Brendan Sorsby announced his intention to enter the college football transfer portal on Dec. 15 as the most coveted quarterback available. That would have seemed absurd when he arrived at Indiana in 2022 as a late signee from Lake Dallas, Texas, with exactly one Power Five offer to his name.
Three years and two transfers later, Sorsby’s breakout 2025 season at Cincinnati, where he’s hit 2,800 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, five interceptions, plus 580 rushing yards and nine more scores, has positioned him at the top of a loaded portal quarterback class.
Sorsby’s Unlikely Path From Texas Three-Star to Portal Prize
The most remarkable part of Sorsby’s ascent isn’t the production. It’s the origin story.
As a freshman at Lake Dallas High School, Sorsby arrived with plans to play quarterback. One problem: he couldn’t do it. His high school coach, Jason Young, told the Indiana Daily Student that Sorsby’s struggles forced the program to run veer options and other unconventional schemes to compensate.
Young said if anyone had told him at the time that Sorsby would become a Division I quarterback, he would have laughed.
Sorsby spent his sophomore year playing receiver before reclaiming the quarterback job late in his junior season. By his senior year, he’d earned Denton Record-Chronicle Quarterback of the Year honors and caught Indiana’s attention. The Hoosiers were his only Power Five offer.
He redshirted in 2022, then found himself in a competition with Tennessee transfer Tayven Jackson heading into the 2023 season. Sorsby won the starting job for the opener against Ohio State, lost it to Jackson for Week 3 against Louisville, then reclaimed it and never let go.
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His signature moment came at Penn State, where he connected with DeQuece Carter on a 90-yard touchdown and became the only Indiana quarterback since at least 1996 to throw multiple 60-yard touchdowns in a single game.
But Indiana went 3-9, Tom Allen was fired, and Sorsby entered the portal rather than stick around for Curt Cignetti’s rebuild. He landed at Cincinnati, where he’s started every game the past two seasons.
The Bearcats rode Sorsby to a 7-1 start in 2025 before dropping their final four games. Through it all, Sorsby established himself as one of the nation’s most complete dual-threat quarterbacks.
He was the only FBS signal-caller in 2024 to post both a 425-yard passing game (at Texas Tech) and a 125-yard rushing game (at Iowa State). He earned second-team All-Big 12 honors and a semifinalist nod for the Davey O’Brien Award.
PFSN’s Mel Kiper lists Sorsby as his fourth-ranked 2026 NFL Draft-eligible quarterback, and that number figures to rise with several quarterbacks ahead of him expected to return to school.
What’s Next for Sorsby: Texas Tech, Indiana Return, or NFL?
Sorsby will not play in Cincinnati’s Liberty Bowl matchup against Navy as he evaluates his options. The decision comes down to three paths: transfer for one final college season, return to Indiana to help the CFP-contending Hoosiers replace Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, or declare for the NFL Draft.
Texas Tech appears to be the early frontrunner, and the circumstantial evidence is piling up: Sorsby’s girlfriend, Gretchen Sigman, transferred from Cincinnati’s volleyball program to Texas Tech. Multiple Red Raiders players, including current starter Behren Morton, commented on Sorsby’s portal announcement.
The connection makes sense from a football standpoint too. Texas Tech’s aggressive NIL spending and high-powered offense would suit Sorsby’s skill set, and the Red Raiders need a quarterback with Morton ending his time as the QB1 in Lubbock.
Indiana presents a different appeal. Sorsby knows the program, knows the conference, and would slot into an offense that just went undefeated in the regular season. The Hoosiers need a proven starter to replace Mendoza, and there’s no quarterback in the portal more familiar with Bloomington.
Sorsby wrote in his announcement that he made the decision “after a lot of prayer and thoughtful consideration.” Whatever he decides, the kid who once forgot how to throw a football will do so with leverage no one could have predicted.
