The Big 12 ADs talked with Commissioner Brett Yormark on Tuesday and, outside of Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt, are “united around the notion” that Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby “should not be eligible for next season,” according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.com. Sources mentioned that the call was the “first in three expected steps by the Big 12 to potentially address the Sorsby situation.” The conference’s exec board on Thursday will meet with Yormark and “review options moving forward.” That will be followed by a meeting of the Big 12’s full board of presidents and chancellors early next week. It is unknown whether the league “could rule Sorsby ineligible or not allow him to play, which was the approach athletic directors seem to favor on Tuesday’s call” (ESPN.com, 6/9). THE ATHLETIC’s Russo, Ubben, Vanni & Williams reported Yormark spent a portion of the 30-minute call “explaining the process that lies ahead and that the conference’s legal team is still sorting through the details of the case to determine the role the conference may play in future decisions regarding Sorsby, including any potential punishment.” Sources added that “no formal, imminent action was planned during and after the call, which was cordial throughout.” Any action taken on behalf of the conference would “need to be voted on and approved by the league’s presidents,” per Big 12 bylaws (THE ATHLETIC, 6/9).
BIGGEST ISSUE FACED TO DATE: In San Jose, Jon Wilner wrote the Sorsby situation is “potentially more damaging than the transfer portal, NIL, revenue sharing, coaching buyouts and playoff expansion put together.” With other momentous issues that have crossed Yormark’s radar in the past four years, the conference was “essentially unified on strategy and execution.” But the Sorsby affair “creates an internecine conflict, with 15 schools opposed to the action of the 16th.” The injunction does not include other schools in the Big 12, which seemingly indicates they would “not violate the court order by freezing out the Red Raiders.” Any refusal by Big 12 schools to compete against Texas Tech would be an “unprecedented step in major college football and carry an assortment of consequences, starting with the dollars involved.” Wilner: “The next few days, and weeks, will be the supreme test of Yormark’s leadership” (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 6/9).
WHO’S IN CHARGE? USA TODAY’s Blake Toppmeyer wondered who is “really running the Big 12″ -- Yormark or Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell. Campbell has made it clear “he’ll keep tormenting the NCAA until Congress delivers federal legislation to reshape college sports in a way” he desires. Neither SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey nor Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti “could be credibly accused of allowing a single booster or one institution to back them into a corner.” Yormark’s job calls on him to “do what’s best for the Big 12.” Sorsby playing after years of rule-breaking behavior “might be good for Texas Tech, but 15 other institutions call the Big 12 home, too.” Toppmeyer: “Will Yormark stand with them, or will he stand with Cody Campbell University?” (USA TODAY, 6/9).
DO WHAT’S RIGHT: YAHOO SPORTS’ Dan Wolken noted there is “nothing stopping Texas Tech from telling Sorsby that … it would be best if he pursued recovery on his own time” and not play him. That would be the “mature and logical thing for an institution of higher education to do.” Wolken: “Why is it too much to ask the adults at Texas Tech -- starting with mega-booster Cody Campbell and his underlings in the chancellor and athletic director offices -- to just suck it up and do the right thing here?” Sorsby is “not worth all this” and whatever number of games Texas Tech “expects to win this season isn’t worth all this” (YAHOO SPORTS, 6/9). In Louisville, C.L. Brown noted there is “nothing stopping the Red Raiders from deciding it’s not worth allowing Sorsby to play for them.” It would be a “statement that all in college sports would take note of.” However, the “integrity to make that choice is nowhere to be found.” That is because Sorsby might just be the guy who “can take them from just making the College Football Playoff, as they did this past season, to making some noise in it, as they are so desperately trying to do” (Louisville COURIER JOURNAL, 6/9).
CFP IMPLICATIONS: SI’s Bryan Fischer wrote if Sorsby takes the field this fall, it “should be done so with the understanding that it would come at a cost.” The CFP needs to “say bluntly and clearly that those games will not be considered by the selection committee when evaluating the team for the playoff.” That might be the “deterrent the school will finally take seriously” (SI, 6/9).
