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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The transfer of quarterback Brendan Sorsby from Cincinnati to Texas Tech was already one of the defining stories of the 2026 college football offseason.
Now, a new layer has emerged, one that highlights the growing intersection between college football’s rising stars and the NFL’s elite.
During a recent interview with On3’s J.D. PicKell on Friday, Sorsby revealed that two of the biggest names in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, reached out to him while he was navigating the transfer portal.
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Both players star for the Kansas City Chiefs, but they also share ties to Sorsby’s college journey. Mahomes remains the most famous quarterback in Texas Tech history, while Kelce is one of the most prominent alumni from Cincinnati.
According to Sorsby, the conversations came together naturally while he was weighing his transfer options.
“Mahomes had reached out, and I'm like, ‘Okay, this is pretty sick,’” Sorsby said. “Mahomes just texting me out of nowhere was a pretty cool deal. So I've kind of built a relationship a little bit with him.”
Kelce, meanwhile, reached out with a playful message tied to Sorsby’s departure from Cincinnati.
“Obviously, being at Cincinnati, Travis (Kelce) had texted me,” Sorsby said. “He was like, ‘You’re dead to me,’ with the laughing emoji and all that stuff. So I still talk to both of those guys decently regularly.”
“I know they've got busy lives going on, but I'm sure I'll be able to train with them this summer, and it'll be good,” he said. “Mahomes has been nothing but great to me so far. And yeah, it’s been awesome.”
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When Sorsby committed to Texas Tech in January, he was widely considered the top player available in the transfer portal and quickly became one of the most lucrative NIL athletes in the sport.
Reports indicated his agreement with Texas Tech’s collective could be worth around $5 million for the 2026 season, placing him among the highest-paid players in college football.
For the Red Raiders, landing Sorsby was a program-defining move.
Texas Tech is coming off a 12-win season and a College Football Playoff appearance, but the offense struggled in its postseason loss to Oregon.
Adding a proven quarterback with high-end production was viewed as a priority for a team hoping to remain in the national title conversation.
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Sorsby arrives in Lubbock after a highly productive run at Cincinnati.
In the 2025 season, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound dual-threat quarterback threw for 2,800 yards with 27 touchdown passes and only five interceptions across 12 games. He also added 580 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground, showcasing the mobility and physicality that made him one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the portal.
The strong campaign marked the latest step in a rapid rise that began earlier in his college career at Indiana before he transferred to Cincinnati.
The Mahomes and Kelce connections highlight how quickly Sorsby’s profile has grown.
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