Brendan Sorsby will not play for Texas Tech in 2026 after an NCAA sports betting case turned into a wider legal fight. The quarterback now plans to enter the NFL supplemental draft.
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Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell confirmed Monday evening that Sorsby would not suit up for the Red Raiders in 2026. Campbell said the NFL supplemental draft now gives Sorsby the only realistic path after several legal cases left his college eligibility unclear.
“This decision was made with Brendan and his family and is purely an output of practical analysis of the situation,” Campbell wrote. “Brendan and Texas Tech stand on very solid and legitimate legal ground, but he faces a June 22nd deadline to be eligible to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, and there is no practical way to resolve all the various pending legal disputes and ensure his eligibility prior to this date.”
Sorsby transferred from Cincinnati to Texas Tech during the offseason and had been one of the more wanted quarterbacks in the NIL market. He later left the team in April to receive treatment for gambling addiction.
Campbell said Texas Tech still supports Sorsby and his mental health treatment. He also said the school did not pay for his legal team and did not file the lawsuit for him. Sorsby will not need to return NIL money already paid by Texas Tech.
The NCAA ruled Sorsby ineligible after finding that he used betting accounts from family and friends to wager on college football, college basketball, NBA, MLB and other sports. The bets totaled more than 9,000 wagers and $90,000 across four years.
The most sensitive part involved Indiana football. Sorsby bet $850 on Indiana games while he played for the team during his redshirt freshman season. He did not bet on games he played in, but NCAA rules treat any wager on a player own team as an eligibility ending violation.
Sorsby challenged the decision after losing his NCAA appeal. His lawsuit argued that anxiety and other mental health issues contributed to his gambling addiction.
A Texas judge granted a temporary injunction last week, saying Sorsby could face “improbable, imminent, and irreparable injury” if the NCAA could enforce the ineligibility ruling right away.
The NCAA appealed the Texas ruling and asked for a decision before the 2026 college football season begins in early September. At the same time, the Big 12 filed for a federal injunction Monday.
The conference wants the ability to discipline Sorsby itself. In the filing, the Big 12 said “universities should not field players who have bet on their own games in college athletics,” according to ESPN.
That left Texas Tech and Sorsby with little time. The June 22 NFL supplemental draft deadline arrives long before the courts can settle the NCAA appeal, the Big 12 case and the broader eligibility fight.
The NFL path also comes with risk. The league has not held a supplemental draft since 2023, and no player has been selected through it since 2019. The NFL also needs to approve Sorsby entry before any team can consider him.