The new Texas Tech quarterback’s talent is obvious. The below clip from Brendan Sorsby’s time at Cincinnati captures the accuracy, touch and anticipation that makes him a potential first-round talent. It doesn’t capture the full picture, however.

Before I explain that situation, here’s where the 22-year-old sits in our 2027 QB prospect rankings:

That ranker, Nick Baumgardner, gave Sorsby a tier to himself. Here’s why:

💬 “Purely from a talent standpoint, Sorsby probably fits somewhere in the middle of Tier 1 as a potential first-round pick.

“He’s huge but a great athlete at 235 pounds, with plus burst and natural escape skill. He’s a smooth passer on the run, and he has good arm talent and a lot of confidence over the middle. As a player, at times, he might remind you of a bigger Jaxson Dart.

“Off the field, however, teams will have to do serious homework.”

What happened with Brendan Sorsby?

The summary of that homework: Sorsby’s admitted to betting about $90,000 on college and pro sports. It might cost him his career.

The most important part of his ongoing legal battles are two months from the 2022 season, when Sorsby made at least 40 wagers on Indiana football totaling around $800. At the time, he was the Hoosiers’ scout-team quarterback, an 18-year-old redshirt who didn’t compete.

The wagers stopped two weeks before his debut. “Once I became part of the active roster with an opportunity to play, I immediately stopped betting on Indiana,” Sorsby wrote in a statement.

“However, my gambling on other sports did not stop; it escalated and became compulsive. What started small when I was in high school turned into a daily habit of betting on all kinds of sports, including some sports that I didn’t follow and had no interest in like tennis and Romanian soccer. Gambling became an addiction.”

Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech this offseason, won a temporary injunction last week that, for now, will allow him to play this season despite the NCAA having permanently banned him. You read all that right.

• That decision would cost Sorsby just Texas Tech’s first two games, both of which will be against multi-touchdown underdogs. If he plays, many worry that the cost to college sports will be severe.
• The NCAA is appealing the decision, in which Judge Ken Curry found that Sorsby “demonstrated that he will suffer a probable, imminent and irreparable injury” if he cannot play college football this year.

If Sorsby plays, he’ll be the first known athlete in a major sport to admit to gambling on his own team and still be allowed to play, our college football expert Stewart Mandel notes in his scathing remarks.

“Every major American sports league has a rule regulating gambling on sports,” wrote the NCAA in its opposition response, “because it goes to the heart of the integrity of the athletic product.”

In response, Texas Tech’s own conference, the Big 12, has filed a lawsuit that attempts to leverage the league’s rules and bar Sorsby. For what it’s worth, the NFL’s supplemental draft deadline is next week.

Next: Ranking NFL coaches by current winning percentage

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Current coaches, ranked by winning percentage

Bo Nix was curious. Presumably it was because the Broncos’ sophomore quarterback wanted to see whether his 62-year-old coach, Sean Payton, would stick around for the bulk of Nix’s career. Or, after a handful of weird moments, maybe he even hoped for the opposite.

Either way, prior to the Broncos’ Week 14 game in 2025, Nix asked Payton how much longer he plans to coach. “Shoot, plenty of time. Eight years, nine years, whatever,” Payton recalls saying, having recently agreed to a five-year contract that keeps him in Denver through 2030.

That means more chances for Payton to become the first head coach in the Super Bowl era to win championships with two different teams.

With a 32-19 regular-season record and three playoff wins since joining the Broncos in 2023, Payton ranks among the top 10 coaches in winning percentage with their current teams. (And keep in mind he had to help rebuild a team that’d gone 5-12 before his arrival.)

This chart also makes one thing clear: What Andy Reid has done in Kansas City is incredible. He is the only active coach to win at least 70 percent of his games across more than two seasons — and he’s done it for 13, after having a winning record across 14 years in Philly.

Combine Reid and Payton with Jim Harbaugh, and the AFC West remains stacked even as first-year coach Klint Kubiak replaces Super Bowl champ Pete Carroll, who failed to win any division games last season.

Fantasy football note 📈: Kubiak’s been experimenting with a “football robot from heaven,” moving Las Vegas’ star tight end, Brock Bowers, around during practices. Our Sam Warren writes that while “the Raiders are still figuring out how best to use Bowers, it’s clear he’ll be a focal point of the offense wherever he lines up.”

Extra Points

▶️ RIP. Aldon Smith died at 36 years old. The former 49ers All-Pro, who saw his career derailed for off-field issues, was delivering pizzas to a homeless charity on the morning of his passing. He spoke about his post-career struggles in this podcast.

👀 NFL’s most versatile. Film expert Ted Nguyen ranked the top 10 do-it-all players, a list that includes Puka Nacua. 👀

📓 Minicamp storylines. Eleven teams take the field for mandatory minicamps this week, and Mike Jones shares every key storyline. Yes, the Falcons have a QB competition between Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr.

🔬 Biggest risk for Rams. As any “Star Wars” fan knows, even a Death Star typically has a vulnerability. For Sean McVay’s team, that weakness is the offensive line.

▶️ Thursday’s most-clicked: College football’s top quarterbacks, ranked. Arch Manning is No. 1, with the controversial Sorsby a bit lower.

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Hours after Cape Verde stunned Spain there looked to be another World Cup upset on their cards in Group H until Uruguay’s late equaliser against Saudi Arabia in Miami.

A first-half goal from centre-back Abdulelah Al Amri at the Hard Rock Stadium _ after the Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera had spilled the ball into this path — put the team ranked 49th in the world temporarily top of Group H.

But with 10 minutes left to play Uruguay eventually forced a breakthrough when Maximiliano Araujo whipped a shot into the far corner after another goalkeeping mistake, this time by Mohammed Al Owais. The Saudi goalkeeper made amends late on though, with some fine saves to preserve a point. Over the course of the game, Uruguay had 21 shots at goal.

Two draws in Group H means all four teams have one point after one round of fixtures.

Michael Cox and Jacob Whitehead analyse the key talking points from Miami…

Asian sides flying out the blocks at this World Cup

For many years, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has been something of an afterthought at men’s FIFA World Cups — having only ever had one nation, South Korea in 2002, reach the semi-finals.

When the World Cup was expanded to 48 teams, many said that the tournament’s quality would be diluted — and with the AFC’s share rising from six to nine nations, the implication was that the qualification of more Asian countries would be part of that.

Not so in North America so far. AFC countries are unbeaten in their first five games at this World Cup, earning a total of two wins and three draws — with victories for South Korea and Australia (who have competed in the AFC since 2005 to play more competitive matches) as well as impressive comebacks for both Qatar and Japan.

Saudi Arabia will host the World Cup in eight years time, with the national team’s success a major part of the government’s vision — the evolution of the AFC into a stronger confederation will only help their development.

June 11, Group A — South Korea 2-1 Czech Republic
June 13, Group B — Qatar 1-1 Switzerland
June 13, Group D — Australia 2-0 Turkey
June 14, Group E — Japan 2-2 Netherlands
June 15, Group H — Saudi Arabia 1-1 Uruguay

Jacob Whitehead

How Muslera went from zero to hero — to zero

Back before the 2022 World Cup, Fernando Muslera had been Uruguay’s undisputed No 1 for the previous three consecutive tournaments — starring in their 2010 run to the semi-final before helping them to the knockouts in both Brazil and Russia.

Come Qatar, however, and the longtime Galatasaray goalkeeper was out of favour, replaced by Sergio Rochet as Uruguay were knocked out in the group stages. Worse was to come — he was subsequently banned for four games by FIFA after being found to have assaulted match officials following Uruguay’s final game. He announced his international retirement in April 2024.

Remarkably, having enjoyed an excellent season after returning to South America to sign for Argentine side Estudiantes, the 39-year-old found himself back in goal for Uruguay’s opener against Saudi Arabia — making him the first ever Uruguay to be in five World Cup squads, and just the 12th player in history.

Initially, he appeared to show why Marcelo Bielsa was so keen to have him back in the side — making a brilliant save after 38 minutes from the unmarked Abdulelah Al Amri to keep the score goalless.

Two minutes later, however, a nightmare. Hassan Al Tambakti headed another Saudi Arabian set-piece strongly towards goal, Muslera spilled the simple catch… and Al Amri was there to tap the ball in.

(REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli)

Eight years of waiting — to unfold like that.

Jacob Whitehead

How did Bielsa fix things for Uruguay?

So far, Group H isn’t quite what anyone expected. Two favourites and two underdogs? Not quite.

After Spain failed to break down Cape Verde, Uruguay had to settle for a point against Saudi Arabia. Marcelo Bielsa’s side were wretched in the first half, but much improved after half-time.

Uruguay dominated possession in the opening period of this match, but were desperately struggling for creativity. Their midfield three of Manuel Ugarte, Rodrigo Bentancur and Federico Valverde offers physically and tenacity, but didn’t offer anyone looking to receive the ball between the lines. Ugarte dropped into defence to allow Uruguay’s full-backs to push on, Valverde tried getting some combinations going down the flanks, but Uruguay didn’t look like creating anything in open play.

With the wingers staying high, and Darwin Nunez barely involved, Uruguay were flat and uninspired for long periods of the first half.

Bielsa took drastic action at half-time, making a double substitution. The main story was that he jettisoned Nunez and introduced Agustin Canobbio in his place — although he actually played on the right, with Federico Vinas moving infield to lead the line.

Nunez makes way at half-time for Uruguay (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Sam Navarro)

This improved Uruguay immeasurably. Vinas had two good headed efforts shortly after half-time, the second from a Cannobio cross. Uruguay made inroads down that right flank, taking advantage of the fact 34-year-old Saudi Arabia captain and left-winger Salem Al Dawsari isn’t the most diligent player defensively. Valverde, as he does so effectively for Real Madrid, drifted to the right and played some dangerous balls into the box.

As it happens, the equaliser eventually came from a left-wing cross — Vinas had his third good headed effort of the second half, which was saved, and Maxi Araujo slammed in the rebound. It was his final contribution before being substituted.

But it is Nunez who will fear for his place ahead of the game against Cape Verde — Vinas was a much better option up front.

Michael Cox