The lawyer for Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Brendan Sorsby has been ripped apart online for a "laughable" comment he made following a judge's ruling on Monday morning, June 8.
Sorsby, who bet close to $100,000 over the years, including wagers on his own teams, has been declared eligible for the 2026 season. He'll serve a two-game suspension to start the year and then be eligible. A Texas judge granted Sorsby an injunction on Monday, making him eligible.
“This court finds that [Sorsby] will suffer a probable, imminent, and irreparable injury” without the injunction because he “will be unable to participate as a member of Texas Tech University’s 2026 football team.”
The NCAA is not happy.
"The NCAA strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in Sorsby's case and is deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome — which undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports. The NCAA is committed to supporting student-athlete mental health but must continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one's own sport."
© Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.
Sorsby, who previously played at Indiana and Cincinnati, checked into gambling rehab last month. He completed a month-long stint and was diagnosed with a gambling and anxiety disorder.
Typically, gambling on your sport, especially games involving your own team, results in a lifetime ban.
But in Sorsby's case, he'll be playing college football this fall.
Lawyer ripped for 'laughable' claim
His lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler, released a statement to Yahoo! Sports.
"This is a just result. He will continue in treatment, devote himself to his team and educating others about the dangers of gambling addiction, and there is no damage to the competitive integrity of NCAA games."
College football fans are ripping him.
"No damage? I understand his attorney is being paid by Sorsby, but how do you say that with a straight face?" one fan wrote.
"The cool thing about this is that it definitely won't empower other players to bet on their own teams, free from consequence. And the cool thing about that is that it won't have any impact on the integrity of the sport on the whole. Pretty great all around, imo," another said sarcastically.
"The problem with this argument is that he had been betting for years and only entered a treatment program when he was being investigated by the NCAA. Doesn’t read as an earnest desire to improve. Reads as getting busted and using the escape hatch," one fan adedd.
It's a disaster, to say the least.
