In an emergency motion, the NCAA on Monday petitioned the Court of Appeals for the 7th District of Texas to stay a trial judge’s ruling that allows Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play in the upcoming college football season. Sorsby recently admitted to betting on his own team, and he placed more than 9,000 sports bets, violating NCAA rules, over four years at three different colleges.
In a brief authored by Ben Mesches and other attorneys from Haynes Boone, Holland & Knight and Wilkinson Stekloff, the NCAA argues that Lubbock County (Texas) District Court Judge Ken Curry overstepped his authority last Monday when declaring Sorsby immediately eligible. The judge’s ruling contained a caveat that Sorsby sit out the first two games of the Red Raiders’ season, a distinction that, as detailed below, the NCAA depicts as problematic in its own right.
A stay would table Judge Curry’s ruling until resolution of the appeal, which could take months, and it would mean that Sorsby would remain suspended by the NCAA unless the associationg decided to reinstate him. If the NCAA can enforce its suspension, Sorsby has argued he would like the option to enter the NFL via supplemental draft; he says he has a deadline of June 22 to notify the league of that decision. The NFL is under no obligation to hold a supplemental draft for Sorsby, and even if such a draft occurred, it’s unclear whether any NFL team would draft Sorsby, particularly given his gambling addiction and anxiety disorder.
