Attorneys for Brendan Sorsby and the NCAA presented arguments before a district judge Monday as the Texas Tech transfer quarterback seeks an injunction to allow him to play next season after he acknowledged making thousands of impermissible bets while in college.
There was no immediate ruling from Senior Judge Ken Curry after the two-hour hearing, or any indication of when he would rule on a temporary injunction against the NCAA. An injunction would not change Sorsby being declared permanently ineligible by the NCAA, but would put that on hold as the case proceeds.
Sorsby did not attend the hearing in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located.
Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney who negotiated the House settlement against the NCAA and is now representing Sorsby, requested a ruling by June 15. That would be a week before the deadline for Sorsby to apply for the NFL supplemental draft if he remains ineligible to play for the Red Raiders this fall.
Kessler told the court the 22-year-old Sorsby has a diagnosed addiction and anxiety-driven compulsion. He said the quarterback was never motivated by financial gain in his gambling and never sought to alter or compromise the outcome of a game. Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech for a reported multimillion-dollar deal after playing for Cincinnati the past two seasons, recently completed a month-long residential treatment program for gambling addiction.
According to a clinician who treated Sorsby, Kessler said, not allowing the quarterback to play would hurt his mental health and impede the progress of his recovery.
NCAA lead attorney Taylor Askew questioned how being allowed to play again in college, and putting him back into the situation that triggered his behavior, would help Sorsby’s mental health. As for NCAA rules, Askew said, Sorsby would have been ruled ineligible long ago had his gambling been known in the past.
Court filings revealed that on March 11 the NCAA received a tip from an online gambling book, which had been informed by law enforcement, about Sorsby’s gambling activity. Texas Texas was notified April 14 that the NCAA was doing an investigation.
“If this were just one or two violations, it would still render him ineligible,” Askew told the judge. “This is thousands of violations, 40 individual bets on Indiana football when he was a member of the team, he was on the roster. He just wasn’t traveling. A member of the team, that’s permanent ineligibility.”
The bets made by Sorsby
According to court documents, Sorsby made thousands of bets totaling at least $90,000 while in college. That included at least 40 bets on Indiana football when he was a Hoosiers freshman in 2022, though none on games that he played in over two seasons there.
The documents show that Sorsby made at least 2,900 bets totaling more than $30,000 while at Indiana from June 2022 through December 2023. He continued betting after transferring to Cincinnati, though not on the Bearcats. He provided more than $60,000 to a friend to deposit into a shared FanDuel account registered in another name.
Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech after last season, to a state where online betting is illegal, and electronically transferred about $5,000 to other individuals who placed bets on his behalf.
Texas Tech seeks Sorsby’s reinstatement
Texas Tech announced on April 27 that Sorsby was taking an indefinite leave of absence to enter a residential treatment program.
Coach Joey McGuire said last week that the quarterback would still be able to participate in offseason workouts with the Red Raiders after returning to campus. Their season opener is Sept. 5 at home against Abilene Christian. Texas Tech won the Big 12 last season before a loss in the College Football Playoff capped a 12-2 season.
Sorsby sought the injunction against the NCAA in a lawsuit filed May 18, the same day Texas Tech ruled him ineligible, a necessary step before the school could pursue his reinstatement. Tech filed that request for reinstatement the following day, and the NCAA denied it May 22. Texas Tech is appealing that ruling.
Reporting by the Associated Press.
