Judge Rules Sorsby Eligible Despite $90K in Bets
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- Judge Ken Curry ruled Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby eligible Monday, finding he would suffer "irreparable injury" without a temporary injunction, despite Sorsby's admission of at least $90,000 in sports bets including 40 on Indiana football as a 2022 freshman.
- The NCAA was alerted to Sorsby's gambling by law enforcement in March, deemed him ineligible after he entered inpatient rehab for a gambling addiction, and filed an accelerated appeal later Monday — a process that could extend past the season and render a final ruling moot.
- Attorney Jeffrey Kessler sued the NCAA on May 18 on Sorsby's behalf, framing the gambling as a mental health and addiction issue and arguing the NCAA was obligated to support rather than punish him.
- Georgia issued an internal memo barring its teams from scheduling Texas Tech, while Nebraska AD Troy Dannen said his school won't schedule the Red Raiders and Big Ten officials are expected to discuss a leaguewide scheduling ban.
- ACC commissioner Jim Phillips called the ruling a "horrendous pattern" "eroding the integrity of our process," TCU's Sonny Dykes asked how anyone will trust game outcomes, and Florida's Scott Stricklin invoked MLB's 1919 Black Sox Scandal.
- Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark confirmed meetings with conference ADs and the executive board this week, calling the ruling's "ramifications...significant" with the potential for "broad impacts across college athletics."
- Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec backed Sorsby publicly, writing that the QB's "vulnerability deserves to be met with the full weight of this institution's support."
Why it matters: A state court injunction, not the NCAA, made Sorsby eligible — establishing a path for players to override gambling rules via litigation and undermining NCAA authority on integrity. With Georgia already banning future scheduling and the Big Ten and Big 12 weighing similar moves, Texas Tech faces competitive isolation that pressures the NCAA's appeal and tests whether courts or campuses govern college sports eligibility.