LUBBOCK, Texas — Reigning Big 12 football champion Texas Tech's preseason practice begins at 9:05 a.m. Wednesday. On Tuesday, Red Raiders players and coaches declared the Brendan Sorsby saga a thing of the past.
Not the distant past, mind you, but a fading speck in the rearview mirror. A primary reason for the Red Raiders' forward thinking is the collective confidence in third-year sophomore Will Hammond, who bumped up to QB1 the moment Sorsby and Tech officially parted ways June 15.
The only question, albeit a significant one, was whether Hammond would be medically cleared from the right ACL tear he suffered last October.
Seeing and listening to 6-2, 210-pound Hammond on Tuesday, there certainly was no hint of doubt he'll be ready for Tech's Sept. 5 opener against Abilene Christian. Even when the college football world believed portal transfer Sorsby would be Tech's starter, Hammond believed in himself.
People are also reading…
"The mentality has been the same the whole time: Never, never take a backseat," Hammond said. "Always, always want to be that guy.
"I'm just glad to be in this position and have the team around me that I have," he said. "Because that allows you to have the belief that you're going to do something special."
Sorsby, who threw for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns for Cincinnati last season, transferred to Texas Tech on Jan. 4 for what a source confirmed to the The Dallas Morning News was $6 million in NIL money.
But with the NCAA investigating an ESPN report that he made thousands of online bets, Sorsby in late April took a leave of absence from Tech and entered a gambling addiction program. It wasn't until June 15 that a flurry of lawsuits played out and Sorsby was out of college football options.
Up stepped Hammond, part of coach Joey McGuire's ballyhooed recruiting Class of 2022.
Replacing injured Behren Morton last season, redshirt freshman Hammond passed for 680 yards and seven touchdowns and rushed 43 times for 299 yards and five touchdowns — before suffering the ACL tear on Oct. 25, in the second quarter against Oklahoma State.
Tech offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich on Tuesday said that if Hammond hadn't suffered such a significant injury, the program would not have felt the need to seek a high-profile transfer like Sorsby.
It was originally hoped that Hammond would be able to play by Tech's Sept. 18 Big 12 opener against Houston, but his tireless rehab and natural attention to detail sped up his return timetable.
Hammond said he has been cleared for 11-on-11 work when practice begins Wednesday, but like most programs, Tech doesn't allow quarterbacks to be tackled during preseason drills, anyway.
During the 15 minutes he spoke to reporters Tuesday in Tech's newly re-christened Galaxy Stadium, Austin native and Hammond showed a commanding presence that teammates and coaches see every day.
"I constantly remind him: He's just got to be Will Hammond," McGuire said. "He is extremely unique. That's why people are so drawn to him.
"He is a different cat with his personality and his thought process. That's what's going to make him successful. He has all the athletic traits, but what's going to make him successful is him just being him and not trying to be somebody else."
Hammond spent much of the summer working in the Grapevine-Colleyville area with passing guru Jeff Christensen — who also happens to work with another Texas Tech quarterback of note who is coming off ACL ligament surgery, Patrick Mahomes.
Several Tech receivers, notably Kenny Johnson and Micah Hudson, have worked with Hammond all offseason, including just last weekend in Colleyville.
Hammond also has a special ally in Mahomes, whom he caught up with during pro day and through text messages.
"I was a month ahead of him in terms of surgery and whatnot, but just to hear the exercises and modalities they were using out there, just his mindset going through it [was helpful]," Hammond said. "And more recently, just 'Hey, man, go crush it in camp.'"
On Tech's Big 12 media day, July 7, in Frisco, McGuire said he believed Hammond might be able to start the season opener. But Hammond wasn't among the players Tech took to Frisco that day. Hammond said that happened to be the week his surgeon cleared him to prep for the season opener.
As for any belief that he might have felt jilted by Tech's wooing of Sorsby with NIL millions, Hammond says that simply wasn't the case.
Sorsby distraction? What distraction?
"I was really proud of the team and the way they handled it all," Hammond said. "There's been so much external noise this offseason. There's been a lot of headlines. And I think the team's done such a good job of keeping the main thing the main thing throughout May, June, July.
"When all that was going on, it was a hard time. You never know with something like that. It's a lot of pressure that's put on the guys, but they handled it really well, and they kept the workouts and the football the main focus.
"And those guys were always rallying behind me the whole time. I super-appreciated all those guys, and I'm just excited to get back on the field with them."
Teammates on Tuesday said getting behind Hammond was easy because he's a natural leader.
Red Raider returnees from last season's 12-2 finish certainly haven't forgotten last Sept. 20, when starter Morton got hurt in the Big 12 opener at Utah. Hammond entered on the first drive of the second quarter. He completed 13 of 16 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed eight times for 61 yards. He was named Big 12 Freshman of the Week.
"He's worked like he's been the starter every single day, even before the [Sorsby] news was announced," Hudson said.
"It's not like it's anything new to me. I know who Will is and what he's capable of doing."
____
