{"id":652102,"date":"2026-05-19T09:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/652102\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:41:08","slug":"texas-tech-rules-qb-brendan-sorsby-ineligible-files-for-reinstatement-for-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/652102\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech rules QB Brendan Sorsby ineligible, files for reinstatement for 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Tech has ruled starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby<\/a> ineligible and is filing for reinstatement with the NCAA for the 2026 season. The governing body opened an investigation into Sorsby in April, shortly after he entered a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter finalizing an agreed-upon stipulation of facts between Texas Tech University, the NCAA and Brendan Sorsby, the University has declared Sorsby ineligible for competition,\u201d the institution said in a statement. \u201cTexas Tech intends to quickly initiate the reinstatement process. Texas Tech\u2019s primary focus remains supporting Sorsby\u2019s health and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorsby was one of the most expensive transfer acquisitions this offseason, with the Red Raiders paying upwards of $5 million to land the\u00a0Cincinnati<\/a>\u00a0transfer. For the quarterback to return to play in 2026, the school is filing for reinstatement.<\/p>\n

Sorsby filed a lawsuit against the NCAA earlier Monday. Sorsby also has the option to leave college football entirely and enter the NFL supplemental draft in June. NCAA rules forbid athletes from wagering on college and professional sports. Sorsby wagered on\u00a0Indiana<\/a>\u00a0games when he was redshirting in 2022; he played in only one game that season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NCAA has weaponized his condition to shore up a facade of competitive integrity, while simultaneously profiting from the very gambling ecosystem it polices,\u201d the court filing states.<\/p>\n

NCAA guidelines state that cumulative wagers greater than $800 could lead to the loss of 30% of a season of eligibility. For cumulative wagers that \u201cgreatly exceed $800,\u201d NCAA staff is supposed to consider \u201cwhether additional loss of eligibility, including permanent ineligibility, are appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources who have reviewed the betting data told On3 that, dating back to 2022, Sorsby placed more than 10,000 wagers and at one point averaged 20 bets per day. The quarterback placed bets across multiple states, using a range of gambling apps, including Hard Rock Bet, BetMGM, DraftKings, PrizePicks and bet365, among others, sources said.<\/p>\n

Texas Tech was notified of the NCAA investigation in mid-April. Sources said the NCAA approached the school with a handful of betting data in hand, but it\u2019s unclear who tipped off the governing body. A\u00a0USA Today\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0previously stated the\u00a0Cincinnati\u00a0athletic department was alerted in August that star quarterback\u00a0Brendan Sorsby was gambling\u00a0before the start of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Sources familiar with the situation told On3 that the Cincinnati athletic department was aware of Sorsby\u2019s gambling before the summer of 2025, but the athletic department would not knowingly play an athlete who violated NCAA rules.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati athletics declined to comment to On3. According to NCAA rules, athletes who are of legal age are allowed to bet on UFC, horse racing and NASCAR. Other sports, such as baseball, basketball and football, in which the NCAA hosts sanctioned championships, are prohibited. Sorsby placed wagers on UFC, but also college football and MLB games, according to sources.<\/p>\n

With Brendan Sorsby\u2019s status for the 2026 season doubtful, the focus for Texas Tech fans pivots to quarterback\u00a0Will Hammond<\/a>, who missed the entire spring as he continues to recover from a torn ACL in his right knee. Hammond emerged as Texas Tech\u2019s backup to\u00a0Behren Morton<\/a>\u00a0last season and flashed as a dual-threat. He tore the ACL last October against\u00a0Oklahoma State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources tell On3 that Hammond has returned to throwing. The full timeline for a return remains unclear, but there is optimism that he should be healthy by Week 1 against\u00a0Abilene Christian<\/a>. It\u2019s unclear if he will be \u201c100% healthy\u201d by Sept. 5, a source told On3.<\/p>\n

The plan initially was for Hammond to miss the first two games of the season and return 100% healthy to be available in Week 3 against Houston. If the Red Raiders choose to follow that plan, sources tell On3 that Tulsa transfer\u00a0Kirk Francis<\/a>\u00a0will start the opening weeks of the 2026 season. He\u2019s thrown for 3,045 career yards with 18 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Tech has ruled starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby ineligible and is filing for reinstatement with the NCAA for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[127825,99],"class_list":["post-652102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-brendan-sorsby-22-lake-dallas","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}