The Brendan Sorsby decision rocked the sports world this week. Just to bring you up to speed in about a paragraph, Sorsby was deemed ineligible for betting on football throughout his college career (over 3,000 bets, including 40 on his own team, amounting to about $90,000). He admitted his wrongdoing and went to rehab. Then he sued the NCAA in a court close to where he’s set to play next season (Texas Tech). The judge granted him a temporary injunction, which means the NCAA cannot punish him before the case is settled.
The case was set for February of next year, two weeks after the National Championship, making it an effectively worthless trial. This decision was made because not playing his final year, in which he’s set to make about five million bucks in NIL money, would cause him “irreparable harm.”
Well there you have it, folks. The playbook for getting away with almost anything, including the cardinal sin of sports, gambling. Brought to you by Brendan Sorsby (and Trinidad Chambliss, to a degree). Here’s how it works:
Trinidad Chambliss, the Ole Miss QB who secured a fifth year of eligibility via injunction from a Mississippi judge after the NCAA denied him, and Brendan Sorsby are taking full advantage of the inherent slowness of the legal system. They are both fifth year seniors. This is it for them no matter what, barring a redshirt. They were also both deemed ineligible to play another year of college football, Chambliss due to a medical redshirt from his freshman year being denied, and Sorsby for, ya know, compromising the integrity of the sport.
The routine is very simple for guys like this; get a judge (I suggest a local one who probably bleeds the colors of the nearby college football program) to grant you a temporary injunction during the offseason. You’ll have to sue the NCAA over their decision to not let you play. An injunction is not a declaration of innocence, but rather, an assurance that you will not suffer any harm as you are awaiting trial or as the case is ongoing. Makes sense, right? Why should you suffer the consequences of something you’re not yet guilty of?
All you have to do is convince a judge that there is a case to be made, as Brendan Sorsby did when his legal team blamed his gambling on mental health issues. If the judge thinks your argument should see the light of day, boom, you got your temporary injunction.
The NCAA is now powerless unless they can secure an expedited appeal, thus bringing the case to trial sooner rather than later. They lost that fight against Chambliss and they will likely lose that fight against Sorsby (the court that set his court date is headed by four judges who all went to Texas Tech). The NCAA can fight the validity of Chambliss and Sorsby’s argument in court, but what it can’t fight is when that court date is. The court date, and the injunction that protects the player in the meantime, makes it so that the result of the case doesn’t matter. They’re arguing over a season that already happened.
Behold, the magic playbook for being a senior college football player who has an issue with the NCAA.
This type of thing isn’t a good idea if you’re not a senior. You can seek an injunction if you want, eventually you’ll have to fight the NCAA in court if you sue them. Since you’re not a senior, that leaves room for them to declare you ineligible and for you to actually miss games because of it. If you’re a senior though, there’s just no way a judge will be able to hear your case in the time it takes for you to complete your last season.
The U.S. legal system is methodical and time-consuming. A college football season lasts around five months if your team is good. There’s just no way, especially since expedited appeals are apparently harder to hit on than a 10-leg parlay, right Brendan?
Brendan Sorsby will sit out the first two games of 2026, then take his place as the starting quarterback of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, a team that will start the season ranked in top-10 and with National Championship aspirations. This is awful for college football, and sports in general, and it might be just the beginning. These tactics for seniors seem to be nearly full proof, as it has revealed the NCAA to be a toothless organization.
They can threaten to sanction teams who play Texas Tech, and for what it’s worth, some schools have already said they would refuse to play the Red Raiders. I think that’s all for show. There’s too much money on the line to not play a premier program on national television. Texas Tech will be able to fill out their schedule.
So there you have it, incoming seniors. Have a ball. Freshman, sophomores, and juniors? Sorry, you’ll have to wait a little while to get your get-out-of-jail-free cards. The NCAA can still get you once your trial date arrives, since there’s still some meat on the bone for your college career. But seniors? Forget about it. The NCAA will never get to you in time, barring a miracle on the level of the Knicks 29-point comeback against the Spurs in Game 4 of the Finals.
Something has to change. Sadly, I’m not sure what college football is able to do about it.
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