Brendan Sorsby is doing what he can to play for the Texas Tech Red Raiders in 2026.
After seeking inpatient treatment for a gambling addiction, the transfer quarterback is now going after the NCAA.
He’s currently ineligible to play in 2026 due to previous violations of the NCAA’s sports gambling rules. While a redshirt freshman at Indiana a few years ago, Sorsby allegedly placed bets on the Hoosiers.
Those are claims he doesn’t deny, and those bets are part of the reason that he’s in rehab for a gambling addiction.
On Monday, though, Sorsby filed an injunction against the NCAA in an effort to revive his eligibility for the 2026 season.
In a filing made in a district court in Lubbock County, Texas, Sorsby’s lawyers are making the claim that he will be “irreparably harmed” if he can’t play college football in 2026. This is even though the NCAA prohibits student athletes from not just betting on their own teams, but from betting on any NCAA-sanctioned sport, professional or collegiate.
Sorsby’s legal team is saying that the NCAA is using his mental health condition, a “clinically diagnosed” gambling disorder, against him.
“The NCAA has weaponized his condition to shore up a facade of competitive integrity, while simultaneously profiting from the very gambling ecosystem it polices,” the filing states, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Sorsby is seeking to be able to participate fully with the Red Raiders in 2026 and play in all of their games. The filing reveals that the quarterback did offer to accept a two-game suspension based on the completion of his residential treatment program. He also offered to work with others to help shed light on the dangers of gambling.
Clearly, the NCAA was not willing to negotiate with Sorsby, and it doesn’t sound like there’s going to be much room, if any, for budging. Texas Tech will apply for reinstatement on his behalf, but the University did say that its “primary focus remains supporting Sorsby’s health and well-being.”
NCAA does not appear to want to grant Brandon Sorsby eligibility for 2026
For its part, the NCAA appears unfazed.
“The Association’s sports betting rules are clear, as are the reinstatement conditions,” the NCAA said in a statement. “When it comes to betting on one’s own team, these rules must be enforced in every case for the simple reason that the integrity of the game is at risk. Every sports league has these protections in place, and the NCAA will continue to apply them equally because every student-athlete competing deserves to know they’re playing a fair game.”
Unless a judge says otherwise, it does not appear Sorsby will be able to play for Texas Tech. The NCAA did have a call with Sorsby’s representatives last Friday, and the organization is requesting that information on his betting habits be included in his requests for reinstatement. That includes amounts bet and money won or lost.
“To be clear, I never placed any bets ‘against’ Indiana or against any players on the team,” Sorsby said in an affidavit included in his lawsuit against the NCAA. “I never used any non-public information that I knew about the team in deciding what bets to place. My bets were purely intended to make me feel more connected to the game and my teammates and to give me more of a reason to root for my teammates. Because the Indiana football team was not a very strong competitor in 2022, I lost most of the bets I placed.”
