With his football career at a crossroads and just three weeks after voluntarily entering a treatment facility April 27 for his “gambling addiction,” Brendan Sorsby and his legal team now are taking the next step in their battle with the NCAA in an attempt to salvage the final year of Sorby’s college football career.
On Monday, in the Lubbock County, Texas District Court, the plaintiff Sorsby filed suit against the NCAA.
In the court filing, Sorsby and his legal representatives petitioned for injunctive relief against the NCAA, professed Sorsby “took accountability for his NCAA gambling rules violations, entered residential treatment and offered to accept reasonable discipline (but not full loss of eligibility for the upcoming season at Texas Tech).”
Sorsby wants “temporary and permanent injunctive relief” and to be allowed to “participate fully as a member of the Texas Tech football team for the 2026 season.”
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Ohio State Buckeyes safety Sonny Styles (6) tackles Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Brendan Sorsby (15) during the first half of the NCAA football game at Indiana University Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Sept. 2, 2023.
Filing the suit is a necessary legal maneuver, a bit of a Sorsby Hail Mary, to continue a college career that already includes stops as a reserve at Indiana — origin of Sorby’s admitted decision to gamble on his own team — and the starter at Cincinnati.
For Sorsby and his legal representatives, as well as his Name, Image and Likeness agent, it’s either stop at nothing in an attempt to return to the Red Raiders or test his luck by petitioning to be considered for the NFL’s Supplemental Draft — which has not happened since 2019.
Participation and selection in a supplemental draft — teams blindly submit a bid to the league office, declaring a draft-round value on a player in the process and if their bid is selected, lose that same pick in the subsequent year’s draft — would not guarantee Sorsby would land on an NFL roster.
However, an AFC assistant coach told USA Today Sports that Sorsby “would definitely get picked up by somebody in a supplemental pick. He’s got a lot to like.”
Still, that money would likely not match what Sorsby has been projected to earn for a final year of college football as Texas Tech’s starting quarterback.
An assistant coach from a program that previously recruited Sorsby told USA Today Sports that Sorsby was “going to make more than $5 million this year, bro.”
Two different college football general managers told USA Today Sports Sorsby’s agreement with the Red Raiders was believed to be worth more than $5 million.
Additionally, three separate NIL agents who brokered seven-figure contracts for clients in this past NCAA transfer portal cycle told USA Today Sports Sorsby’s deal effectively had “reset the market” and was “by far the largest one-year deal we know about.” All three said the deal was for more than $5 million.
At the time of Sorsby’s legal filing Monday, Texas Tech had not yet formally declared it had determined Sorsby as ineligible for competition.
That arrived after 5 p.m. ET from Texas Tech’s athletics communications.
“After finalizing an agreed-upon stipulation of facts between Texas Tech University, the NCAA and Brendan Sorsby, the University has declared Sorsby ineligible for competition,” the Red Raiders’ statement read. “Texas Tech intends to quickly initiate the reinstatement process.
“Texas Tech’s primary focus remains supporting Sorsby’s health and well-being.”
The NCAA, which has been notoriously tight-lipped on active gambling investigations, issued a strongly worded rebuttal to Sorsby’s injunctive filing — even before Texas Tech’s formal declaration of finding Sorsby ineligible.
"The NCAA has not received a reinstatement request for this case,” the official statement said. “The NCAA generally doesn't comment on pending reinstatement requests, but the Association's sports betting rules are clear, as are the reinstatement conditions.
“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."
The NCAA said simply it would not have additional comment “at this time” after Texas Tech’s statement.
In the legal filing, Sorsby admitted he previously gambled on his own team, but only did so with pro-Hoosiers bets. Tabbed the Hoosiers to win games. Or the quarterback to eclipse the oddsmakers’ passing yardage totals. Offense to light up the scoreboards.
Go team.
Never mind the Hoosiers scored just 23.3 points per game in 2022, averaged just 217.4 passing yards per game and failed to score more than 23 points in seven of nine Big Ten games.
Sorsby’s bets, admitted in his filing, were routinely in the $5 to $50 range (the filing does not specify that no wager on Indiana or NCAA football ever exceeded that $50 amount).
Sorsby also in the documents contended he largely bet on events other than NCAA football; he wagered on Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, UFC, Romanian soccer and more. Major League Baseball. Tennis. Turkish basketball.
Now, though, Sorsby contends he is ready for a return to college football.
After three weeks in a rehab center getting help for what has been reported as a gambling addiction featuring “thousands of bets” and for which people familiar with the matter told USA Today Sports that Sorby’s previous school, Cincinnati, had been made aware of his gambling habits last August and that Sorsby’s preferred gambling hangout was known even among the city’s high school coaches, Sorsby is seeking to be back on the football field — college football field — this fall.
The NCAA, which briefly in fall 2025 adopted legislation that would have allowed student-athletes to gamble on professional sports and then saw that quickly rescinded, has outlined and enforced strict penalties for athletes who gamble on their own sports or NCAA-sanctioned sports at their college or university.
Specifically, per the NCAA rulebook, there is zero ambiguity on the penalty for an athlete betting on a team to which the athlete belongs:
“Betting on own individual performance or own team: permanent loss of eligibility.”
Additionally, betting on other teams at the same school carries a minimum one-year penalty:
“One year of ineligibility and loss of one year of eligibility.”
But Texas Tech seems willing to stick in the fight.
Prior to their latest statement, the Red Raiders last month already professed the program’s “love” for the quarterback who arrived on campus in January of this year.
“We love Brendan and support his decision to seek professional help,” Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire said April 27 in a school statement shared with USA Today Sports and other media outlets.
