Brendan Sorsby received a temporary injunction against the NCAA on Monday, clearing the way for him to potentially play his final college season for Texas Tech this fall despite thousands of impermissible wagers totaling at least $90,000. Judge Ken Curry’s rul
LUBBOCK, Texas — Brendan Sorsby walked into court facing the end of his college career. By Monday, Judge Ken Curry had stepped in with a temporary injunction that instantly barred the NCAA from blocking the transfer quarterback from playing for Texas Tech this fall.
The ruling lands with Texas Tech nearly three months from its season opener Sept. 5 at home against Abilene Christian. Curry’s order means Sorsby could suit up for what would be his final college season, even after he was declared ineligible for wagering on college sports.
The judge’s decision still carries a built-in cost for the quarterback. Sorsby will miss the first two games, a penalty his attorneys had proposed during the case.
Curry’s ruling came a week after a two-hour hearing in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located. The NCAA can appeal to a higher court in Texas, though there was no immediate word on whether or when it would happen, or how quickly another ruling could come.
In a statement, the NCAA said it “strongly disagrees” with the court’s decision and is “deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching and broadly destabilizing ramifications” of the outcome, which it said “undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports.”
At the center of the fight is not just eligibility, but punishment for gambling tied to Sorsby’s own athletics. During his time at Indiana. Cincinnati and Texas Tech. court records show Sorsby acknowledged making thousands of impermissible bets totaling at least $90. 000. That included 40 bets on Indiana while a freshman in 2022. though none on any of the games he played with the Hoosiers.
Under NCAA rules, permanent loss of eligibility is still the penalty for any player who wagered on his own team.
The NCAA investigation began after a tip. Court filings say that on March 11, the NCAA received information about Sorsby’s gambling activity from an online gambling book that had been informed by law enforcement. Texas Tech was then notified on April 14 that an NCAA investigation was underway.
Sorsby’s attorneys have pushed a different human explanation for what happened. Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney who negotiated the House settlement against the NCAA and now represents Sorsby, told the court that the 22-year-old quarterback has a diagnosed addiction and anxiety-driven compulsion.
Kessler said Sorsby recently completed a month-long stay in a residential treatment program in Arizona. which he entered after the start of the NCAA’s investigation. Kessler also told the court. based on a clinician’s assessment who treated Sorsby. that not allowing him to play would harm his mental health and disrupt progress in recovery.
The NCAA, while saying it is “committed to supporting student-athlete mental health,” said it must still “aggressively defend” against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, including betting on one’s own sport.
During the hearing, NCAA attorney Taylor Askew argued that letting Sorsby continue would do harm to the governing body. Askew told the court that allowing another college season would provide “reputable harm” to the NCAA.
He said. “Saying the NCAA is now the first league in America that allows you. without punishment. to bet on its own contests. that’s a reputable harm to the NCAA. ” before adding. “This would be the first league in America that does that. … We should not say for the first time serial gambling is OK.”.
Behind Monday’s injunction is a lawsuit filed by Sorsby against the NCAA. That case was lodged on May 18 in Lubbock and sought restoration of his eligibility. It was first assigned to District Judge Phillip Hays, a Lubbock native and Texas Tech graduate, who later recused himself. Curry, a retired judge from Tarrant County, then took over.
Since Sorsby filed the suit, the NCAA twice denied Texas Tech’s petition to restore his eligibility. The timing has been tight enough to be felt across the program.
Texas Tech ruled Sorsby ineligible on May 18, the same day he filed his lawsuit. The university then had to submit a request for reinstatement to the NCAA the following day, May 19. That request was denied on May 22, and Texas Tech’s appeal was rejected last week.
When the school revealed the first denial and its intent to appeal on May 26, university president Lawrence Schovanec wrote to the Texas Tech community that the school felt “the NCAA’s ruling should be reversed or modified.”
Sorsby’s path to Texas Tech began in January. after he transferred from Cincinnati to the Red Raiders for a reported multimillion-dollar deal. Texas Tech brought him in as the starting quarterback as it tried to defend its first Big 12 Conference title and make the College Football Playoff for the second consecutive year.
Sorsby had spent two seasons at Indiana before the past two at Cincinnati. Now, a judge’s order has carved out a brief opening for him to keep playing—at least while the NCAA weighs whether to appeal.
For Texas Tech, the calendar does not pause. With the season opener against Abilene Christian set for Sept. 5, Sorsby will still be watching from the sideline for the first two games, even as the legal fight that could define his last season stays very much alive.
Brendan Sorsby Texas Tech NCAA injunction Ken Curry college football gambling ineligibility Big 12 Abilene Christian transfer quarterback