The NCAA has denied the eligibility reinstatement request of Texas Tech fifth-year senior quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who violated the association's gambling rules by making thousands of online wagers while a redshirt freshman at Indiana University.
Tuesday's news comes after Sorsby had completed a 35-day in-patient rehab for his gambling addiction in Arizona.
As reported by Pete Thamel of ESPN, "The NCAA decision, which is in line with precedent, will put Sorsby's lawsuit against the NCAA seeking an injunction for his eligibility for the 2026 season into further focus, as his court date looms Monday in Lubbock County."
NCAA rules state that betting on one's own team would lead to "permanent loss of eligibility." Lawyers representing Sorsby, who has one year of collegiate eligibility remaining, asked for a two-game suspension, but the NCAA denied that request.
Related: Brendan Sorsby Retains High-Profile Attorney Prepares to Fight for NCAA Eligibility
In a letter to the Texas Tech community, university president Lawrence Schovanec called for the NCAA to adapt the association's bylaws to "the era of widespread legalized sports betting that this generation of college athletes now has to navigate."
"We believe that given the facts and the context of Brendan's case, the NCAA's ruling should be reversed or modified," Schovanec wrote. "As a generation of college athletes face the legalization and rapid proliferation of sports betting in our country, gambling addiction is rising to the point of epidemic among college aged men in particular. The NCAA's stated mission includes 'fostering [student-athletes'] lifelong well-being,' and they have claimed their goal is to promote a 'culture of care' for student athletes' mental health. Gambling addiction is a clinically recognized behavioral disorder."
Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said he expected the appeal to be submitted to the NCAA by the end of this week, Thamel reported.
"We believe the right thing to do is to not ruin this young man's college career for something that happened four years ago," Hocutt said Tuesday while attending the Big 12 spring meetings in Frisco, Texas. "There's penalties for everything that you do, and we would accept that and expect that, but at the same time, let's help this young man who has been very vulnerable and has admitted to some wrongdoings. Let's give him a second chance and help him."
Per Thamel's reporting, Sorsby filed a lawsuit May 19 in Lubbock County seeking his 2026 eligibility. In the suit, he acknowledged betting on thousands of sporting events as part of his gambling addiction. That included betting on Indiana football games while on the team. He did make clear that he never bet on a game he played in nor did he bet against his team.
Related: Texas Tech Quarterback Brendan Sorsby to Enter Gambling Addiction Program
The suit cites the NCAA's "deeply hypocritical" position on gambling and a "wholesale abandonment of its obligations and duties to promote the wellbeing" of Sorsby, Thamel reported, adding Hocutt said Texas Tech wanted to help Sorsby and hoped that "the NCAA would look at it from a different lens than they traditionally have."
"If I'm blessed and fortunate enough to have the opportunity to continue my college career at Texas Tech, I know I will get the support I need, including through the school's Center for Students in Addiction Recovery," Sorsby said in a statement Tuesday. "I am deeply sorry to everyone I've disappointed and am committed to the hard and necessary work ahead."
Earlier in the statement, Sorsby wrote: "While I accept responsibility for my behavior and know that I have a lot of work ahead of me, for the first time in many years I feel more free and no longer fully at the mercy of my addiction."
According to Thamel, Schovanec's letter describes what the school would do to support Sorsby, saying that "his vulnerability deserves to be met with the full weight of this institution's support."
Schovanec detailed the structure of Sorsby's ongoing care:
- ongoing outpatient clinical care;
- participation in group and individual therapy;
- mentor resources;
- treatment for his related anxiety disorder;
- active monitoring of his technological devices;
- installation of software to block betting sites from his devices;
- the appointment of a custodian to oversee his personal finances;
- and periodic compliance checks.
"Given that Brendan has taken accountability for his addiction and actions, a brave act in any circumstance, but especially under the intense scrutiny of a national spotlight, we believe that the best path forward for him is on campus, among his teammates, embraced by the strength of this community," Schovanec wrote, per Thamel.
