Former University of Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby will be allowed to play for Texas Tech this season, after a Texas judge blocked the NCAA’s ruling declaring Sorsby ineligible.
As part of the order filed June 8 in Lubbock County District Court, Judge Ken Curry said Sorsby will not be allowed to play in Texas Tech’s first two games this season.
Curry also said the temporary injunction is contingent on Sorsby continuing to address his gambling disorder and other mental health issues.
Sorsby would suffer “irreparable” harm if the NCAA’s ruling was allowed to stand, Curry said, and he would lose out on benefitting from the elite coaching, training resources and camaraderie “that only being a member of a Division I college football team can provide.”
Last month, Sorsby’s attorneys asked the Texas court for a temporary injunction after the NCAA ruled he was ineligible to play.
Sorsby posted this statement on Instagram: “I’m very grateful for the endless support I have received throughout this entire process. I am also grateful for the chance to rejoin my teammates. This opportunity comes with the responsibility to remain focused on my personal growth, the ability to learn from this experience and to be able to use my situation to help others going forward.”
He stepped away from the Texas Tech program on April 27 to enter a residential treatment program for his gambling addiction that he says dated back to his freshman season at Indiana University in 2022.
Sorsby – UC’s starting quarterback for the 2024 and 2025 seasons – has admitted placing thousands of bets while at all three universities he has attended, including Texas Tech where he transferred this year.
The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from betting on any sports that it sponsors, college or professional, and has said betting on one’s own team has always resulted in permanent ineligibility.
Sorsby admitted gambling on Indiana football games in 2022, when he was a freshman there. Although his gambling continued at UC, he says his betting did not involve the football team.
He did, however, bet on UC’s men’s basketball team as well as other colleges and professional sports.
In a letter to the NCAA, Sorsby said what started as “a seemingly harmless and fun activity gradually developed into a daily habit and compulsion that I could not control.”
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said the ruling “could have broad impacts across college athletics” and created great concern among the conference’s members. Yormark said there will be a meeting this week involving athletic directors and the Big 12’s executive board.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ex-Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby can play this season, judge rules
Reporting by Scott Springer and Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Scott Springer and Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
