Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is currently away from the program while in a rehab program for gambling addiction. Sorsby’s sports gambling could end his college football career.
According to the NCAA rules, “student-athletes who wager on their own games or on other sports at their own schools” face “permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports.”
If Sorsby is not eligible to play college football again, one route he could take would be to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft. NFL reporter Albert Breer believes that heading to the NFL could be an option, even if he is banned from college, as he spoke on The Dan Patrick Show.
“The trouble the NFL will get into in denying him entry, and this is so thorny for them because of the business that they do with all the gambling companies, is essentially they’re a trade association. So can a trade association deny employment to a guy? Or do they have to let the companies make that determination? The companies in that case would be the teams,” Breer said.
The NFL can deny a player eligibility for the draft, but it would be difficult for the NFL to deny Sorsby based on his losing college eligibility due to gambling, especially considering the league’s relationship with sportsbooks.
Sorsby has been seen as a potentialy first round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. If he is banned by the NCAA, Sorsby can apply to be in the supplemental draft, which would happen before training camp opens. A team could then select Sorsby, forfeiting the same round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. A player has not been selected in the supplemental draft since 2019, when the Arizona Cardinals selected Jalen Thompson, after he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA.
Still, the gambling aspect does put a wrinkle in things. In 2011, when Terrell Pyror decided to go to the supplemental draft after being suspended for five games for selling memorabilia, the NFL held that suspension. Then, in 2023, the NFL suspended ten players for sports betting.
Regardless, the next step for Sorsby is finishing rehab and finding out his status with the NCAA.
Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is currently away from the program while in a rehab program for gambling addiction. Sorsby’s sports gambling could end his college football career. According to the NCAA rules, “student-athletes who wager on their own games or on other sports at their own schools” face “permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports.
