What does Will Hammond's return to Texas Tech football 7-on-7 imply?
· Yahoo Sports
Will Hammond will take part in player-led, 7-on-7 passing drills when the Texas Tech football team resumes off-season preparation next week, Tech coach Joey McGuire said.
Friday, May 29, was the first day of classes for the university's first summer session. Hammond is returning from knee-ligament surgery that ended his 2025 season. McGuire said Hammond would not be allowed to do any 11-on-11 work with a pass rush in his face, but that level of workout is prohibited by NCAA rule at this time of year anyway.
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As the Red Raidersawait a determination on the status of No. 1 quarterback Brendan Sorsby, they continue to anticipate Hammond's return sometime in September.
"So he’s in a good spot," McGuire said. "We’re really fortunate to have Will Hammond. If he’s not hurt, then we’re not talking about this. ... We wouldn’t have been looking for necessarily a starting quarterback [in the NCAA transfer portal in January]. We’d have been looking for probably a depth piece in that room, and then that money would have been allocated to other positions."
McGuire made the comments on Thursday, May 28, at the Big 12 spring business meetings in Frisco.
McGuire said Hammond will be nine months removed from his knee surgery on Aug. 21, which he's viewed, based on input from medical professionals, as the minimum recovery timeline. When ESPN recently reported that Hammond would be cleared for all football activities on Aug. 21, it drew significant attention. It didn't reflect much change in the original timeline, though, which McGuire previously said was week three of the season in a best-case scenario.
"I do not see pushing him into week one to be ready to go," McGuire said Thursday. "He'll be released, but whenever you're released, it's for you to do everything [in practice and preparation], but are you game-ready?"
Texas Tech football could get clarity on Brendan Sorsby status at June 1 injunction hearing
Meanwhile, an injunction hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 1, in a Lubbock courtroom in the case of Sorsby, who has been ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA for violations of its gambling rules. Sorsby's legal team is expected to ask a visiting Tarrant County judge to block the NCAA from enforcing its sanctions on Sorsby, allowing him to play this season.
Tech President Lawrence Schovanec released an open letter to the university community on Tuesday, May 26, saying it would welcome Sorsby back to campus with a structured plan for his ongoing recovery for an acknowledged gambling addiction. That includes use of the Center for Students in Addiction Recovery, which was established on the Tech campus in 1986.
Schovanec also said Tech will appeal the NCAA's permanent sanction of Sorsby. Since he began gambling as a high school senior, Sorsby reportedly has made thousands of bets, including on his own team and teammates at Indiana during the 2022 season, when he played in one game while redshirting.
"My job, at my core, has always been to develop and support young men — that's on and off the field — and we're not going to change that," McGuire said, "so we're here to support Brendan. I do believe he made a mistake, and whenever that happens, I do believe there should be consequences, but it's my opinion that he shouldn't be penalized the rest of this year, or his career."
McGuire said he believes, and Sorsby has acknowledged, that "He's got a serious problem."
"I think the best place to get help," McGuire said, "and our president alluded to it, is him being at Texas Tech and him being able to play. I think Brendan's come out and said he believes there should be a penalty and he's ready to serve that penalty, but we just don't believe that it should be a full year."
Sorsby's attorneys said in the injunction filing that the NCAA rejected his offer to take a two-game suspension.
Sorsby was a high school athlete at Corinth Lake Dallas before spending the 2022 and 2023 seasons at Indiana and the 2024 and 2025 seasons at Cincinnati, throwing for 2,800 yards in each season and combining for 45 touchdown passes. He transferred to Texas Tech in January and threw four touchdown passes in the Red Raiders' spring game.
He recently completed a month-long treatment program at an inpatient facility in Arizona.
"Because he was in rehab for such a long time," McGuire said, "he hasn't been able to see his family, hasn't had any downtime and so I told him to go home for a few days and take a deep breath, and we'll get him back on campus here in a few days. But we at Texas Tech believe in Brendan, and we're here to support him in every way. At the end of the day, whatever the ruling is, we're going to support him 100%."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Next in Texas Tech football: Sorsby hearing, Hammond set for 7-on-7