Gambling Addict Sorsby Gains Injuction To Play 2026 NCAA Football Season
Mike Goodpaster Published 09/06/2026
Judge Ken Curry of the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, Texas, has granted a temporary injunction that will allow quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play NCAA football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders this fall. Sorsby had been declared ineligible by the NCAA after it was discovered that he had wagered on college sports, including placing bets on his own team while a quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers.
Sorsby's only punishment for his violations of NCAA rules will be a two-game suspension that was proposed by his attorneys during a two-hour hearing held last week. In his ruling, Judge Curry noted that Sorsby would suffer “a probable, imminent, and irreparable injury” if he were forced to sit out his final year of NCAA eligibility.
The NCAA is planning to appeal the court's ruling
Plans to appeal the decision were immediately announced by the NCAA.
"The NCAA strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in Sorsby's case and is deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching, and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome — which undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports," the NCAA said in a statement.
NCAA lawyer Taylor Askew argued that allowing Sorsby to play another season would do "reputable harm" to the organization.
“Saying the NCAA is now the first league in America that allows you, without punishment, to bet on its own contests, that’s a reputable harm to the NCAA,” Askew told the court. “This would be the first league in America that does that. ... We should not say for the first time [that] serial gambling is OK.”
Sorsby's lawyers made the case that he is suffering from a sickness
The injunction comes with a condition that Sorsby must continue counselling for his gambling addiction to address “the underlying anxiety that served as the primary driver of [his] gambling behaviour,” Judge Curry wrote in his ruling. It will be a requirement that Sorsby participate in peer support through Gamblers Anonymous or another problem gambling resource.
According to court documents, Sorsby acknowledges making thousands of bets totalling at least $90,000 during his time at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. This total includes 40 bets he made on the Hoosiers while he was a freshman at Indiana in 2022. He was not a participant in any of the games on which he was placing bets.
Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt thinks everyone should be viewing Sorsby's gambling problem in the same light as any other sickness. Hocutt indicated that the school will put into place a comprehensive support structure, including clinical care, monitoring and compliance checks, while Sorsby is a student at Texas Tech.
“As we have said before, we do not believe that the circumstances of Brendan’s case warranted permanent ineligibility,” Hocutt told Sportsnet. “As he returns to our football program, we remain committed to supporting Brendan’s recovery and ensuring his compliance with the court’s order.”
The NCAA was sympathetic to Sorsby's mental health issues. However, it argued that the lines he had crossed meant that he must forfeit his remaining eligibility.
"The NCAA is committed to supporting student-athlete mental health but must continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one's own sport," read the NCAA's statement.
NCAA schools are contemplating a boycott of Texas Tech
Appalled by the judge's decision, several rival schools are considering a complete boycott of all athletic competition against Texas Tech.
"A sad day for not only college athletics, but college sports in general," Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor told ESPN. "I give him credit for admitting and seeking help for his addiction, but to put him back in a high-profile, stressful role with that type of an issue is not helping him.”
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