{"id":319191,"date":"2026-06-02T13:57:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/319191\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T13:57:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:57:33","slug":"judge-will-decide-sorsbys-future-at-texas-tech-after-his-legal-team-ncaa-argue-if-he-should-be-able-to-play-college-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/319191\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge will decide Sorsby’s future at Texas Tech after his legal team, NCAA argue if he should be able to play college football"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the NCAA\u2019s lawyers stepped into a Lubbock courtroom Monday\u00a0alongside lawyers for Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, both sides claimed the mantle of fairness.\u00a0But they clashed\u00a0on what that meant.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorsby has been ruled ineligible for\u00a0this coming season \u2013 his senior year \u2013 after freely admitting he placed\u00a0\u201cthousands of bets on everything and anything\u201d including\u00a0college sports.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He sued the NCAA to get back his eligibility, claiming in part his behavior was driven by mental illness and should be treated like \u2013 quoting from NCAA rules \u2013 \u201can education-impacting disability.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Visiting judge Ken Curry didn\u2019t make\u00a0a ruling on Sorsby\u2019s request for a temporary injunction against the NCAA\u2019s decision,\u00a0saying he would take everything into consideration.\u00a0Curry took the case when 99th State District Judge Phillip Hays recused himself.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorsby did not attend the hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech from the University of Cincinnati in January. Before that, he was with Indiana University. While with Indiana\u00a0(but not yet suiting up and traveling with the Hoosiers) he bet on his own team. The NCAA played into that heavily.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMr.\u00a0Sorsby\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0come forward.\u00a0He got caught,\u201d said\u00a0Taylor\u00a0Askew, an attorney with the NCAA.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Sorsby\u2019s legal team, which includes\u00a0Lubbock attorneys Ted Liggett and Dustin Burrows, pushed back \u2013 saying Sorsby did bet on his own team,\u00a0but it was never while he dressed for or traveled with the team.\u00a0And he never bet against his own team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Kessler, one of Sorsby\u2019s attorneys, said,\u00a0\u201cHe did not engage in behavior that threatened the integrity of the game.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorsby faces a June 22 deadline to enter the\u00a0NFL supplemental draft.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why there is\u00a0an urgency,\u201d\u00a0Kessler told the judge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kessler asked him to rule before June 15.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Money\u00a0or irreplaceable experience\u00a0at stake\u00a0<\/p>\n

National news outlets like ESPN and\u00a0Forbes estimated Sorsby\u2019s time at Texas Tech is worth $5 million or more in NIL or name image and likeness deals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Kessler argued monetary compensation is no remedy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will lose the irreplaceable experience of\u00a0playing for\u00a0Texas\u00a0Tech \u2013 striving for a national championship,\u201d\u00a0Kessler said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t get that experience back again,\u201d\u00a0he added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0the same argument Burrows filed in court before the hearing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEach day the NCAA unlawfully refuses to reinstate him for his final college season permanently deprives Mr. Sorsby of experiences that can never be recaptured or fully compensated through monetary damages. Each game and practice that Mr. Sorsby misses reflects an irreplaceable experience he can never regain,\u201d\u00a0Burrows\u2019 written request said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sorsby has been diagnosed with a mental health illness in the form of a gambling addiction.<\/p>\n

jeffrey kessler<\/p>\n

This is a\u00a0Hail\u00a0Mary by\u00a0Mr.\u00a0Sorsby \u2026 <\/p>\n

taylor askew<\/p>\n

The NCAA was quite happy to remind\u00a0the court that Texas Tech takes gambling seriously.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust six months ago, the NCAA membership\u00a0\u2013\u00a0including Texas Tech\u00a0\u2013\u00a0voted to reject a proposed rule amendment that would have allowed student-athletes to gamble on professional but not collegiate sports, choosing instead to retain the broad prohibition on sports wagering,\u201d\u00a0the NCAA\u2019s written response said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Askew\u00a0said in the hearing,\u00a0\u201cThe first bet he made on his own team made him ineligible. He should not have even been playing the last few years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others have been punished more harshly for lesser\u00a0violations,\u00a0Askew\u00a0argued.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s\u00a0not done playing football.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0just done playing NCAA\u00a0football. \u2026\u00a0Actions have consequences,\u201d Askew said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Claiming the\u00a0NCAA owes\u00a0Sorsby\u00a0protection\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kessler argued the NCAA rules require protection\u00a0of\u00a0student athletes\u00a0\u2013 and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0contractual.\u00a0Sorsby did not\u00a0sign\u00a0but Texas Tech did and state law, Kessler argued, gives him the right to enforce rules for his benefit in court.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMr.\u00a0Sorsby has been diagnosed with a mental health illness in the form of a gambling addiction,\u201d\u00a0Kessler said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And that changes the rules.\u00a0Kessler said the NCAA wants to punish Sorsby for his condition rather than help him.\u00a0The rules call for reinstatement when possible \u2013 not automatic banishment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorsby checked himself in to get treatment, court records said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Askew said, \u201cThere\u2019s\u00a0no victory lap by the NCAA. The rules are what the rules are.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Askew also said Sorsby\u2019s claim tries to make a weird exception that by violating the rules\u00a0over and over, you get by with it.\u00a0But he emphasized betting on your own team even once is enough to make a player ineligible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0gamble on your own team.\u00a0You\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0do\u00a0that. \u2026\u00a0Whether you did it because you had an addiction or because you were bored, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a distinction without a difference,\u201d Askew said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a\u00a0Hail\u00a0Mary by\u00a0Mr.\u00a0Sorsby,\u201d Askew also said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Agne case\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sorsby\u2019s team claimed unfair treatment and used the\u00a0Brett Agne case as an example.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NCAA announced last\u00a0year\u00a0Agne,\u00a0a\u00a0former women\u2019s volleyball assistant coach\u00a0at Indiana University,\u00a0placed more than 700 bets. Of those, 27 were on Indiana football or men\u2019s basketball.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

His penalty was a 10-game suspension\u00a0and \u201cmeaningful sports betting education,\u201d according to the NCAA\u2019s official notice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kessler declared, \u201cThirty percent of the season.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0it!\u00a0\u2026\u00a0This volleyball coach violates this same policy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He called the NCAA\u2019s treatment of Sorsby by comparison \u201carbitrary and capricious.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Askew said that was a different kind of case.\u00a0The official NCAA notice said he bet on other Indiana University teams \u2013 not his own.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t apply\u00a0to this kind of\u00a0dispute,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Askew said the NCAA \u201cfollowed its rules to a T.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cannot point you to anywhere in that contract where the\u00a0NCAA\u00a0didn\u2019t follow its principles,\u201d\u00a0Askew said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge Curry asked for more information on the Agne case\u00a0before calling the court into recess.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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