The NCAA on Friday refused Texas Tech’s second petition to reinstate Brendan Sorsby’s eligibility, leaving the transfer’s ability to play this season for the Red Raiders unresolved while a separate Texas court case proceeds.
Sorsby was declared ineligible after he acknowledged gambling on sports, including wagers on his own team while at Indiana. He transferred from Cincinnati to Texas Tech and filed a lawsuit on May 18 seeking a temporary injunction against the NCAA so he could play this season; Texas Tech ruled him ineligible the same day.
Texas Tech asked the NCAA to reinstate Sorsby on May 19. The association denied that initial petition on May 22, and the school announced on May 26 that it would appeal. The NCAA’s latest refusal — the second denial — came as a two-hour hearing on Sorsby’s lawsuit was held Monday in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County.
At the heart of the dispute are two parallel tracks: an internal eligibility appeal inside the NCAA that has now been rejected twice, and a court fight in Texas over whether a judge should order temporary relief. Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec said the university believes the NCAA’s decision ought to be reversed or modified, but the NCAA has maintained its ineligibility finding.
The timeline compresses quickly: Sorsby filed his lawsuit and was ruled ineligible on May 18; Texas Tech sent its reinstatement request on May 19; the NCAA denied that request on May 22; the university announced an appeal on May 26; a civil hearing on the case stretched two hours Monday; and as of Friday the NCAA had denied the appeal a second time while Judge Ken Curry had not yet issued a ruling from the bench.
The legal posture now is straightforward and consequential. If Judge Curry grants the temporary injunction Sorsby seeks, a court order could allow him to suit up while the underlying lawsuit continues. If Curry declines, the NCAA’s repeated denials will stand and Sorsby will remain barred from competition for the Red Raiders this season unless another legal or administrative route opens.
The proceedings in Lubbock are the immediate hinge. The court case is separate from the NCAA’s internal process, but the two affect the same outcome: whether Sorsby can play. With the NCAA having rejected Texas Tech’s appeal twice, the only immediate path to on-field eligibility lies with the judge’s temporary-relief decision.
FilmoGaz has previously noted NFL interest in Sorsby during his college career (Eagles News: GMs Say Philadelphia Could Use Second‑Round Supplemental Pick on Brendan Sorsby — but for now the pressing question is domestic and narrow: will Judge Ken Curry grant the temporary injunction that would let Brendan Sorsby play this season for Texas Tech?
