Brendan Sorsby received a temporary injunction that lets him play for Texas Tech during the 2026 college football season after seeking relief in court following his gambling admission and treatment program. The ruling comes with a two-game suspension, forcing
Texas Tech’s 2026 season just got a jolt of unexpected momentum: quarterback Brendan Sorsby will be able to play after an injunction temporarily blocks an NCAA ban that had been widely expected following his admission of gambling on college football.
The decision landed Monday and came as a shock to fans who had braced for the worst. Sorsby, 22, checked himself into a treatment program for gambling addiction in April and admitted to betting on college football. Going into Monday. the expectation was that those actions would cost him college eligibility and push him toward the NFL’s supplemental draft.
Instead. the court granted Sorsby what it called a temporary injection against the NCAA. allowing him to continue as a member of Texas Tech University’s 2026 football team. The injunction says: “This court finds that applicant has demonstrated that he will suffer a probable. imminent. and irreparable injury if this court does not issue this temporary injunction because he will be unable to participate as a member of Texas Tech University’s 2026 football team.”.
The ruling still carries a penalty. As part of the decision, Sorsby will serve a two-game suspension to start the season. That means he is set to miss Texas Tech’s games against Abilene Christian on Sept. 5 and Oregon State on Sept. 12.
With Sorsby unavailable for the opening stretch. Texas Tech will likely turn to Will Hammond or Mitch Griffis in his place. For a program trying to plan around quarterback stability. the timing of Monday’s ruling changes the immediate question from “Is he done?” to “Who takes the reins while he sits?”.
The NCAA responded quickly, releasing a statement that directly challenged the court’s reasoning and warned about the fallout. The NCAA said it “strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in Sorsby’s case” and is “deeply concerned about the damaging. far-reaching and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome — which undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports.”.
In that same statement, the NCAA said it remains committed to supporting student-athlete mental health, but stressed it must “continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one’s own sport.”
The tension between the ruling and the NCAA’s response is the story now: the court’s decision centers on a player’s near-term ability to participate. while the NCAA argues the precedent could reach far beyond one case. The slippery slope concern outlined in the reaction is straightforward—if Sorsby can continue playing after betting on college football and checking into treatment. the NCAA worries it could become a blueprint for how similar cases are handled going forward.
Before Monday’s ruling, many believed Sorsby would enter the NFL’s supplemental draft after losing his college eligibility. Several NFL teams had been rumored to have interest, including the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, and New York Jets. Scouts and analysts also had projected him as an early-to-mid second-round pick. with the added detail that any team drafting Sorsby would need to surrender a pick in that same round in the 2027 NFL draft.
For now, Texas Tech gets Sorsby for 2026—just not right away. The first two games are already set as absences, and the NCAA’s next move will determine whether Monday’s temporary reprieve becomes something more permanent or remains limited to the season’s opening stretch.
Brendan Sorsby Texas Tech NCAA temporary injunction gambling addiction college football 2026 season supplemental draft Abilene Christian Oregon State
So the NCAA just… gets overruled? wild.
I don’t get it, he gambled and then went to treatment, so now he gets to play anyway? Sounds like rules don’t matter if you have a good lawyer.
Wait, the article says “two-game suspension,” but I saw somewhere else that he was getting banned for the whole year? idk maybe the NCAA ban is still happening later? Prob just a loophole thing.
College football is always like this. One minute they’re acting like gambling is the end of the world, next minute court says he can play while taking a couple games off. Also who even wrote that ‘temporary injection’ quote lol like what is that. Fans were bracing for the worst and now it’s just “oh only two games”…