The Brendan Sorsby saga has given rise to an intriguing question about the period of time during which he was actively, and heavily, betting on sports in violation of NCAA rules.
What did Cincinnati know, and when did Cincinnati know it?
Earlier this week, agent Ron Slavin — while defending Texas Tech against the intense scrutiny it has absorbed over Sorsby — said that, if anyone should “catch heat,” it should be Cincinnati. As Slavin put it, Cincinnati “knew for two years and never said anything and didn’t do anything about it.”
Cincinnati thereafter issued a statement denying the contention.
Regardless, there’s enough there to require the NCAA to fully and completely investigate the situation. If Cincinnati truly knew nothing, and if it has nothing to hide, it should welcome the opportunity to show that it did not allow Sorsby to play at a time when (given that he had placed bets on Indiana while on the Indiana roster) he had permanently lost his NCAA eligibility.
Although the NCAA has lost most of its bite when it comes to players, given that many NCAA rules violate federal antitrust laws, the NCAA still has power over its members. And the hue and cry over Texas Tech’s intention to allow Sorsby to play (until it was strong-armed by the Big 12 into telling him he couldn’t) becomes hollow if Cincinnati allowed him to play at a time when it knew, or with the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known, that Sorsby was ineligible.
Whether and to what extent the NCAA explores the Bearcat rabbit hole will go a long way toward determining whether the firestorm of criticism directed by conferences, schools, and media members at Sorsby and Texas Tech after he secured an injunction against the NCAA was truly about integrity of sports, or whether it was performative nonsense aimed at helping push through Congress an antitrust exemption that will restore some of the NCAA’s power over the players — while also wiping out some of their freedom and earning capacity.
If/when the NFL explores whether a Terrelle Pryor-style suspension should be imposed on quarterback Brendan Sorsby after the supplemental draft, the Kayshon Boutte precedent points to no punishment.
The Hunter Dekkers precedent does, too.
Dekkers, who re-signed with the Saints this week, missed the entire 2023 college football season after losing his NCAA eligibility for betting on one of his team’s games. With his NCAA eligibility permanently vacated, Dekkers played for Iowa Western Community College in 2024 before entering the draft. The NFL imposed no roadblocks to his professional career, before or after the 2025 draft.
After going undrafted, Dekkers spent most of the 2025 season with the Saints. He played for the Houston Gamblers of the UFL in 2026.
While at Iowa State, Dekkers had made more than 350 bets on his mother’s DraftKings account. In 2021, he made a $15 wager on Iowa State to beat Oklahoma State. Dekkers did not play in the game.
He eventually pleaded guilty to underage gambling in Iowa.
“I wasn’t throwing games, I wasn’t shaving points, and I would never do that,” Dekkers told ESPN last year, in the weeks before the 2025 draft. “There was never any intent behind any of these bets. We weren’t trying to make money. We were just treating it like a video game, in a sense.”
That’s the basic reality of an age in which gambling has become legalized — and normalized. The ads are everywhere. It’s inescapable. Sports fans are constantly bombarded with picks and parlays and the presumption that betting is fun. It’s very easy for anyone to pick up a phone, open an app, and press a few buttons.
Everyone can eat the forbidden fruit, expect the players who are watering the tree. There inevitably will be some that take a little taste, or more. Not to get rich. Just to chase that tiny thrill of vicarious victory.
Dekkers obviously paid the price at the college level. Sorsby did, too. The NFL’s decision not to suspend Dekkers or Boutte should lead to the same result with Sorsby.
There’s no guarantee it will. The five-game suspension of Terrelle Pryor still lingers, 15 years later. As to Sorsby, the league will do whatever it wants to do.
Given what the NFL didn’t do to Kayshon Boutte and Hunter Dekkers, the NFL shouldn’t do anything to Brendan Sorsby.
Brendan Sorsby has dropped his lawsuit against the NCAA, making the quarterback ineligible again and ending his college career because of gambling.
The expected motion for dismissal of the suit was filed Thursday by the 99th District Court in Lubbock County. That was three days after Texas Tech said he wouldn’t play this fall, and exactly a month after Sorsby filed his lawsuit that set off a legal saga that rattled college sports.
That Texas court issued a temporary injunction June 8 that made the transfer quarterback eligible to play even after admitting that he placed bets on his own team while at Indiana as a freshman four years ago. Those were among thousands of impermissible bets he made while in college.
Sorsby had to be ineligible for NCAA play to be able to apply for the NFL’s supplemental draft. The submission deadline for that rarely used draft is Monday, and the 22-year-old quarterback tentatively plans to work out for NFL teams on July 10.
The injunction last week by Judge Ken Curry had prevented the NCAA from enforcing its ruling that the quarterback was ineligible to play what would have been his final college season. Sorsby transferred to reigning Big 12 champion Texas Tech in January after the past two seasons at Cincinnati.
Cody Campbell, the billionaire booster who is chairman of the Texas Tech regents, announced in an open letter Monday night that Sorsby would not be part of the team this fall. He wrote that the decision was made with Sorsby and his family, with the draft deadline and ongoing legal process among the key factors.
That letter came on the same day the NCAA and Big 12 Conference had filings in separate courts related to the case.
Sorsby already faced a two-game suspension as part of the temporary injunction. The continued legal wrangling made uncertain what his status could be for Tech’s remaining games.
The temporary injunction had cleared the way for Sorsby, after the first two games, to play despite being declared ineligible after he admitted making thousands of bets worth at least $90,000 while at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. Those included at least 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, though none on the games in which he played for the Hoosiers that season.
Could the Lions be interested in Brendan Sorsby?
Detroit has experienced the consequences firsthand of players violating the league’s gambling policy, with four players suspended back in April 2023.
But every situation is different, and head coach Dan Campbell was asked on Thursday if the club had any interest in utilizing a pick in the supplemental draft.
“All I can tell you is that we look at everything,” Campbell said, via transcript from the team. “[General Manager] Brad [Holmes] looks at everything, and so nothing is off the docket, so our eyes are open. Doesn’t mean we will make a move or we won’t.”
The Lions don’t have much urgency to add another quarterback, with Jared Goff under contract through 2028, Teddy Bridgewater in the building as the team’s backup, and rookie Luke Altmyer having just arrived as an undrafted free agent.
But the team also cannot be ruled out as a potential suitor for Sorsby.
On Wednesday morning, agent Ron Slavin suggested that Texas Tech gave quarterback Brendan Sorsby a nudge toward the NFL supplemental draft. The official paperwork dismissing Sorsby’s lawsuit against the NCAA describes it as something much more than a nudge.
In the two-page voluntary dismissal of Sorsby’s lawsuit, as posted by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, Sorsby’s lawyers stated this: “On June 15, 2026, Plaintiff was informed by Texas Tech that, notwithstanding the Temporary Injunction Order, the University would not permit Plaintiff to play for his football team during the 2026-27 football season, thereby rendered the relief afforded by the Temporary Injunction Order moot.”
In English, Texas Tech told Sorsby on Monday that the school would not allow him to play. Period. End of discussion.
It didn’t matter if Sorsby was willing to hold firm with the injunction and bypass the supplemental draft. Texas Tech, per Sorsby’s lawyer, told Sorsby he would not be allowed to play.
The timing is important. On Monday, the Big 12 sued Texas Tech in federal court in Dallas. The Big 12 wanted to have the ability to sanction Texas Tech, if/when it played Sorsby in a game.
That was enough to get Texas Tech to blink. By blinking, Texas Tech told Sorsby he wouldn’t play in 2026. Which gave Sorsby no choice. He had to apply for the supplemental draft.
With quarterback Brendan Sorsby applying for the supplemental draft (and assuming the NFL lets him in), the clock is already ticking on the various things that need to be done before a team will be sufficiently comfortable to spend a 2027 draft pick early.
Appearing on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Sorsby’s agent, Ron Slavin, addressed the mechanics of the truncated pre-draft process.
“The great thing about him being from Dallas is it’s the easiest place to get to,” Slavin said. “We obviously have all the facilities that he needs to work out in and do all the things he needs to do, and then we put together a Pro Day, and teams can come and meet with him here. And I’m still gonna have the discussion, but I’ll probably have Dr. [Daniel] Cooper do his physical, and then we can distribute the information to all 32 teams. But it’s a short window, but we’ll make it happen just because it’s really easy to make things efficient in Dallas.”
Beyond shepherding Sorsby through the pre-supplemental draft process, Slavin also will be advocating for his client. And while his bias when it comes to saying good things about Sorsby is obvious and predictable, it’s still interesting to see what Slavin had to say when given the space to sing Sorsby’s praises.
“If you go [by] a human being, he’s the first overall pick,” Slavin said. “He’s a great kid. There’s nothing that you’re ever going to have to worry about him off the field. The apps on his phones and all that’s been taken care of, and I really don’t think it’s gonna be an issue moving forward. I don’t think he’s got that type of personality.
“And on the field, I mean he’s, like I said, he’s 6'3, 235 [pounds]. He’s — I believe, if we had him run a 40, he’s gonna run in the 4.4s. And his arm talent is ridiculous. He can throw from all the different arm angles. And if you watch his games against TCU and some others, I mean, he’s running away from DBs who ran in the 4.5s.
“So he’s an elite athlete. He was a late bloomer. You know, I think he’s only gonna get better because, again, when you’re 5'3" as a sophomore in high school and grow 12 inches, you’re kind of like a baby giraffe for a while, and then once you settle into your body and you settle into your physical traits, you just get better and better.
“I grew up in Wisconsin, and, you know, I watched Brett Favre for years, and I think his personality and his moxie is a lot of Brett Favre. And then I think the way his arm angles are and some of the things he can do arm-talent wise is, you know, people would say, ‘Oh, this is an agent talking,’ but no, I think I’m a pretty good evaluator. It’s the reason I have a bunch of guys in the league. He’s a [Patrick] Mahomes, Josh Allen-type of arm angle, arm talent.”
None of that means Sorsby will become a franchise quarterback. But the possibility that Sorsby could develop into a great quarterback should compel every team that doesn’t have a long-term answer in place to put in the effort to complete a full and complete evaluation as to how a quarterback who never played for Texas Tech possibly will compare, over time, to the bar set by the three-time Super Bowl-winner who did.
During a Thursday interview with 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, agent Ron Slavin said the University of Cincinnati knew about quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s gambling habits. The claim has prompted a denial by Cincinnati.
“They didn’t do anything wrong here,” Slavin said regarding Texas Tech. “If anybody should be questioned or to catch some heat, it should be Cincinnati because they knew for two years and never said anything and didn’t do anything about it. So that’s the part of the story that gets lost.”
The comment wasn’t lost on Cincinnati.
“We will reiterate what we have said before,” the school said in a statement. “All of our student-athletes receive extensive gambling education multiple times throughout the year, and we would never knowingly play an athlete who violated NCAA sports wagering regulations. If we ever became aware of impermissible wagering, we would report to the NCAA and comply with sanctions.”
It’s not the first skirmish when it comes to the Bearcats and their former starting quarterback. Cincinnati sued Sorsby for $1 million after he transferred to Texas Tech.
In the end, Texas Tech never played Sorsby in a game. Sorsby spent two years at Cincinnati after violating the NCAA’s gambling rule, repeatedly. If Cincinnati knew and did nothing, that would be a problem.
At a time when the NCAA has little bite when it comes to the rules regarding players, it should at least be barking around the question of whether Cincinnati knew about Sorsby’s gambling and failed to do anything about it.
With quarterback Brendan Sorsby applying for the supplemental draft, the first question is whether the NFL will grant his request. The next question is whether the NFL will suspend him after he’s drafted.
As explained on Tuesday, the NFL’s decision to not suspend Patriots receiver Kayshon Boutte should help Sorsby’s cause.
In 2011, the NFL suspended former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor for five games after he was taken in the supplemental draft, mirroring a pending five-game NCAA suspension. Appearing Wednesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, agent Ron Slavin was asked whether the NFL may try to do to Sorsby what it did to Pryor.
“No, because there’s a precedent set with the Boutte kid out of LSU, where he had gambling and when he got to the NFL . . . he didn’t get any suspension or sit out at all,” Slavin said. “So, I think the precedent’s been set there. I mean, those conversations will still be had, but I don’t think you can really just make up rules as you go. Once you set a precedent, that’s what it is.”
In theory, Slavin is right. In practice, well, the NFL has a bit of a reputation for making up rules as it goes.
There’s a difference between Boutte and Sorsby that, on the surface, is irrelevant. But it could cause the league to reach a different outcome.
In Boutte’s case, his gambling addiction, underage betting, and wagers placed on LSU games while playing for LSU didn’t come to light until after Boutte’s rookie season with the Patriots had ended. For Sorsby, it’s all out in the open as he enters the league, after losing his NCAA eligibility.
As to Boutte, a suspension would have put a spotlight on the NFL’s failure to know about his betting before he entered pro football. As to Sorsby, everyone knows. It has become a major story. It will be harder for the NFL to look the other way.
It shouldn’t matter. The Boutte precedent should guide the Sorsby decision. The NFL, however, prefers to make decisions on a case-by-case basis, without past outcomes or prior reasoning tying its hands in a given situation.
For now, many within the league are wondering what the NFL will do. Some believe Commissioner Roger Goodell will come up with a way to impose a sanction on Sorsby, citing his underage betting, his violation of NCAA rules, and/or the wagers placed on his own team while at Indiana.
For a suspension imposed after Sorsby is drafted, the NFLPA would file a grievance and the Boutte argument would be made. At the end of the day, however, Article 46, Section 1(a) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement gives the Commissioner final say over what likely would be an “integrity of the game” suspension.
Put simply, the Commissioner will be free to ignore the Boutte precedent in reaching a decision that, per the CBA, will be final and binding.
With quarterback Brendan Sorsby applying for the NFL supplemental draft, NFL teams are applying elbow grease in an effort to evaluate Sorsby.
Appearing Wednesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, agent Ron Slavin said 26 teams have contacted him since Sorsby’s plan to leave Texas Tech came to light.
“Twenty-two between General Managers and college scouting directors reached out yesterday and then four more already this morning,” Slavin said. “And I know [coach] Joey [McGuire’s] getting a ton of phone calls at Tech. Like I said, there aren’t a lot of guys walking around 6'3", 235 [pounds] and can move like him and throw it like him.”
What are they asking?
“I mean, the questions are just, you know, ‘What really happened here?’” Slavin said. “Because I will give the NFL credit there. The media can give people, you know, an opinion but it isn’t the tell-all. So they’re gonna do their due diligence. They all have companies that work for them that can, you know, find out everything they need to find out anyway. The reality is most of the questions, you know, are, ‘What does he weigh in? What would he run?’ You know, it’s more football-related than the character stuff just because, again, they’re gonna do their digging on that side of it.”
They’ll all dig. Great quarterbacks are not easy to find. If someone decides Sorsby could be the real deal, they’ll want to add him — if they can get to the right level of comfort regarding the gambling addiction that prematurely ended his time in college football.
So why did quarterback Brendan Sorsby decide to enter the supplemental draft? As his agent tells it, Sorsby believed Texas Tech wanted to move on from a difficult situation.
Appearing Wednesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, agent Ron Slavin explained Sorsby’s decision to waive his remaining college football eligibility by withdrawing his lawsuit and heading to the NFL.
“It just came down to too much pressure from everybody else on Tech, and Brendan still wanted to play at Tech,” Slavin said. “This wasn’t Brendan Sorsby not wanting to play college football. This was Brendan Sorsby just being advised by the school that, ‘I think it’s time for you’ — you know, we had seven days left to file for the supplemental draft and didn’t know where this thing was gonna go. So, we won in court. We did our job on our side, but, for whatever reason, the world melted down like college football was ruined forever.”
Although Slavin eventually pegged the decision as a 50-50 split between Sorsby and Texas Tech “just to make everybody happy,” it’s clear from the overall interview that Slavin (and, by extension, Sorsby) believes Tech got skittish.
“When we made the decision to hire Jeffrey Kessler, you know, he’s the Harlem Globetrotters,” Slavin said. “You know, he doesn’t lose. And the NCAA, unfortunately, is the Washington Generals. So, you know, that’s kind of how we stood on it. And we still haven’t — we didn’t lose. That’s the thing.”
Still, Texas Tech wasn’t comfortable in continuing the fight, especially after it went from Sorsby vs. the NCAA to the Big 12 vs. Texas Tech.
“Texas Tech didn’t want to go through the process and jeopardize a situation where the Big 12 makes up rules as they go, and says, ‘He can’t play in the Big 12 championship game,’ or the CFP comes out and says he can’t play the CFP,” Slavin said. “Then he played a season for nothing. And with seven days before the supplemental draft, you know, Tech thought it was in Brendan’s best interests to move forward with that instead of — I mean, the other thing is you have a roster of 90 kids. So those 90 kids are — they’re affected too. So that was where Brendan was, like, ‘I don’t want to screw these guys over, either, with, you know, get through the season, we go 12-0, and then they pull the rug out from us.’”
It really was the most prudent decision. Despite Sorsby’s win in court, the Big 12 had filed suit against Texas Tech and the NCAA had requested an appeal with the goal of having a decision in place before the start of the 2026 college football season. If Sorsby hadn’t applied for the supplemental draft, he would have risked encountering all sorts of judicial mayhem if he’d stayed at Texas Tech.
Ultimately, he would have risked being not only a man without a team in 2026, but a man without a league.
