Will Brendan Sorsby regret lawsuit? Consequences of Texas Tech QB playing in 2026

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire spoke to fans and boosters at the Houston Touchdown Club on Wednesday – and he was asked whether anything would prevent quarterback Brendan Sorsby from playing at this point in time. 

"I'm glad you asked that question," McGuire responded before the room burst into laughter. 

Then, McGuire launched into an answer that started with the backup quarterback. 

"Will Hammond is coming back from an ACL," McGuire said. "He is recovering from an injury. Brendan Sorsby is recovering from an addiction. … I've sat down with this young man multiple times and the things he is going through and what he's been through is serious." 

Conflation inflation is high at Texas Tech, as if an ACL and a gambling addiction require the same type of recovery process. Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt and booster Cody Campbell were part of that offensive yesterday. You can't tell the difference between the booster club and the courtroom since a district court in Lubbock County, Texas, granted Sorsby an injunction against the NCAA on Monday. 

Sorsby is dealing with a gambling addiction. Is playing college football in 2026 the right treatment? Think about the potential consequences for Sorsby if he takes the first snap in that matchup on Friday, Sept. 18 in Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock.

DECOURCY: Texas Tech is about one thing – winning

Is Brendan Sorsby's injunction justifiable? 

Outside of the stadium, Sorsby will not be seen as "sticking it to the NCAA." 

Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss or Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia were granted injunctions against the NCAA the last two years in order to gain an extra year of eligibility. Those quarterbacks did not break any rules, however. 

Any other examples? Cam Newton was briefly suspended at Auburn in 2010 after allegations his father Cecil solicited a six-figure dollar amount from Mississippi State. Johnny Manziel served a suspension in 2013 at Texas A&M after accepting money for autographs. That's all part of the game now with NIL. 

You cannot conflate any of that with Sorsby - even if Texas Tech is making its best effort.  

"The integrity of the sport matters," Hocutt said in a statement. "So does the integrity of how we treat a 22-year-old who sought help, entered residential treatment, and is working every day toward recovery," 

pic.twitter.com/4jIhbJYq2C

That is fair, but it's also reasonable that recovery will take more than 35 days. Calvin Ridley was suspended for the 2022 NFL season after the receiver bet on games during the 2021 season. There was not an uproar at the time to let Ridley – who returned in 2023 – to have a shorter suspension. A year was a reasonable punishment. Ridley enjoyed a pair of 1,000-yard seasons after his return. 

Campbell called out Georgia for the number of player arrests under Kirby Smart on social media, then McGuire took conflation inflation to an all-time high.

"For some reason, as a society, we've been OK with other things that happen and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing that has united people, that they were against," McGuire said at the Houston Touchdown Club. "It's crazy because it's not murder, it's not beating somebody, so there's a lot of things that we're working through. None of this is OK."

We're all smart enough to know the Sorsby case is neither a capital offense or a traffic misdemeanor. Yet, like it or not, gambling is the cardinal sin for most college football sports' fans. Maybe that changes in another generation – the one flooded with betting apps on their phones – but the common-sense college football fans should not budge here. 

Players can't bet on the games. That's the rule, and there is no wiggle room. 

Texas Tech has already miscalculated the outrage to this shocking injunction, too. How much do you think it amps up if Sorsby takes a snap this season?

BENDER: Judge leaves college football with no defense against gambling

Brendan Sorsby will be college football's No. 1 villain 

ESPN.com reported Sorsby was diagnosed with gambling and anxiety disorders during a 35-day impatient stay at a rehabilitation facility. We're not questioning the sincerity of Sorsby's rehab program, and we get the notion that playing with his teammates and preparing for a football season could be the right form of support. 

Just don't count on that support at Colorado on Oct. 3. Or in the return to Cincinnati on Oct. 24. Sorsby has a NIL contract with Texas Tech and is being sued by Cincinnati – where he played last season – over a $1 million exit he refused to pay after transferring from the Bearcats to the Red Raiders. So, that's where the cynicism starts to kick in. November trips to Oklahoma State and Baylor aren't going to be friendly either. 

Newton, Manziel and Pavia had huge followings. Most college football fans will root for Chambliss to beat LSU and Lane Kiffin on Sept. 19 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. 

Who is rooting for Sorsby on the field against Houston the night before that? Plus, here is something to consider. Sorsby had a good season with Cincinnati, but does anybody think he is on the level of those other quarterbacks? 

Newton and Manziel won the Heisman Trophy, and Chambliss is among the front-runners this season. Pavia finished second, and we saw the fallout to his NSFW reaction after the ceremony. It followed him to the NFL Draft.

Which is exactly how this is going to follow Sorsby. As of now, Sorsby will be the guy "who gambled and won," only that won't be perceived to be a good thing when it comes to the battle with the NCAA. That is a tremendous amount of pressure for a college athlete, especially one with an anxiety disorder.

Maurice Clarett – who led Ohio State to a national championship in 2002 – was ruled ineligible as a sophomore and tried to challenge the NFL's anti-trust law with USC receiver Mike Williams. They lost. Neither player played in 2004. Williams played six seasons in the NFL. Clarett never played in a regular-season game. 

The gambling won't be a scarlet letter, but it will be the tag that follows Sorsby if he fails. 

To be clear, we're not rooting for Sorsby to fail. He should have a chance to play in the NFL – but the NFL Supplemental Draft or free agency next season would have been a more-palatable setting for a comeback story. Two games is simply not enough, and everybody knows it.

Now, we're going to get a stand-off with the Big 12, whose entire enterprise is on the line heading into the regular season.  

Will Brendan Sorsby play in 2026? 

From a strictly legal perspective, it looks like he's going to play. Texas Tech could take the high road and rule Sorsby ineligible for the season while receiving treatment, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that will happen. 

Eventually, Big 12 schools will squash their protests. That Big 12 matchup between Houston and Texas Tech – two conference favorites – is going to draw big television revenue – and that's what the game is all about now. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark knows that, and that money is often the arbiter these days.  

But at what cost? If Sorsby can gamble on his team and not receive more than a two-game punishment, then what's stopping FBS players all over the country from taking the under, the over or the prop bet on themselves? This is the definition of the consequence-free environment – the "Wild, Wild West" moniker – that is going to spawn conspiracy theories about every game. 

Why did Sorsby throw that pass? Did he miss that read on third-and-2 on purpose? Did he slide to avoid the under on rushing yards because of a bet? All of that is fair game – and Sorsby better be ready to handle those questions, too. If he plays, there is no quarterback that will ever be under more scrutiny in a single FBS season.

And there is nothing that is going to prevent that, either.