The Averted Crisis of the Brendan Sorsby Ordeal

In recent years, college sports have become an unregulated, high-stakes environment in which players are paid directly by schools and can transfer an unlimited number of times. But there are still some firm boundaries that nearly everyone agrees shouldn’t be crossed: gambling, for example. If you’re an athlete who gambles on your own team’s games, you shouldn’t be allowed to play. That’s how it works in the pros, where athletes such as Pete Rose and Jontay Porter received lifetime bans for betting. (Rose was controversially reinstated after his death.)That’s what should’ve happened to the quarterback Brendan Sorsby, whose conduct isn’t debatable. During his single year playing for Indiana University, from 2022 to 2023, Sorsby made 2,900 bets—40 of which were on his own team, according to court documents. After transferring to the University of Cincinnati ahead of the 2024–25 season, he bet on Cincinnati men’s basketball; upon ending up at Texas Tech University earlier this year, he placed wagers on professional golf, the NBA, and MLB. In total, Sorsby bet at least $90,000 over four years, and sometimes used betting accounts registered to friends or family.Shortly after Sorsby entered rehab for gambling addiction in April, regulators in multiple states opened investigations into his betting activity. Last month, the NCAA, the governing body for college sports in the United States, deemed that Sorsby was ineligible to play in the upcoming season. But last week, a Texas judge decided to wave away a pretty clear red flag. On June 8, Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction that would have allowed him to play this fall, potentially setting what would be a worrying precedent across college sports.Ultimately, the NCAA and Texas Tech were spared significant embarrassment because Sorsby opted to apply for the NFL supplemental draft after meeting with school officials earlier this week. The supplemental draft is for players who typically have college eligibility or have face