Texas Tech believed it could contend for a national championship with Brendan Sorsby.
The school invested millions of dollars in the transfer quarterback from Cincinnati, backed him every step of the way after learning of his gambling addiction and nearly went to war with the Big 12 in its efforts to give Sorsby a second chance.
There's no denying that. It's too soon for any attempts at revisionist history. But the more that drama escalated, the more it obscured a truth that's been known within Texas Tech's football building for more than a year: Will Hammond is the future.
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire still insists the Red Raiders wouldn't have pursued Sorsby at all if Hammond hadn't suffered a season-ending injury last October. The plan, up until the day he went down, was to hand him the keys to the offense in 2026. Now that the 20-year-old junior is healthy, the Red Raiders are back on schedule.
"Even if this situation hadn't happened, Will Hammond would've told you he's the starting quarterback of Texas Tech no matter who was in that quarterback room," McGuire said. "If you've been around the young man, he's extremely confident and believes in his ability."
Hammond has shown off his potential in fits and flashes. He's been thrown into high-stakes situations. He's no stranger to being underestimated. And he isn't oblivious to the perception Texas Tech's championship hopes took a big hit this summer.
"I love that narrative that people think we're going to take a step back, that people think this team isn't going to be what it was supposed to be in January," Hammond said. "That's something that fuels us every day. I'm really excited to prove that narrative wrong."
The Red Raiders are rolling with a kid from Austin, Texas, who dreamed of playing for the BYU Cougars while growing up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a family of BYU graduates and Eagle Scouts. When Hammond showed up at a Texas Tech camp in the summer of 2022, his other options were UTSA and Incarnate Word.
The 16-year-old kid McGuire and his coaches extended a scholarship offer to that day was impressively precocious. He made the same first impression on Will Compton when Compton arrived as Hutto High School's new head coach that summer.
"I've got my boxes on the desk on my first day on the job and he comes and sits down and says, 'All right, Coach, when you're game-planning, what do you do on your third-down calls?'" Compton recalled. "I was like, 'Well, I guess we're doing this right now.' We started talking ball. But it wasn't like, 'What kind of offense do we run?' It was, 'What's your third-down procedure in deciding playcalls?' He wants to talk football 24/7 and he talks it at such a high level."
Hammond would go out to Provo, Utah, every summer for football camps and stay in the dorms. He still cherishes meeting quarterback Taysom Hill when Bronco Mendenhall brought the Cougars to his church for devotionals the Friday night before they routed Texas in 2014. But Compton said any interest BYU did have "never turned into anything."
Six months after he committed to Texas Tech, Hammond was invited to the Elite 11 Finals in Redondo Beach, California, as a three-star recruit and shined in a quarterback field that included Julian Sayin, Dylan Raiola and DJ Lagway. As a senior at Hutto, he put up 4,978 total yards and 58 touchdowns. He broke a national single-game record with 807 total yards in a wild 82-80 loss to Liberty Hill. Hammond picked up that fourth star and offers from SEC schools but stayed loyal.
"He never wavered from Texas Tech," Compton said. "He didn't worry about being slept on or not getting his dues."
Hammond earned the backup role behind Behren Morton as a freshman in 2024 and twice stepped in for the injured starter in pressure situations. He played the entire second half on the road at TCU, a game that ended with a blown lead and a fumble by Hammond on a crushing hit. He started in the Liberty Bowl against Arkansas and Tech's offense went cold in the second half of a 39-26 loss. By then, though, Hammond had done more than enough to win over his teammates.
"The second he got in the building in his true freshman year, he was working like he was the starter," linebacker Ben Roberts said. "He put in more work than the starter did. I've had faith in him since he got here."
The injuries continued for Morton in last year's opener with a hairline fracture in his right fibula that he tried to play through all season. Then he was knocked out of Tech's first road test at Utah with a concussion. Hammond entered early in the third quarter with a 10-3 lead and more than 30 family members in attendance.
His confidence kicked in early. He survived a smash blitz on a first down and scrambled for 4 yards. Two plays later, he hit an 18-yard pass to Caleb Douglas over two Utah defenders to convert a third down.
"From then on, I was like, 'Dude, we can do whatever we want against these guys,'" Hammond said.
He lit up the Big 12's second-best defense with 169 passing yards and 61 rushing yards in a 34-10 rout of the team he grew up rooting against. Hammond called it a "childhood dream come true." Morton was cleared to return for Tech's next game, and McGuire made it perfectly clear to all he wasn't making a change at QB, but he loved what he saw from Hammond.
"It's crazy to say this, but Will may set every record in the history books at Texas Tech in his career," McGuire told ESPN last October. "Maybe not the single-season records, because B.J. Symons was unreal. But the difference right now is everything happens at a faster pace with Behren at quarterback at a really high level."
Hammond took over again when Morton aggravated his leg injury against Kansas on Oct. 11. And then, with one awkward cut, his season was suddenly over. It happened on a scramble against Oklahoma State two weeks later. No contact, no obvious sign of trouble. But Hammond instantly knew something was wrong with his right knee.
"We went in and within 30 seconds, they did the ACL test and knew it was torn," he said. "From then it was just like, 'All right, so, uh, how quickly can I get back on the field next year?' I didn't really sit in it too long. I asked them when can I get surgery and how fast can I rehab?"
Hammond had surgery in December after Texas Tech defeated BYU in the Big 12 championship. Soon after, he sat down with McGuire and general manager James Blanchard and they laid out their thought process. They assured Hammond they still believed in him, but they had to prepare for the possibility he might not be healthy by Week 1 and needed to sign a transfer.
"With the amount of money that's being placed into these rosters, we felt like if there was any setback injury-wise, we couldn't take the chance that he's not going to be ready," McGuire said.
So they brought in Sorsby.
"Me being more of a team guy, I'm not going to be selfish about that," Hammond said. "I would rather this team go undefeated and win a Big 12 championship and compete for a national title, no matter what it takes. Like, OK, I just had surgery. I'm going to trust you guys. I want this program to be successful."
McGuire commended Hammond for how well he handled that tough conversation. Center Sheridan Wilson said if Hammond was upset, he never showed it. As he braced for eight months of rehab and the arrival of Sorsby, the QB made a choice.
"He never had a poor-me mentality," Compton said. "That's kind of who Will is. He said, 'I'm gonna go compete and I'm gonna go win the job.'"
Hammond's standard is first in the building and last one out. That's what he believes it takes to be the starter. He'd start his day at the Womble Football Center at 7 a.m. and stuck to his routine. He chatted with Patrick Mahomes at pro day about his own ACL rehab process and training. He stayed on schedule with no hiccups.
By the time the Sorsby affair was officially over, with McGuire convening a team meeting June 15 to break the news that Texas Tech was moving on, Hammond had progressed enough that he was cleared to throw in player-led 7-on-7 sessions.
"It was really exciting," Hammond said. "It was cool to be thrust into that position and it's something I've always been prepared for. I thought it was great timing just for that sake, that we could get out there and keep doing 7-on-7 and the guys didn't have to worry about who was going to be playing quarterback."
Hammond feels ready to lead them. He says he's been 100% healthy since mid-July. He's practicing with a brace on his right knee as an extra measure of protection. There won't be as many designed runs this season. He's trying to be smart about this because he plans to be playing deep into January.
In fact, Hammond is the one who brings up the stat: Texas Tech hasn't had a quarterback start all 12 regular-season games since Mahomes in 2016.
With that history in mind, the Red Raiders got extra insurance at the position Wednesday with the late addition of Tommy Castellanos, a 32-game starter at Florida State and Boston College. Just like in January, McGuire has to protect the investment in this roster.
The offense features one of the best running back trios in the sport with Cameron Dickey, J'Koby Williams and Quinten Joyner. There's a preseason All-American at tight end in Terrance Carter Jr. The receiving corps starts with Kenny Johnson and Micah Hudson on the outside and Coy Eakin in the slot, but players say it's deeper than ever. The offensive line has been stout in fall camp. All they need is a reliable point guard, and teammates have no doubts there.
"We've still got that secret weapon back there," Carter said. "We're good."
Hammond loves watching tape of Joe Burrow's historic 2019 season at LSU. He'll send highlights from their games to his receivers, always finding ideas to rep in practice. That's the dude he wants to be, and that's what he believes this Texas Tech offense can be.
He doesn't hesitate to state their goal, and losing Sorsby didn't change it one bit: Texas Tech is competing for a national championship this season.
"We've got the roster to do that," Hammond said.
But do they have the quarterback?
Hammond's career record as Texas Tech's starter is 1-2. If you want to get him fired up, remind him of that. McGuire called it out after one of the summer 7-on-7 sessions. The young QB has plenty more reasons to be motivated right now, with his first game back from injury coming Saturday against Abilene Christian, but that record stuck with him throughout an offseason that repeatedly tested his resolve.
"That's something that gets me up every day," Hammond said.
During a workout in July, after he'd finally become QB1, he brought it up to Carter.
"He was like, 'Bro, those will be the last two games I lost,'" Carter said. "And I believe him."
