After several weeks of hand wringing, name calling, and legal gymnastics, the saga of Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby potentially playing football for the Red Raiders in the 2026 season came to a sudden and somewhat surprising end on Monday afternoon, with Sorsby announcing he plans to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft and go pro.
If you hadn’t heard by now, Sorsby transferred from Cincinnati to Tech in December. However, it was revealed a few months ago that he had been gambling extensively for the last four years, placing around $90,000 in bets on a variety of teams and sports, including on his own team when he played for Indiana back in 2022. Sorsby claimed he had a gambling addiction and went away for 35 days to a rehab facility.
The last several weeks have included some monumental swings in Sorsby’s collegiate fate. In late May, the NCAA deemed Sorsby ineligible for the upcoming season. Texas Tech appealed the ruling unsuccessfully. From there, though, in early June, Sorsby’s legal team was able to secure an injunction from a Lubbock County judge, by which the NCAA’s ruling on Sorsby was lifted, clearing the way for him to play this season.
Over the last several days, though, the Big XII appeared to be positioning itself to issue their own ruling on Sorsby’s eligibility, with hopes of making him ineligible for the upcoming season, going so far as to file a lawsuit of their own in a Dallas court, with the hopes that the court would uphold the conference’s right to apply punishment on this situation. At one point, Texas AG Ken Paxton even got involved, warning the Big XII to stand down.
Perhaps Sorsby saw the writing on the wall with how vigilant the Big XII had become, or perhaps he didn’t want to be a distraction all season. Whatever the case, Sorsby is now headed to the NFL, and college football loses its villain for the upcoming season. Here are three important follow up questions to Sorsby’s decision:
So what’s the deal with this supplemental draft?
When a college player has his eligibility taken away in the window of time after the regular draft, the NFL can hold a supplemental draft, allowing the player a chance to latch on with a team for the upcoming season. Without getting too deep in the weeds, the supplemental draft is essentially a blind auction, where teams wishing to participate submit which pick in the 2027 draft they would give up for the rights to, in this case, Sorsby. The high bidder wins, and forfeits said pick for next year’s draft.
Are NFL teams going to be interested in a player with this much gambling on his record?
Aside from the NFL determining an incoming punishment (if there is one) for Sorsby, that’s the biggest question — does his rampant gambling, couched as a mental health issue by his camp, scare NFL teams away? The only NFL person to speak publicly about Sorsby, to my knowledge, is Browns head coach Todd Monken, who said last week that selecting Sorsby is a “slippery slope” that he doesn’t care to climb. Personally, if I were running a team, I’d be concerned that Sorsby only sought help once he got caught, and a relapse of gambling, and the suspension that would come with it, at the quarterback position is treacherous terrain for an NFL team.
So does this close the book on this whole thing for the NCAA?
It closes the book on Sorsby, for sure. However, the NCAA has to be concerned about the fact that their ruling and subsequent appeal rejection in this case were essentially overturned by a county judge in rural Texas. The NCAA’s toothlessness has been repeatedly exposed in recent years, with the advent of NIL deals, the transfer portal, and other things. If the NCAA is going to have any clout, they need some sort of governmental backing. Otherwise, the next big case like Sorsby’s just needs to be brought to Judge Cletus in Small Town, USA, and it’ll get squashed.
