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Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby appeared to catch a break when he filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in his quest to play this season after becoming embroiled in a gambling scandal. However, the judge assigned to his case has broken from some other magistrates who recently issued favorable rulings for student-athletes affiliated with their alma mater.
All signs pointed to Brendan Sorsby being named the starting quarterback for Texas Tech this season after they landed the former Cincinnati player in the transfer portal, but that is now very much in doubt after he ended up at the center of an NCAA investigation involving gambling activity stretching back to his days at Indiana.
The QB announced his decision to seek treatment in April after being nabbed for placing more than 10,000 wagers that were firmly banned by that governing body, and he found himself facing a lengthy suspension (and possibly a permanent ban) that could prevent him from suiting up for the entirety of what is slated to be his final college season.
As things currently stand, Texas Tech has designated Sorsby as an ineligible player, but the school has announced its intentions to get the NCAA to reinstate him. The QB, on the other hand, has struck out on his own by filing for an injunction in the hopes a judge will rule he’s allowed to suit up, but he has lost some of the home-field advantage he initially had at his disposal.
The two-time Texas Tech alum who was slated to rule on Brendan Sorsby’s case against the NCAA has recused himself
In theory, judges are supposed to remove themselves from cases where they have a conflict of interest. However, that is a largely self-policing legal mechanism, and there have been a number of recent cases where college athletes have been seemingly able to take advantage of a so-called “friendly judge.”
For example, Trinidad Chambliss earned the right to play another season for Ole Miss after his case was heard in a court in Oxford, and Charles Bediako got permission to suit up for Alabama’s basketball team from a man who is a major Crimson Tide donor.
There are some counterexamples (Joey Aguilar’s quest to play one more season for Tennessee was shot down by a graduate of the school), but you have to assume Sorsby was pretty amped to learn the lawsuit he filed in Lubbock County Court this week was assigned to the Honorable Phillip Hays, who got both his undergraduate and law degree at Texas Tech.
However, Bloomberg reports Hays recused himself from the case on Wednesday in a one-page ruling where he declined to offer any concrete explanation for the decision. It will instead be heard by Ana Estevez, who obtained two degrees at Texas A&M before heading to law school at Baylor.
It’s not necessarily a fatal blow for Sorsby, but it’s certainly less than ideal.