Brendan Sorsby‘s college football career appears to be on life support.
The NCAA denied the 22-year-old’s request for reinstatement on Tuesday with Texas Tech already working on an appeal to keep their coveted quarterback. Sorsby has a separate injunction hearing scheduled for Monday (with his personal attorneys) that would allow him to play as his legal case progresses.
The injunction seems to be his last chance at playing for the Red Raiders this year, as the NCAA has “already informed Sorsby’s legal team that it will not negotiate a settlement to get Sorsby back on the field,” per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. Such a settlement would have involved accepting a suspension for his infractions while remaining eligible to play later in the year. It was seen as the quickest path for his return to the field, but the NCAA will instead force him to prove his case in court.
Winning the injunction seems like a long shot, too. All Sorsby has to do is prove he has a chance of winning the case, but his admission of sports gambling and entrance into a treatment program is near-incontrovertible evidence against him.
As a result, it increasingly seems that the NFL’s supplemental draft will be Sorsby’s eventual next step. He could still face discipline from the league, perhaps also accepting a suspension similar to the Terrelle Pryor case as a condition of entering the draft. He would have time in July to work out in front of NFL teams, likely in a pro day-style setting with private workouts with interested teams.
Breer mentions the Colts and Steelers as two clubs who could take a look at Sorsby should he be available in July. Indianapolis signed Daniel Jones to a two-year deal, but he will have to prove he can resume his stellar play from 2025 post-injury. But his overall career suggests he may not be a long-term franchise quarterback, so the Colts could consider throwing a mid-round pick at Sorsby to prepare themselves from 2027 and beyond. Pittsburgh has had no issue using Day 2 selections on quarterbacks in each of the last two drafts. Perhaps they would be willing to do so again, but that would create a developmental logjam with Will Howard and Drew Allar already taking second-team reps behind Aaron Rodgers.
Bros gonna dominate the CFL for years to come.
This lawyer he hired, Kessler, I’m very intrigued if he has a plan of attack that’s bigger than just his client. He seems to really enjoy sticking it to the NCAA (#hero), and maybe he’s gonna use this case to make the NCAA face up to how cozy it’s gotten with the betting crowd. I mean, it’s completely possible this is just a paycheck to him and there’s no grand scale objective in play. Hope not, though. Would be fun to see him smack around the NCAA some more.
I disagree on what I would prefer the outcome to be (Sorsby made his bed), but I agree on your characterization of Kessler, and he has been quite good at it. I personally think that this is a bridge too far rules-wise to send the message that players should be gambling actively (I do not like the leagues’ embrace of it, which I believe is extraordinarily hypocritical), but Kessler has been very good at framing his clients’ issues as part of a more wide ranging issue affecting all athletes rather than just the ones he represents. I expect Sorsby to ultimately play, in one or another, in the next two years. The most interesting (and to me, preferable) outcome would be one that neither gives ground to Sorsby and also divests, or at least reduces. The league’s endorsements or partnerships with these gambling platforms that send two sides messages to the players and fans.
I have no particular emotional investment one way or the other about Sorsby. But the NCAA has always viewed the well-being of student-athletes as something they tolerate as a way to get their bag and a bag for any of the other gross, disgusting powerbrokers in major college athletics they align with. So, I’m totally fine if Sorsby doesn’t get his come-uppance for a pretty flagrant violation if Kessler uses it as a platform to bring to light the harm the NCAA causes by getting into bed with gambling companies, while also pointing out how they care more about that cash infusion than they do the student-athletes they’re meant to look out for.
Throughout all of jurisprudence history, some very beneficial and important rights and rules have come out of cases that involved less desirable persons in the role of defendant.