BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Around five years ago, Brendan Sorsby stood 5-foot-2 – maybe 5-foot-3, he says – as a freshman at Lake Dallas High School in Corinth, Texas, his frame a long way away from the current one he occupies.
“If you would ask anybody in that high school,” Sorsby says, “there was no chance I was going anywhere.”
After a growth spurt by chance and a work ethic by choice, the now 6-foot-3, 230-pound Sorsby later became a three-star prospect in the class of 2022. His four years in Texas high school football and his recruitment, however, were far from routine.
A global pandemic affected his sophomore season, pushing the start of his season back a full month, and carried over into his junior year. By the time things had largely returned to normal, Sorsby’s senior season was bound by injury struggles.
Sorsby was raw – a prospect still maturing into the framework that suddenly had real collegiate aspirations. Coming off of a senior season where Sorsby threw for over 1,200 yards and ran for just south of 800, his 28 total touchdowns only accumulated interest from small programs or preferred walk-on roles. "I think that gave us a chance to kind of maybe get in on a guy that wasn't being as highly recruited as he probably should have been," Tom Allen says.
“Pretty much everybody had had their quarterback already signed early with everything going on,” Sorsby said.
Indiana, however, had just lost theirs. Fellow Texas signal-caller Josh Hoover flipped his commitment to TCU, and Allen and then-new offensive coordinator Walt Bell needed to move quickly. Then, Indiana found Sorsby.
"First thing that stuck out to me was his athleticism on film," Allen said. "First step you do when you find somebody, you want to evaluate, you see them on film, and he was a guy that was making plays with his legs. You could see the natural arm talent was there, and you say, okay, is this guy really as big as he's listed as, so Coach Bell went and watched him in person, watched him throw and was able to make that evaluation, hey, this guy has got something to him, from just a natural ball release."
Indiana offered Sorsby on January 19, 2022. A day later, Sorsby’s official visit to Bloomington was set for that upcoming weekend. Three days later, Indiana had their quarterback in the class.
“The spot opened up here and they came out and watched me throw and offered me,” Sorsby said. “I knew it was a place that I wanted to be.”
The chip on his shoulder was larger than some of the respect his game garnered and felt he deserved. He hadn’t yet evolved into the game-managing, hit-absorbing, risk-taking quarterback that just led Indiana to their first Big Ten victory this season last weekend, but he’d finally been given the landing spot he could launch from.
“Coach Allen and Coach Bell, they’re the only ones that believed in me,” Sorsby said. “They were the only big time program to give me a chance, I trusted them and I wanted to come be a part of it.
“Whenever there’s only one college that takes a chance on you, it makes you want to work harder and prove them right, prove yourself right and prove everybody else wrong.”
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Every single repetition Sorsby sees on the field is a valuable one.
“If you go back and look at his – just the number of snaps at the quarterback position, even back in high school, was not very extensive,” Allen said.
The process Indiana went through to select a quarterback this season is one Allen feels was, upon re-evaluation and analysis, a necessary evil. The Hoosiers rotated quarterbacks for two weeks with Sorsby and Tayven Jackson after not having named a starter in the fall. Both redshirt-freshmen this season, the lack of game experience from either option posed Indiana with a desire for the battle to carry on into the season’s first few weeks.
“The thing I think you see as the season’s played itself out, you kind of see the dilemma that we were in,” Allen told reporters the Monday after IU’s loss at Penn State. “You have two guys that had shown signs of going some good things and also showed signs of being young.
“With that information, we just felt like we needed to see them play.”
After his close friend and competition mate made starts versus Louisville, Akron and Maryland, the Hoosiers made an offensive coordinator change and found themselves back at square one. Rotation ensued once again at Michigan, and Sorsby was the eventual choice after six games. Sorsby wasn’t the first choice, but he’s seemingly established himself as Indiana’s right choice heading into the final quarter of the season.
“You just want to see whoever takes over to take it and then just start growing and take the position and run with it,” Allen continued. “I think we’ve seen these last few weeks the growth with Brendan.”
The intrigue and uncertainty about just how high the ceiling is with Sorsby has followed him throughout his journey to Indiana. Out of high school, Allen and his staff saw a player with equal upside and questions, each being inquiries that can only be answered in game-like situations. How would he respond to being hit, to having Big Ten defensive linemen and linebackers pressuring him down the barrel, to having eyes on his every move at the helm of a Power 5 offense?
“Just poise, confidence in himself, only grows over time, and you’re seeing that from him every game he plays,” Allen said. “I just think his natural talent is kind of starting to come out, and as he gets more comfortable with what we’re doing and how he’s able to distribute the ball at critical times.
“Expect that just to – once again, every single week, we’ve just got to keep getting a little bit better.”
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In attempting to overcome the second half struggles that had plagued Indiana’s offense as they sought out their first Big Ten win in nearly a calendar year, Sorsby and the Indiana offense had a simple message.
“Hey, we gotta have this one,” Sorsby said Monday, the redshirt freshman quarterback recalling upon the conclusion of IU’s victory over Wisconsin.
To do so, the Hoosiers would need to change the tide and find some semblance of the absent spark that had seemingly left the Indiana offense behind. The unit wasn’t moving the ball with near the efficiency or effectiveness as the 225-yard, 17-point first half suggested they could, and the door for a Badger comeback continued to creak open.
Indiana, often marred by the ability to do so in late-game situations, would be forced to close.
With 4:07 on the clock and starting at Indiana’s own 42, the Hoosier offense converted two first downs at the first chance of asking – one via Sorsby’s legs and the other by way of an 11-yard completion to Donaven McCulley. Three plays later, McCulley drew a pass interference that put Indiana on the fringe of field goal range they’d later convert from.
The drive was, by no means, Indiana’s most impressive of the afternoon. But it was their most crucial, pushing Wisconsin’s requirement to a touchdown and leaving them with 70 seconds to do it.
“When it mattered, we got down in there and did what we had to do, even given the struggles we had in the second half,” Carey said.
Carey mentioned Indiana was well-equipped to deal with their struggles thanks to Indiana playing their smartest game of the season on offense – an effort that included no penalties and no turnovers.
Sorsby relied upon his preparation and game management to guide the Hoosiers to victory. It’s where Carey says he’s seen the most growth from the Indiana starter.
“Understanding where you are on the field, what’s the game situation, what really needs to be accomplished,” Carey said. “Take that last drive. If we pick up that third down – we called a pass there – you pick up that third down, the game’s over. You have to call the pass in that scenario. You have to do that. But we told him this can’t be incomplete, okay, can’t be completed out of bounds, short of a first down. So it’s either open, or you got to run it and you can’t take a sack.
“There’s a lot there, and he hit his third step, didn’t like it and he got forward for a yard or no gain, and we got to drain the clock out and hit a big field goal. That’s big growth, for a young guy especially.”
He’d been limited throughout practices that week in the lead up to the game after his shoulder caused some issues for him coming out of the Penn State contest.
"I was actually surprised like how quick I felt settled in you know, not practicing very much last week and getting as many live reps," Sorsby said. "I felt really mentally prepared and ready to go. So once I got out there on Saturday, I felt good."
Ironically, if his playstyle didn't already suggest it, contact is not only something Sorsby realizes is a part of the game, but he welcomes it as part of his own.
“I like to lower the shoulder every now and then,” Sorsby said. “Hopefully it fires a couple of the other guys up as well whenever they see the quarterback lower his shoulder and, you know, maybe go deliver a blow to another guy. But they also get on to me, they’re like, ‘Hey, maybe you should slide every now and then too.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I agree.’”
There’s a balance, an art to the act of absorbing the contact and continuing to play aggressive through it, he says. In the same vein, Sorsby admits he’s not quite sure if he’s learned it yet.
“As soon as it happens, it starts to go through your head and your shoulder starts to talk to you a little bit,” Sorsby said. “You’re like, ‘Hey, that one kind of hurt a little bit. Maybe let’s lay off of those.’ But in the moment, you’re not really thinking too much and you’re just trying to be a ballplayer."
Where Sorsby has struck a balance, in most instances since taking over the job, has been in the ability to find a happy medium between rightful aggression and decision-making. Last week, it resulted in a winning outcome.
The Hoosiers have a quarterback who’s lowered shoulder continues to stack chips as the program looks to stack wins. His process, parallel with his recruitment and his elevation to the starting role, has been accelerated and unorthodox. As Sorsby grows more comfortable and capable, Indiana hopes his rising tide can lift their boat.
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