Cincinnati is seeking $1 million from quarterback Brendan Sorsby for allegedly violating the terms of his revenue-sharing deal when he transferred from the Bearcats to Texas Tech over the offseason.

Sorsby, Cincinnati’s starting quarterback for the past two seasons, has one more season of eligibility remaining. His revenue share deal with the Bearcats was through the 2026 season, and Cincinnati claims in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that Sorsby promised to pay $1 million in liquidated damages if he transferred to another school before it concluded in December of 2026.

In a statement to the Athletic, a representative of Sorsby said the suit was “misguided.” Cincinnati, meanwhile, said it “honors the contractual commitments” it makes to athletes and “we expect student-athletes and their representatives to do the same.

Remember, athletes are not directly classified as employees of their respective schools and schools have long been hesitant to grant athletes employee status. 

From the Athletic:

Sorsby’s representative at LIFT Sports Management provided the following statement: “Pursuing legal action against Brendan Sorsby is misguided. University of Cincinnati, through its revenue-share structure, paid him $875,800 for a season he fully completed and in that time, he generated millions in value for the program. Attempting to recover those funds now sends the wrong message to current and future student-athletes and risks damaging the long-term credibility of Cincinnati football. This is further disappointing given that Brendan parted ways with UC in what was a mutually agreeable manner.

“The money the university seeks to recover from him is nothing more than an unlawful penalty under Ohio law. Because UC has chosen to pursue this course of action, Brendan will aggressively defend the lawsuit and pursue any and all damages he incurs as a result of it.”

Sorsby was one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the transfer portal cycle after the 2025 season. He ended up signing with Texas Tech for a reported $5 million NIL deal. The Red Raiders made the College Football Playoff in 2025 after spending big money on transfers ahead of the season and are attempting to replicate the formula in 2026.

Buyouts are becoming more and more common in college football for transferring players now that schools can directly share revenue with players. Duke and Darian Mensah came to a settlement agreement ahead of his transfer to Miami after he had signed a new deal with the program ahead of the 2026 season.

Mensah entered the transfer portal late after a lucrative offer from the Hurricanes. Washington's Demond Williams also briefly explored a transfer in January, but his buyout with the Huskies reportedly was a sticking point, and he announced he was remaining at UW.

Sorsby was 207-of-336 passing for 2,800 yards and 27 TDs with just five interceptions in 2025. He also rushed for 580 yards and nine touchdowns on just 100 carries.

Deion Sanders is heading into the 2026 season with two new coordinators.

According tomultiple reports, the Denver Broncos are hiring Colorado defensive coordinator Robert Livingston. The former Bengals assistant spent two seasons in charge of the Buffaloes’ defense.

Livingston will serve as the Broncos’ defensive passing game coordinator under Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. The two worked together with the Bengals, as Livingston was the team’s defensive backs coach from 2016 through 2023.

Colorado went 3-9 in 2025 as the defense allowed 6.1 yards per play and 30.5 points per game. Colorado ranked 112th out of 136 teams in scoring defense.

The Buffaloes’ defense was much better in 2024. As Colorado went 9-4 and had star defensive back and wide receiver Travis Hunter, the Buffs gave up 23.1 points per game and 5.1 yards per play. Both sides of the ball took a major step back in 2025 as Colorado had its worst season of Sanders’ three in charge.

Colorado previously hired offensive coordinator Brennan Marion after the 2025 season. Marion came to Colorado after one season as the head coach at Sacramento State — a team moving to the top level of college football and the MAC in 2026.

Before he was at Sacramento State, Marion was the offensive coordinator at UNLV. Former NFL head coach Pat Shurmur was the team’s offensive coordinator to start the 2025 season but tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Brett Bartolone was calling plays in November.

The Buffaloes had an eye toward the future late in the season, too. Freshman QB JuJu Lewis sat out at the end of the year to preserve his redshirt. Colorado started three different quarterbacks in 2025 as Kaidon Salter, Ryan Staub and Lewis all got starts. Staub transferred to Tennessee while Salter is out of eligibility. 

Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope was fined $25,000 by the SEC on Tuesday after the microphone at the podium in Auburn picked up comments he made to athletic director Mitch Barnhart following the Wildcats’ loss to the Tigers on Saturday.

“Mitch, if those mother f****** try to fine me, screw ‘em because I did not say a word about how they cheated us all night,” Pope said.

Sure enough, a fine happened a few days later. The SEC said that Pope violated the league’s rule that says “coaches, players and support personnel shall refrain from all public criticism of officials, which shall include making public any specific communications with the conference office and/or officiating coordinators related to officiating.”

Auburn won the game 75-74 on a tip-in by Elijah Freeman with 1.1 seconds to go. Kentucky’s Collin Chandler was called for an offensive foul with 14 seconds to go and the Wildcats leading by one. The foul gave the ball to Auburn with a chance to win the game, and Freeman tipped in a miss at the rim from KeShawn Murphy.

"Well we're not allowed to talk about the referees but you guys saw it and I think sometimes it's just super personal," Pope said Saturday when asked about the foul on Chandler. "So I’m not allowed to comment on the referees, I won’t comment on the referees. It’s unfortunate. It’s just unfortunate. It didn’t cost us the game. We’re in control of the game so we’ll find ways to go win.”

The loss dropped Kentucky to 17-10 overall and 8-6 in the SEC. It was also the third straight loss for the Wildcats after they lost by nine at Florida and fell by eight points at home to Georgia.

The Georgia loss was Kentucky’s second home SEC loss of the season after the Wildcats lost their home-opener to Missouri. It was the first time the Tigers had ever won at Rupp Arena.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s game at South Carolina — who is tied for 13th in the conference at 3-11 — Kentucky is tied for sixth in the SEC with Vanderbilt, Missouri and Texas.