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Brendan Sorsby plans to withdraw his lawsuit against the NCAA and will enter the NFL's supplemental draft, according to CBS Sports.
Common sense prevailed in a round-about college football sort of way. After a week of ill-fated justifications for a ruling by a district court in Lubbock County, Texas, stunned the college football world, Sorbhy's decision is a just conclusion.
It's the right call after a wide miscalculation by all parties involved about the attempt to put Sorsby – who ESPN.com reported bet on Indiana football as a freshman – on a college football field in 2026. While that might be tested again by a student-athlete in the future giving the district court ruling, Sorsby, Texas Tech and college football as an enterprise avoided further damage.
What's next for Brendan Sorsby?
Sorsby – who passed for 2,800 yards, 27 TDs and five interceptions for the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2025 – will not continue his career in college. That is for the best. There would have been too much vitriol this season for the 22-year-old quarterback that might have reached unprecedented levels had he played after committing what amounts to a cardinal sin in college football.
Sorsby can further treat that gambling addiction after entering a 35-day at a rehab program this offseason. While there is a heavy cost in terms of losses through Name, Image and Likeness money this season – this does not mean his career is over. In fact, he could emerge as a proper comeback story at the next level.
ESPN.com reports Sorsby plans to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft, and he should get a chance to catch on with an NFL roster after proving that the rehab program worked. This works on a much better time-table. Calvin Ridley and Jameson Williams served suspensions for violating the NFL's gambling policy in recent seasons. Former Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers – who was embroiled in a gambling scandal in 2022 – is trying to catch on with the Saints in fall camp.
This is the road Sorsby will have to take. He will have a lot to prove to stick on an NFL roster – but it actually might be less damaging than playing after a two-game suspension at Texas Tech this season in terms of the perception of that comeback.
Will Texas Tech save reputation after parting ways with Sorsby?
The PR miss last week will stick for a while. Texas Tech school leaders attempted to justify their action with a 22-minute round-table video on Friday that tried to explain the ruling. We don't begrudge the attempt. Senior associate athletics director for student-athlete and wellness Grant Stovall's job is to administer care for student-athletes. It just came after mixed messaging from Texas Tech president Lawrence Shovanec, athletic director Kirby Hocutt and coach Joey McGuire – not to mention some social-media sparring from mega-booster Cody Campbell, who already released a statement after Monday's decision.
No argument with the court of college football opinion was going to land in Texas Tech's favor this season. The Red Raiders were not going to win with the idea that Sorsby should be allowed to continue his career, and the corresponding reaction from other Big 12 schools was justified. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark emerges as a winner here because he did not have to make a former ruling that would have contradicted the district court, and there will be not a year's worth of legal entanglements within the conference combined with bad Texas Tech publicity on the field.
The Red Raiders are still not the good guy here. The program – which is coming off a 12-2 season and Big 12 championship season with a NIL-infused roster – will not be universally cheered for parting ways with Sorsby, especially after last week's mess. Yet it's not a deal-breaker for a program that has a chance to be a Big 12 powerhouse with the continuance of Campbell's aggressive spending and McGuire's use of the transfer portal. The Red Raiders' took a hit in the short term, but the damage of playing Sorsby this season would have been permanent.
DECOURCY: Texas Tech AD proves one thing – they are about winning above all else
Who will Texas Tech start at quarterback this season?
It does not matter as long as it wasn't Sorsby. The Red Raiders don't have a portal option, and Will Hammond – who played in eight games last season with 680 passing yards, seven TDs and three interceptions – will likely be the starter when he returns from an ACL injury. Tulsa transfer Kirk Francis and redshirt freshman Lloyd Jones III are options until Hammond returns, which Nakos reports could be in Week 3 against Houston.
It's one season where Texas Tech made a portal QB addition that did not work. The Red Raiders will have a more difficult time repeating as Big 12 champions against contenders such as BYU, Utah and Houston – but the Cougars are the only one of those teams on the Big 12 schedule. The Red Raiders could still compete for a conference championship, and a new quarterback will come to Texas Tech in 2027.
What does this mean for college football and gambling?
College football caught a break here – even if there is a certain level of hand-wringing given the heavy presence of ad revenue generated from gambling services within the sport. How many advertisements for this product can be seen on Saturday? Is there hypocrisy the sport must acknowledge?
Maybe a little, but keeping Sorsby off the field saves a season full of Zapruder-like scrutiny of his play on the field in an attempt to find a shred of doubt that the integrity of the game is influenced by gambling. It also deters other college football players from testing the NCAA through a district-court judge in order to get on the field without consequences on the field. The NCAA didn't win here. But it didn't lose either. No athlete is going to want to go through what Sorsby went through these last few weeks as he became the sport's public enemy No. 1.
Common sense – and the court of public opinion – found a way to break through.
This sport will take any win off the field it gets, right?
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