Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire finally broke his silence on the wild sports gambling scandal surrounding his quarterback, Brendan Sorsby. Speaking at a Touchdown Club event in Houston, McGuire made it clear that even though a judge just cleared Sorsby to play in Week 3, the Red Raider’s head honcho pumped the brakes and said don’t expect his return anytime soon.

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire says Week 3 against Houston is “still a stretch,” he told Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle. “He’s recovering from an addiction. I’ve sat down with this young man, and what he’s going through is serious.”

District Judge Ken Curry granted a temporary injunction blocking the NCAA’s permanent ban on Brendan Sorsby. The judge basically said that keeping Sorsby off the field while the NCAA finishes its investigation would cause him “irreparable injury” and ruin his future career. But a legal win doesn’t mean Sorsby is ready to play.

With Hammond injured, McGuire has every reason to rush Sorsby back, but he’s not. Despite that, Coach McGuire is putting the interests above football. He doubled down on the fact that the human element has to come first, and the team isn’t going to rush him back until his life outside of football is completely stable.

McGuire is treating this entire situation like a serious medical rehab. He openly defended Sorsby to reporters, explaining that the quarterback is actively recovering from a severe gambling addiction rather than just trying to dodge a penalty. McGuire compared the mental recovery process to a player trying to bounce back from a terrible physical injury, like a torn ACL. He couldn’t fathom the level of hate the poor kid is getting on the internet.

“As a society, we’ve been okay with other things that happen. And allowing players to play, and this is the one thing that has united people that they were against. It’s crazy. Because it’s not murder, it’s not beating somebody,” McGuire said.

But then again, when you look at the actual numbers behind the scandal, it is not very difficult to see why the NCAA is hell-bent on getting him banned in the very first place. Word is, Sorsby placed more than 9,000 online bets over a four-year period. The total wagers from it add up to nearly $100k.

But the absolute cardinal sin in the eyes of college sports officials is that he reportedly placed bets on Indiana football games back in 2022 while he was literally on Indiana’s roster. Betting on other teams might have drawn lighter punishment, but betting on his own team was the cardinal violation. Georgia and Nebraska have already distanced themselves from Sorsby.

The NCAA is expected to appeal the court’s decision. Until then, Sorsby’s playing career is safe and still in the cards.

Could sitting him in Week 3 jeopardize their season?

Before the court even got involved, Sorsby knew he had a problem and decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from the Texas Tech football program to get his life together. He spent more than a month at a specialized residential treatment facility in Arizona, dealing with both the gambling addiction and severe anxiety.

Texas Tech’s athletic department has been very vocal about supporting his personal recovery and health, but they drew a firm boundary when it came to the legal drama. They explicitly noted that the university is not funding Sorsby’s individual lawsuit against the NCAA.

So, where do things go from here? The NCAA is already planning to appeal the judge’s injunction, meaning this messy legal battle is far from over. If Brendan Sorsby returns, he’ll face financial oversight and device tracking to prevent another relapse.

Texas Tech can survive Weeks 1-2 without Sorsby, but Week 3 vs. Houston (10-3) is the real test. It will be very fascinating to see whether McGuire actually sits him out and starts recovering Will Hammond against Houston.