Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech mutually part ways after gambling scandal, legal fallout

Against the backdrop of immense backlash and a slew of legal filings, quarterback Brendan Sorsby and Texas Tech have mutually agreed to part ways, sources tell On3’s Pete Nakos.

He plans to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, applying for it after parting ways with the school. The NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that Sorsby plans to drop his college eligibility lawsuit Tuesday; that will make him eligible for the supplemental draft as a player who has exhausted college eligibility.

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Sorsby has been the subject of significant scrutiny in the college football world after a controversial legal decision temporarily restored his eligibility for the 2026 season. He had previously been declared ineligible by Texas Tech and the NCAA for wagering on college sports.

But when a court granted a temporary injunction for Brendan Sorsby against the NCAA, allowing him to play after serving a two-game suspension, multiple parties immediately took staunch opposition. The Big 12 conference was among them.

The Big 12 has continued to fight the court ruling through legal avenues. The conference has repeatedly stressed it thinks Sorsby playing would significantly harm the college athletics landscape.

Along with the NCAA, the conference has taken steps to legally ensure it can act in its own interests in the Brendan Sorsby case. Failing to allow the conference to enact its own bylaws, the Big 12 said, would be harmful.

“The Big 12 filed a legal complaint asking a federal court to protect the constitutional and contractual rights on the Conference and our member institutions to take actions expressly permitted under our Bylaws,” read a Big 12 statement on Monday, obtained by On3’s Pete Nakos. “The Big 12 has long spoken out about the dangers of sports wagering and remains committed to protecting the competitive integrity of conference competition. Universities should not field players who have bet on their own team’s games in college athletics.

“This situation is evolving with pending legal matters and the upcoming start of the football season, and the Conference hopes for a timely resolution off these issues. The Board continues to keep all options on the table.”

The latest filing by the NCAA, seeking a stay on the injunction granted to Brendan Sorsby, was a major escalation in the case. The NCAA was seeking a more timely resolution to the case than what had previously been on the table.

As it stood, Brendan Sorsby, who admitted to placing a multitude of bets while in college, including some on his own team while at Indiana, could have played this fall after serving a two-game suspension. Many parties, including the Big 12 and the NCAA, came out staunchly against that injunction provided by the court ruling.

They argued that such a ruling would undermine the credibility of the system as a whole and weaken the institutions’ ability to enforce their own rules. The NCAA argued a stay to the injunction was necessary to preserve the status quo while the appeals process unfolded.

“The trial court’s temporary injunction sweeps beyond anything Texas law permits,” the NCAA filing read. “It undermines the integrity of college sports, rewrites member-adopted rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, immunizes Brendan Sorsby from discipline for admitted and serial violations of NCAA anti-gambling rules, incentivizes a run on courthouses across the country to challenge even the most obvious and straightforward student-athlete eligibility decisions, and demolishes the status quo.”

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