Brendan Sorsby gambling addiction, explained: Why Texas Tech QB is taking leave of absence from football program originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Texas Tech landed top quarterback transfer Brendan Sorsby in the portal, but Sorsby’s eligibility with the team is now in doubt.
The quarterback is taking an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a gambling addiction stemming from betting on sports over the past several years. If Sorsby bet on sports while playing college football, that would violate NCAA rules and put him at risk of punishment from the organization.
Texas Tech spent a lot of its NIL money to add Sorsby for the season, so losing the quarterback would be a major blow to the team. In the meantime, the NCAA will give Sorsby space to treat his addiction while still looking into his actions.
Here’s the latest on Brendan Sorsby’s leave of absence.
Brendan Sorsby leave of absence
On Monday, Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby announced he was taking a leave of absence to undergo treatment for gambling addiction.
NEWS: Texas Tech and QB Brendan Sorsby announced today that Sorsby will take an immediate indefinite leave of absence from the football program to enter a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) April 27, 2026
Sorsby will be checking into a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction, which aims to treat gambling addicts. According to ESPN, there is no timetable for Sorsby’s return to the program, as the NCAA is treating it as a mental health issue, but the NCAA is also investigating him for gambling while playing over the past four years with Indiana or Cincinnati.
Brendan Sorsby gambling addiction
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that Sorsby is currently under investigation by the NCAA for making thousands of bets on sports using a gambling app. That included betting on Indiana to win games when he redshirted for the Hoosiers as a freshman in 2022, although he never appeared in any of those games.
So far, law enforcement has not investigated Sorsby, so he is currently only under scrutiny from the NCAA, which forbids all athletes from gambling on college or professional sports. Therefore, the investigation puts Sorsby’s eligibility with Texas Tech for the 2026 season in question.
The NCAA’s betting guidelines for players depend on the amount of money players used in their bets. There is a range of punishment, from education on the matter to a suspension for 50 percent of a player’s season.
These are the current NCAA penalty guidelines for sports betting violations.
The NCAA in October passed a rule allowing players/staff to vote on pro sports, but it was rescinded a month later when more than 2/3 of D1 schools voted to reverse the change. pic.twitter.com/EskYYESjM4
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) April 27, 2026
There is no timetable for the NCAA’s investigation, but Sorsby’s leave of absence is a sign that these allegations are serious.
Brendan Sorsby NIL deal
Sorsby signed an NIL deal with Texas Tech that will have him earn between $4 and $6 million, per ESPN, but that deal is under scrutiny. Sorsby’s former team, Cincinnati, sued the quarterback in February arguing that Sorsby breached their NIL deal by not paying the school a $1 million exit fee to leave for Texas Tech.