Campbell and Texas Tech have found a formula to land top transfers and have that translate to on-field success. There is risk in it, though, with the chance of taking the wrong players ever present. Whether or not Sorsby was the right quarterback for the Red Raiders won’t be obvious until the Fall.

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