All In: Brendan Sorsby and the Gambling Scandal Shaking College Football.
Written By: Daunte Lee Jones
College Football, Film, & MMA Contributor
Brendan Sorsby, former quarterback for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Josh Brooks: Athletic Director, University of Georgia.
Josh Gordon, former Cleveland Browns wide receiver.
Brendan Sorsby was one of the most sought-after college football prospects in last year's transfer portal. He eventually would sign with Texas Tech, establishing himself as a player to look for in the 2027 NFL draft. But when an investigation uncovered Sorsby’s sports-gambling addiction, the entire sports world would be flipped upside down with new developments in the story emerging daily. It’s important that we recap Sorsby’s nightmare and relate it to the gambling situations affecting sports as a whole.
I can still remember my utter shock when Brendan Sorsby announced he would be going into rehab for a gambling addiction. Little did I know that would only be the start to a wildfire. Soon after, news would be released that during an NCAA investigation, officials would discover that since Sorsby’s time in Indiana back in 2022, he had been gambling on college football and even placing bets on his own team.
Raising the question of whether there were games where players underperformed to hit bets, undermining the legitimacy of college football. The NCAA would place a ban on Sorsby’s college football eligibility as punishment, but his legal team would respond with a successful lawsuit restoring his eligibility.
We all believed Sorsby would be returning to college football with the full support of Texas Tech backing him until boycotts reverberated from around the college football world, with one notable voice being Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks. Fan backlash from outside and inside the Red Raiders community would worsen the situation.
The breaking point would come when the Big 12 would go to federal court in an attempt to gain legal power to enforce the conference rules on Sorsby. To salvage their reputations, Texas Tech and Sorsby would waive the white before more drama could ensue and announce plans for the quarterback to focus on the NFL supplemental draft.
The NFL supplemental draft occurs between the NFL draft and the NFL season and allows college football players who have lost their eligibility to enter the league. To obtain a player, teams bid future draft capital with the highest bidder gaining the rights to sign the prospect. Notable players who entered the NFL through the supplemental draft are Josh Gordon and Terrelle Pryor.
To Sorsby’s dismay the chance would be shockingly not afforded to him, as the NFL would decline to hold the event and enforce their strict ban on player gambling. Currently we wait for the next page in the story, which I expect to be the NFL going through with the supplemental draft after Sorsby’s legal team exploits the unclear argument given from the league of player morality being the deciding factor of why the event won’t be held.
Clearly the sports gambling issue is affecting college football but has also occurred in multiple sports leagues including the MLB where Shohei Ohtani’s Interpreter stole $16 million from his account and placed bets in $40 million or the NBA where Portland Trail Blazers head coach, Chauncy Billups was arrested for wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering in aid of the mafia’s rigged poker games. Leagues have placed fierce punishments on players, executives, and coaches, but the addiction still hasn’t been solved. Until leagues are willing to distance themselves from the gambling companies they financially profit from, only more gambling scandals will arise.
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