As Joey McGuire settled in before a throng of reporters and cameras at Big 12 media days Tuesday in Frisco, Texas, the first words out of his mouth were, “I know nobody believes this, but I am fired up to be here.”
It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the upcoming questions he expected about Texas Tech’s offseason, mostly focusing on the Brendan Sorsby controversy that resulted in the Red Raiders having to move on without their planned starting quarterback in 2026.
Saying “shared adversity brings you even closer,” McGuire vowed that his team is focused on football and not the aftershocks of the Sorsby sideshow.
“The last couple of months we had gone through some adversity,” McGuire said. “I do believe if you walked into our building every single day and you walked into the weight room and the workouts or football school, you wouldn’t know that anything was going on.”
In the seven months since Sorsby joined Texas Tech as one of the top quarterbacks in the transfer portal, he checked into rehab for gambling addiction, admitted to placing thousands of wagers and was ruled ineligible by the NCAA. Rather than fight the conference or NFL — which denied his application for the supplemental draft — for a chance to play in the fall, Sorsby opted to begin preparing for the 2027 NFL Draft.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark declined to answer questions related to Sorsby and the other member institutions’ outrage that he initially got a temporary injunction to play in 2026. But McGuire confronted them directly.
“The thing for me that through all of this, my president and my AD, who are good friends of mine, who believed in me, who hired me, they went through a lot,” McGuire said.
But “if you look as a whole, there were not a lot of coaches that said really a whole lot. There were some funny jabs taken by some coaches, but there wasn’t a lot of coaches that just really came out and said a lot of different things,” he added.
With Sorsby out of the picture, Texas Tech enters the new season with Will Hammond in line to start under center. Hammond backed up Behren Morton during the Red Raiders’ successful 2025 season, including a 22-for-37 performance with 167 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Arizona State, but he tore his ACL the next week against Oklahoma State.
McGuire insisted Tuesday that he wouldn’t have pursued a veteran like Sorsby in the portal if there weren’t lingering concerns about Hammond’s knee.
“I think with the amount of money that’s being placed in these rosters, we felt like if there was any setback injury-wise, we couldn’t take a chance that he’s not going to be ready,” McGuire said. “We’ve been fortunate, one, that he hasn’t had any setbacks, and, two, if you ask Will Hammond throughout this process, he would tell you he was our starting quarterback and wasn’t going to back away.”
McGuire added that he “could see” Hammond starting Week 1 against FCS opponent Abilene Christian.
“He’s got great confidence in himself, and he’s prepared, prepared himself to be in the position he’s in,” the coach said. “He’s got really an infectious personality that people just gravitate to. I think that’s why there’s a lot of confidence in Will.”
McGuire’s session closed with a question about his recent back-and-forth with Steve Sarkisian. The Texas coach made a comment about an in-state rival’s weak strength of schedule, clearly aimed at the Red Raiders. McGuire shot back that his team would be happy to face the Longhorns in 2026.
“First, spot the ball, man,” McGuire began Tuesday. “We’re ready to go right now. We’ll play tomorrow.”
He went on to express his respect for Sarkisian, his record at the storied program in Austin and his play-calling.
“I want to play him. I’m a Texan. I was born in Texarkana, Texas, in Wadley Regional Medical Center in 1971. I grew up in the Southwest Conference. Texas and Texas Tech are supposed to play. Texas and Texas A&M are supposed to play, and they are playing. …
“If you are a Texan, and you’re a fan of the football in this state, then why would we go outside the state to play nonconference games and we’re not in conference anymore because you have such good football in this state?”
