The college football landscape has drastically shifted over the past several years as the Transfer Portal has created a version of free agency in college football. In college football, fans typically only talked about a buyout when they wanted a coach to be fired or when hiring a coach from another school. Buyouts have now shifted to the players as teams ink contracts to hopefully protect their investment into an athlete.
As players sign revenue sharing agreements with the school, it's becoming easier for a program to keep a player or to be compensated when they leave via the Transfer Portal. This offseason, Cincinnati lost Brendan Sorsby to the Transfer Portal, but they won't lose out fully in the end.
Cincinnati files lawsuit against Brendan Sorsby
On Wednesday, news broke that Cincinnati filed a lawsuit against their former quarterback over an unpaid buyout.
NEW: Cincinnati has filed a lawsuit against Brendan Sorsby seeking a $1M buyout payment after he transferred to Texas Tech, according to court documents.
— On3 (@On3) February 25, 2026
(h/t @Williams_Justin)https://t.co/QI3TgTT27N pic.twitter.com/QYbUK3hY3o
Per the lawsuit, Cincinnati and Brendan Sorsby inked a two-year NIL deal back on July 1st, 2025. According to the suit, Cincinnati was owed a $1 million buyout within 30 days of his transfer which still hasn't been paid.
This offseason, we've seen that the deals colleges are signing their players to are working bringing some order to the sport. Washington was able to retain Demond Williams Jr thanks to the contract he had signed with the school. Duke was able to reach an agreement with Darian Mensah when he decided to leave as their deal controlled his NIL rights.
Cincinnati winning out would be another example of the schools finally gaining some control in this current era of college football. Fans and coaches have called for rules and order in this sport, and now the way that schools are writing their contracts allows for programs to have some stability in an era that's become the Wild West.