Texas Tech QB Sorsby to enter NFL supplemental draft
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- Brendan Sorsby plans to apply for the NFL supplemental draft by the June 22 deadline, reversing course after a June 8 Texas judge injunction had appeared to clear his path to play for Texas Tech in 2026
- The NCAA ruled Sorsby ineligible after discovering he placed more than 9,000 bets totaling at least $90,000 on professional and college sports over four years at Indiana, Cincinnati, and Texas Tech, including at least 40 wagers on Indiana football as a freshman in 2022
- Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell said Sorsby "will not be part of the Texas Tech football team this fall" and called the supplemental draft "the only viable and fair path," adding the school will not seek return of any NIL money paid to Sorsby
- The Big 12 filed for a federal injunction Monday seeking the right to discipline Sorsby, stating in its filing that "Universities should not field players who have bet on their own team's games in college athletics"
- Sorsby's attorney Jeffrey Kessler told ESPN his team will withdraw the lawsuit against the NCAA, saying "It is now moot"; Sorsby completed a 35-day inpatient rehab program for gambling addiction after law enforcement uncovered his betting activity
- The NFL supplemental draft hasn't been held since 2023, and no player has been selected in one since the Cardinals took safety Jalen Thompson with a fifth-round bid in 2019
- At least four state attorneys general criticized Texas AG Ken Paxton for what amounted to a preemptive injunction warning against Big 12 sanctions, a move that sources said galvanized all 15 member schools to band together against one member's pressure
Why it matters: Sorsby's exit closes a week-long legal saga that exposed a fault line between Texas Tech, the Big 12, the NCAA, and state attorneys general over whether a player who bet on his own team should ever have been allowed back on the field. The Big 12's federal filing and public stance that "universities should not field players who have bet on their own team's games" sets a new conference-wide enforcement posture, while Sorsby becomes a rare entrant to a supplemental draft that hasn't produced a pick since 2019.
