Brendan Sorsby will be allowed to play college football in 2026 even though he broke the rules on gambling. The starting quarterback at Texas Texas received an injunction that effectively overturns his permanent suspension from collegiate athletics.
However, two specific bets completely invalidate his most prominent argument for reinstatement.
People seem to forget that Sorsby twice placed bets that would profit from the poor performance of his own college football team. That does not make him more connected to his teammates.
Brendan Sorsby wants to us his situation to help others.
The 22-year-old quarterback entered rehab for a gambling addiction at the end of April. Logic suggested that Sorsby would not be allowed to play his fifth and final season of college football at Texas Tech because he admitted to betting on his own team and sport. That is not allowed. The NCAA subsequently issued a lifetime ban.
And then it got litigious.
Brendan Sorsby took his case to court. He was ultimately granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA that prevents the governing body of collegiate athletics from punishing him for violating its rules on sports gambling. Judge Ken Curry ruled that the former Indiana and Cincinnati signal-caller’s attorneys demonstrated that their client will suffer a “probable, imminent and irreparable injury” if he is unable to play for Texas Tech in 2026. The NCAA cannot prohibit him from playing.
As part of the agreement, Sorsby must adhere to six requirements:
- Commencing and continuing individual clinical counseling with a provider credentialed in gambling disorder, focusing on relapse prevention, cognitive restructuring: and anxiety management as ongoing areas of therapeutic work, as recommended in the May 12, 2026 report of Applicant’s Licensed Associate Counselor and denoted as Exhibit F to the Tompsett Affidavit offered and admitted into evidence in redacted form (the “Report”)
- Commencing and participating in peer support through Gamblers Anonymous or a comparable mutual aid community as recommended in the Report,
- Commencing and continuing treatment for Adjustment Disorder with Anxiety, addressing the underlying anxiety that served as the primary driver of Applicant’s gambling behavior, as recommended in the Report,
- Commencing and participating in athlete specific recovery resources and mentorship a s recommended in the Report,
- Not participating in the game day activities of the first two games of the Texas Tech 2026 football season, and
- Serving on the NCAA through its counsel a confidential report detailing his compliance with the conditions set forth above, such report to be provided by Applicant’s counsel and served on or before the fifth day of each month during the pendency of this order and covering the activities of the preceding month.
Other than that, he’s good to go. The lifetime ban cannot be enforced.
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Brendan Sorsby admitted to placing over $90,000 in bets over four yers. He placed 40 bets on his own team.
However, a majority of those bets were on Indiana and the Hoosiers were not very good at the time. Their former quarterback claims that he actually lost more money betting on his own team than he won. He also claims that he only placed the bets on his own team to feel more connected to his teammates. It was an attempt to be more involved as a redshirt freshman.
These claims, in addition to his successful rehabilitation, served as the primary arguments in favor of the injunction.
“Once I became part of the active roster with an opportunity to play, I immediately stopped betting on Indiana. However, my gambling on other sports did not stop; it escalated and became compulsive. What started small when I was in high school turned into a daily habit of betting on all kinds of sports, including some sports that I didn’t follow and had no interest in like tennis and Romanian soccer. Gambling became an addiction.”
There is only one problem. Two of the bets on Indiana were against Indiana.
Sorsby bet on the ‘Under’ for starting quarterback Connor Bazelak’s passing yards in October 2022 and on the ‘Under’ for the first half of a Hoosiers football game in September 2023. Both of those bets only cash if his team does not play well.
Even though Sorsby and his attorneys claim he was not aware of the bets until they received the betting data from the sportsbooks, those two bets completely discredit their argument that he was trying to “feel more connected to his teammates.” He was rooting against his own teammates in both of those instances.