Former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby said Tuesday that he is focused on preparing for the 2027 NFL Draft, publicly putting an end to any attempts to play football in 2026 or challenge the league\u2019s decision to not hold a supplemental draft for him.<\/p>\n
The NFL sent a memo to its 32 teams on Tuesday, informing them that Sorsby would not be pursuing litigation against the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor purposes of League and CBA rules, Mr. Sorsby will be considered a \u2018Draft-Eligible\u2019 player for the 2027 NFL Draft. Mr. Sorsby will not be eligible to sign an NFL Player Contract until the completion of the 2027 NFL Draft,\u201d the memo read.<\/p>\n
In a statement provided to The Athletic, Sorsby said he is\u00a0\u201cfully committed to being the best version of myself that I can be while getting ready for the 2027 draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI accept 100% responsibility for my actions,\u201d Sorsby\u2019s statement read. \u201cI did not have control of my gambling problem and it took getting caught for me to realize that, but it was truly the best thing that could\u2019ve happened to me. Because of this, I have been able to get the help I need and fully focus on my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
The league has agreed it will not discipline Sorsby for prior misconduct that is currently known, a league source told The Athletic, but it still retains the right to investigate the quarterback\u2019s conduct. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the league also reserved the right to take previous misconduct into account when deciding punishment for any future violations.<\/p>\n
Sorsby, 22, has been in limbo since he announced in April<\/a> that he would take an \u201cimmediate indefinite leave of absence\u201d to enter a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction. An NCAA investigation found that the quarterback, who transferred from Cincinnati to Texas Tech during the offseason, violated several of the organization\u2019s gambling rules, including betting on his own team when he played for Indiana. It then ruled that he was permanently ineligible to compete in college football. Sorsby\u2019s appeal of that decision was dismissed with prejudice on June 18, effectively ending his pursuit of a return to college football.<\/p>\n Amid the weeks-long legal battle and significant public outrage over his college eligibility, Sorsby announced June 15<\/a> that he intended to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft instead. The NFL subsequently said it would not hold a supplemental draft<\/a> in 2026, leaving Sorsby with limited viable options for this season.<\/p>\n In its statement rejecting Sorsby\u2019s supplemental draft plans, the NFL said it would \u201cencourage you to focus on preparing for possible entry into the NFL through the 2027 NFL Annual Draft\u201d instead. Sorsby\u2019s legal team told The Athletic at the time that the NFL\u2019s decision was a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and that he would \u201cbring this to the (NFL Players Association).\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Tech Board of Regents chair and megabooster Cody Campbell wrote in a June 15 statement that Texas Tech would continue offering Sorsby recovery resources and would not seek to recoup any money Sorsby has made through NIL agreements since transferring to Texas Tech.<\/p>\n Sorsby has admitted to wagering at least $90,000 on more than 9,000 bets over the course of his college career, with stops at Indiana and Cincinnati before Texas Tech. His wagers included betting on Indiana football while he was on the team, though not in games he played in, as well as betting on Indiana and Cincinnati men\u2019s basketball games, also in violation of NCAA rules.<\/p>\n A judge in Lubbock County, Texas, granted Sorsby an injunction earlier this month that would have allowed him to play the 2026 college football season after serving a two-game suspension. However, the NCAA and the Big 12 each submitted court filings challenging Sorsby\u2019s eligibility. The judge\u2019s decision also prompted Nebraska and Georgia to instruct their coaches not to schedule Texas Tech in any sport, and the Big Ten considered, but did not institute, a leaguewide ban. Ultimately, Sorsby chose to pursue the NFL route instead.<\/p>\n With Sorsby\u2019s avenues back to college football or a 2026 NFL debut now blocked, his immediate options appear limited to a potential UFL bid. League co-owner Mike Repole has publicly invited Sorsby to join the spring football league, but Sorsby has not commented on whether he is considering the offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby said Tuesday that he is focused on preparing for the 2027 NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,594,593,85,3276,1225],"class_list":["post-770738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-college-football","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-sports-business","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}