Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s eligibility case against the NCAA is set for trial on Feb. 8, 2027, long after the end of the college regular season and extending past the College Football Playoff.
Sorsby was ruled ineligible by the NCAA after it found he had bet about $90,000 on college and pro sports in a four-year span, including on his team when he attended Indiana in 2022. His appeal to the NCAA was denied on Friday.
But on Monday in Lubbock County, Texas, district judge Ken Curry issued a temporary injunction and restored Sorsby’s eligibility and said the NCAA cannot prevent him from “practicing, playing or otherwise participating on Texas Tech’s football team for the 2026 season.”
Sorsby, 22, filed for an injunction against the NCAA on May 18, seeking reinstatement. Sorsby’s filing accused the NCAA of being “deeply hypocritical” with regard to gambling and said Sorsby would be “irreparably harmed” if the injunction was not granted.
And that is just what Curry’s action did, much to the dismay of the college athletics community on Monday. The NCAA immediately appealed Curry’s verdict to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas in Amarillo. Each of the four district judges are graduates of the Texas Tech School of Law, according to their court biographies posted online.
Among the outraged parties on Monday was the Big 12 — Texas Tech’s conference. Commissioner Brett Yormark told ESPN that the conference’s executive board, and then likely the full board, will discuss what action the Big 12 could take.
College sports attorney Thomas Mars, who has tangled with the NCAA on eligibility issues in the past, told ESPN on Tuesday that he thinks the Big 12 can severely punish Texas Tech should a player ruled ineligible by the NCAA be inserted into the lineup.
“There is no question that the Big 12 could impose draconian sanctions on Texas Tech, and the type of sanctions would only be limited by their creativity,” Mars told ESPN.
On3 reported in January that Sorsby had struck a one-year deal with Texas Tech for estimated at $5 million in a move that put the Red Raiders among CFP title contenders.
After a solid season at Cincinnati in 2025, when he passed for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns, Sorsby was considered the No. 1 quarterback in the transfer portal.
