Thomas Castellanos commits to Texas Tech after injunction

Thomas Castellanos, a former Florida State quarterback who led an upset of Alabama last season, received an injunction allowing him to enter the transfer portal and play a fifth season, according to multiple reports. He is expected to join Texas Tech in his final year.

Castellanos will play for the Red Raiders in 2026, following a quarterback void created when Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby went into treatment for a gambling addiction and later left the program, according to reporting cited by other outlets.

Career production for the dual-threat quarterback includes 6,449 passing yards, 48 touchdowns, and 28 interceptions across 38 career games spanning UCF in 2022, Boston College in 2023-24, and Florida State in 2025. He also rushed for 1,984 yards and 24 rushing touchdowns.

At Florida State, Castellanos led a 31-17 upset over then-No. 8 Alabama in the opening weekend of the 2025 season, according to the reports. Florida State finished 5-7 overall after that early win.

Texas Tech is expected to evaluate him behind junior Will Hammond, who made two starts last season and is coming off an ACL injury, according to the accounts.

The NCAA’s eligibility model recently established five seasons of eligibility over five years beginning no later than age 19, but it does not apply retroactively to players who entered college in 2022 and already completed four seasons under the older model, according to the reports.

On July 31, a federal judge in Colorado issued an injunction in the Wisne v. NCAA case covering most athletes from the high school class of 2022 who had already completed their careers, according to reporting. The NCAA appealed, and the injunction did not create a special transfer portal window, the reports said.

Castellanos was among 13 football and basketball players who filed a subsequent lawsuit in Kentucky seeking immediate transfer portal entry. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Brian Edwards held a hearing Aug. 13 and issued the ruling Friday, according to the reporting.