Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby plans to apply to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft, ending the drama over whether he would be eligible to play for the Red Raiders this year despite violating NCAA gambling rules.
Monday night’s news came one week after the college sports world was roiled by the ruling of a Lubbock County judge, who barred the NCAA from preventing Sorsby from playing despite having admitted to thousands of gambling violations, including betting on his own team when he was at Indiana.
But it also came at the end of a day in which the NCAA and the Big 12 each had court filings in separate lawsuits involving Sorsby’s case. The debate over his eligibility involved the attorneys general of several states and the presidents of the Big 12 universities, and it raised questions about the NCAA’s legitimacy if the organization could not enforce its own rules.
In a letter to fans, Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair and megadonor Cody Campbell said Texas Tech would continue to provide support and recovery resources for Sorsby. It also won’t seek repayment of any amounts already paid to the quarterback through school NIL agreements. Sources familiar with Sorsby’s contract said the quarterback had already earned about $1 million through deals with Texas Tech and third-party outlets.
“This decision was made with Brendan and his family, and is purely an output of practical analysis of the situation,” Campbell wrote. “Brendan and Texas Tech stand on very solid and legitimate legal ground, but he faces a June 22nd deadline to be eligible to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, and there is no practical way to resolve all the various pending legal disputes and ensure his eligibility prior to this date. This is the only viable and fair path for Brendan and his future, as well as for his teammates, and our university.
“Brendan, while he made many mistakes that he openly admits, has also been part of a much larger broken and predatory system, and we believe that all people deserve a second chance. It is gut-wrenching that there is no viable path to providing him with redemption at the collegiate level.”
Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec and athletics director Kirby Hocutt also released a statement in which they said, “When Brendan’s lawsuit resulted in the granting of a temporary injunction, we found ourselves in a difficult situation. With his health and wellness as our top priority, we supported him in spite of very different perspectives and opinions. Our position was challenged by many but our support for him never changed. We will continue to extend all available resources that Brendan had as a student and athlete to ensure his transition is as successful as possible.”
In an Instagram post, Sorsby thanked his family, his coaches and teammates at Texas Tech and “so many others who have encouraged me to address and learn more about this important issue. As my journey continues, I remain fully committed to and focused on being the best I can be, both on and off the field.”
One of the most sought-after quarterbacks in last winter’s transfer portal out of Cincinnati, Sorsby chose Texas Tech, a program that won last year’s Big 12 championship but failed to score against Oregon in the College Football Playoff. With a financial package worth more than $4 million, Sorsby was supposed to take the Red Raiders over the top.
But he announced in April that he would enter a treatment facility for a gambling addiction, which came after the NCAA notified Texas Tech of an investigation into his gambling. In subsequent legal filings, the NCAA learned of Sorsby’s gambling through law enforcement.
By his own admission, Sorsby has wagered at least $90,000 on more than 9,000 bets over the course of his college career, with stops at Indiana and Cincinnati before Texas Tech. That included betting on Indiana football as a team member, though not in games he played in, as well as Indiana and Cincinnati men’s basketball games, also against NCAA rules. Sorsby also transferred money to others to gamble under proxy sports betting accounts, including since he transferred to Texas Tech in January. (Mobile sports betting is illegal in Texas.)
He was deemed permanently ineligible by the NCAA, which also denied his appeal in late May. Sorsby filed a lawsuit against the NCAA last month, claiming the organization was not looking out for his best interest and welfare by banning him. The judge in Lubbock County sided with Sorsby last Monday, granting an injunction through the college football season, as well as a self-recommended two-game suspension for the quarterback.
That ruling sparked backlash across the country. Nebraska and Georgia told their coaches not to schedule Texas Tech in any sport. The Big Ten considered a league-wide ban but opted against it. Big 12 administrators seethed and considered a slew of potential conference sanctions.
Texas Tech school leaders said they were focused on Sorsby’s recovery and had put monitoring in place to make sure he didn’t place any more bets. They didn’t explicitly say they planned to play him, but Campbell said that Texas Tech owed it to Sorsby to play him if he was eligible.
Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to the Big 12, warning the league against levying sanctions against Texas Tech. (Under state law, the Texas attorney general would represent Texas Tech in court.)
That letter was part of the Big 12’s federal filing on Monday, claiming the conference had a First Amendment right to enact its own bylaws, and that a supermajority of schools could vote to sanction Texas Tech if Sorsby played. Attorneys general from Oklahoma, Kansas and Utah wrote letters in support of the Big 12.
“It’s been a challenging week for both our conference and the college athletics landscape,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said. “The Big 12 looks forward to moving ahead as 16 strong. We wish Brendan Sorsby success in his future endeavors.”
Sorsby’s plan to enter the supplemental draft ends the drama. His attorney Jeffrey Kessler told The Athletic they plan to withdraw their state lawsuit on Tuesday, which would make Sorsby ineligible to play college football and therefore eligible for the NFL Supplemental Draft.
The supplemental draft is typically meant for college players who lose eligibility late in the process. The first one was held in 1977. Prospects have to apply with and be approved by the NFL league office for eligibility in the supplemental draft. The league hosts the supplemental draft only when there are eligible players, which hasn’t happened since 2023. There were two eligible prospects that year, though neither was selected. A player hasn’t been selected in the supplemental draft since 2019 — the longest drought in its history — when the Arizona Cardinals selected defensive back Jalen Thompson.
The deadline to apply is June 22. An NFL spokesperson declined to comment on Sorsby’s situation.
What’s next for Texas Tech at QB?
Without Sorsby, Texas Tech will move forward with Will Hammond as its starting quarterback. Hammond has been recovering from an ACL injury suffered last October, but head coach Joey McGuire said last month he expects him to be ready early in the season.
Hammond has participated in seven-on-seven throwing. He should be fully cleared to play in late August, but it might take more time for him to get game-ready. Hammond threw for 680 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions in eight games last season as a redshirt freshman in relief of injured Behren Morton. Hammond helped lead Texas Tech to a win at Utah but also started the team’s lone regular-season loss, at Arizona State. Behind Hammond is Tulsa transfer Kirk Francis.
“He’s in a good spot,” McGuire said of Hammond. “We’re fortunate to have Will Hammond. He’s one of the most competitive, most dedicated guys. His team loves him. If you watch when he came in against Utah, just to see how the offensive line reacted whenever he entered that game. He’ll be ready to go, (but) I do not see pushing him in Week 1 to be ready to go.”
What are Sorsby’s pro prospects?
Based on talent (and under normal circumstances), the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Sorsby likely would have been viewed as a potential first-rounder in the 2026 draft. With or without the off-field issues, however, it wouldn’t have been a guarantee — the skilled big man (who plays a lot like Giants QB Jaxson Dart) had back-to-back productive years at Cincinnati but was not tested against the type of competition he’d have seen this season at Texas Tech. Oh, and there’s nothing normal about these circumstances.
Sorsby will probably be worth a pick for one of the many QB-needy teams who might be interested in coughing up a future selection. The question is: How early a pick will a GM be inclined to risk? The last quarterback taken in the supplemental draft was Terrelle Pryor in 2011 (a third-round pick by the then-Oakland Raiders). No team has given up a first-rounder in the supplemental draft since the Giants took QB Dave Brown in 1992.

The Iranian football team were forced to leave the U.S. immediately after their 2-2 World Cup group stage draw with New Zealand.
Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoei said U.S. officials ordered the team to leave the country after the match yesterday, and was quoted calling his team the “most oppressed team in the whole World Cup.” The Iranians have now returned to their training camp in Tijuana.
Ghalenoei claimed the plan was originally to remain in the U.S. before leaving for Mexico today.
Despite having all three of their group games played in the U.S., Donald Trump‘s administration has refused to let Iran stay in the country between matches. Around 13 members of Iran’s coaching staff were refused entry into the U.S., amid a politically charged atmosphere.
The U.S. and Iran have agreed a deal to end the war between them, per President Trump, the Iranian government and negotiator Pakistan, but the bad blood between the countries remains.
Prior to the New Zealand game, many Iranian fans flew pre-revolutionary flags, which symbolize their opposition to the regime in Tehran.
A few hundred fans, many of whom are Iranian-Americans, were reported to have protested against the national team, claiming it represents the Iranian regime’s Islamic beliefs rather than the sports team. Some sung the country’s pre-revolutionary anthem.
World Cup organizer FIFA has banned the pre-revolutionary flag inside stadiums as part of its shaky commitment to keeping the tournament non-political. However, it was seen in stadium during the match and on fans’ t-shirts.
The match itself saw Iran twice come from behind to draw 2-2 with New Zealand in their Group G match.

Transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby will not play for Texas Tech this fall and instead plans to enter the NFL supplemental draft, ending an unprecedented legal fight over the college eligibility of a player who had acknowledged betting on college and pro sports, including some wagers on his own team while at Indiana four years ago.
Cody Campbell, the billionaire booster who is chairman of the Texas Tech regents, wrote in an open letter Monday night that Sorsby will not be part of the team.
“This decision was made with Brendan and his family and is purely an output of practical analysis of the situation,” Campbell wrote. “Brendan and Texas Tech stand on very solid and legitimate legal ground, but he faces a June 22nd deadline to be eligible to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, and there is no practical way to resolve all the various pending legal disputes and ensure his eligibility prior to this date. This is the only viable and fair path for Brendan and his future, as well as for his teammates, and our university.”
That came exactly one week before the deadline for Sorsby to apply for the NFL supplemental draft.
And it was also one week after Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction against the NCAA, an order that sent shockwaves through college sports because one of the NCAA’s foundational rules, and one found in many professional sports as well, is the ability to ban players for gambling — especially those wagering on games involving their own team.
All the legal wrangling had raised the stakes in the fight over whether Sorsby could play and who would decide that.
Sorsby’s decision came on the same day the NCAA and Big 12 had filings in separate courts challenging a temporary injunction that had cleared the way for the 22-year-old quarterback to play despite being declared ineligible after he admitted making thousands of bets worth at least $90,000 while in college. Those included at least 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, though none on the game in which he played for the Hoosiers that season.
Sorsby didn’t play a down for the defending Big 12 champion Red Raiders. He transferred to Texas Tech in January for a reported multimillion-dollar deal after playing the past two seasons at Cincinnati, another Big 12 school. The Texas native was at Indiana in 2022 and 2023.
Campbell, while not revealing any figures, said Texas Tech will not seek the return of any payments already made to Sorsby through his NIL agreements with the university.
While it was Sorsby and not Texas Tech who filed the suit against the NCAA that resulted in the injunction, school officials had repeatedly said he would be better off on the team for his mental health and well being.
“I am grateful for the support from my family, my Tech coaching staff, teammates, the community, and so many others who have encouraged me to address and learn more about this important issue,” Sorsby wrote in a social media post Monday night. “As my journey continues, I remain fully committed to and focused on being the best I can be, both on and off the field.”
Court testimony revealed Sorsby has a diagnosed addiction and anxiety-driven compulsion. He recently completed a monthlong stay in a residential treatment program in Arizona that he entered after Texas Tech was notified in April about an NCAA investigation into his gambling activity.
“I pray that he can stay on his path to recovery,” Campbell wrote. “Texas Tech will continue to provide the support and recovery resources Brendan requires on this journey.”
In a joint statement, Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec and Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt also said the school would still extend all available resources to Sorsby that he had while on the Lubbock campus.
“When Brendan’s lawsuit resulted in the granting of a temporary injunction, we found ourselves in a difficult situation. With his health and wellness as our top priority, we supported him in spite of very different perspectives and opinions. Our position was challenged by many but our support for him never changed,” they wrote.
The ruling last week by Judge Ken Curry prevented the NCAA from being able to block the quarterback’s eligibility for what would have been his final college season with a team among the favorites to win the Big 12 Conference and return to the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season.
The NCAA’s appeal
In documents filed Monday with the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo, the NCAA asked for an emergency motion to stay the June 8 injunction. The NCAA had also asked for a resolution of the case by Aug. 28, which it said would spare the potential disruption of a ruling after Texas Tech begins its season on Sept. 5. The trial was scheduled for February, well after the season ends.
“The trial court’s temporary injunction sweeps beyond anything Texas law permits,” attorneys for the NCAA wrote. “It undermines the integrity of college sports, rewrites member-adopted rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, immunizes Brendan Sorsby from discipline for admitted and serial violations of NCAA anti-gambling rules, incentivizes a run on courthouses across the country to challenge even the most obvious and straightforward student-athlete eligibility decisions and demolishes the status quo.”
Big 12 goes to federal court
The Big 12, meanwhile, filed its complaint in U.S. District Court in Dallas seeking a court order backing its ability to use its bylaws for possible sanctions against Texas Tech if Sorsby had played this season. Last week, the Texas attorney general’s office warned the league of potential legal action from Texas Tech for any such sanctions.
The Big 12 filing names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate race this fall, as well as Texas Tech leadership, including its president, chancellor and athletic director. It accused them of trying to prevent the Big 12 from exercising its own rules the school itself agreed to long ago. Sorsby wasn’t named as a defendant.
“An athlete with an extensive, documented history of wagering on intercollegiate athletic contests — especially his own team’s games — presents a reputational and integrity risk to the conference and its championship competition that the conference has both the right and the responsibility to address,” attorneys for the Big 12 wrote. “The conference is not required to accept that risk on behalf of its 15 other member Institutions, their student-athletes, their fans and its commercial partners. And no government official has the power to compel it to do so.”
That came before a meeting Monday of the Big 12 board of directors, which is made up of presidents and chancellors from the league’s 16 schools.
In a statement by the board after that meeting, the Big 12 said it “has long spoken out about the dangers of sports wagering by student-athletes and remains committed to protecting the competitive integrity of conference competition. Universities should not field players who have bet on their own team’s games in college athletics.”
Big 12 athletic directors in a conference call with Commissioner Brett Yormark last week expressed opposition to Sorsby playing for the Red Raiders this season, and some even suggested maybe not playing Texas Tech if he had.
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INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The coach of Iran’s World Cup team said it was ordered to leave the U.S. and return to its training base in Mexico only a few hours after opening its politically charged tournament by playing to a 2-2 draw with New Zealand on Monday night.
Coach Amir Ghalenoei didn’t say who ordered the Iranians to leave earlier than planned. The team had expected to spend the night in California to maximize the normal recovery process after its opening game, only to be told after the match that everyone must immediately get on a plane for the 140-mile trip back to Tijuana.
“They didn’t even give us time to recover,” Ghalenoei said through an interpreter. “After the game today, they said to us, ‘You have to leave immediately.’ It’s very important for us to have time for recovery, (but) we are asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that.”
The Iranians’ World Cup cycle has been in upheaval since the U.S. and Israel began a war against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran ultimately decided to compete even after FIFA rejected its request to move its three group-stage matches out of the U.S.
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi said the team endured five hours of travel and security checks during what’s normally a very short trip from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area on Sunday.
“We don’t know why they are returning us, to be honest,” Ghalenoei said. “I think it’s very strange. It seems like others are doing the planning for us. The decision-making for us is being made elsewhere. We were supposed to come two nights before the game, and we were supposed to stay tonight to recover and return tomorrow at lunchtime. We have no idea why.
“I think our team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup.”
Taremi and Ghalenoei both decried the team’s lack of many important staff members — including the president of Iran’s football federation, coaching support personnel and media officials — who were denied visas by the U.S., amplifying the team’s difficult preparations.
“We have to leave Los Angeles right now, and it’s not good for us,” Taremi said about an hour after the match. “I think FIFA have to help us more than this. … Everything is like a disaster, actually, for us.”
Ghalenoei said several players developed cramps during the game, which was played in mild conditions. He attributed the injury problems to the lack of proper preparation time caused by Iran’s bureaucratic and diplomatic obstacles.
“Before the game, I said we haven’t had time to adjust because of the travel,” Ghalenoei said. “Many of our players, they had cramps, and that’s why we had to substitute them. So it wasn’t for technical reasons that we made substitutions. It was because of the injury and because of the cramp. They will be examined (Tuesday) by our technical staff, but the fact they delayed our arrivals and they are forcing us to go back early without time for recovery, they are making the situation more difficult.”
The Iranians’ remaining two games in group stage play are against Belgium in Inglewood on Sunday, followed by a trip to Seattle to face Egypt next week.
Iran opened its World Cup with a disappointing draw to a team ranked 65 places lower in FIFA’s rankings. Yet the Iranians also overcame two deficits in an exciting match, getting the tying goal from Mohammad Mohebi in the 64th minute before a strongly pro-Iranian crowd at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, which has the world’s largest population of Iranians outside Iran.
The game was played in a crackling atmosphere created in part by a conflicted, diasporic fan base which remains furious with the current Iranian government, but is still largely supportive of Team Melli.
While several hundred Iranian Americans protested the government outside, many fans from the diaspora jeered and turned their backs on the field during the national anthem. Dozens of Lion and Sun emblems — the centerpiece of Iran’s official flag before 1979 — were displayed in the crowd despite FIFA’s attempts to keep them away, while dozens more fans wore the Lion and Sun emblems on T-shirts.
Yet the vast majority of the crowd vocally supported the Iranian players once the match kicked off.
“It was an incredible atmosphere in the game, all 90 minutes,” Taremi said. “It was like at home for us.”
Elijah Just scored early in each half for New Zealand, but Iran responded twice with a pair of beautiful goals, including Mohebi’s header off a perfect pass from Ramin Rezaeian, who had scored off the side of his boot in the first half.
Mohebi appeared to mime the shooting of a gun after his goal, setting off criticism online. He also made the now-ubiquitous “ice in my veins” gesture originated 10 miles away from SoFi Stadium by Los Angeles Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell a decade ago, before he held up a heart to the cheering fans.
“The Iranians who live in Los Angeles, they make a great atmosphere,” Mohebi said. “That celebration, it comes in the mind, and I did like this” — motioning to his arm — “for all the fans. Just a celebration.”
Players from both teams embraced and shook hands after the final whistle, with at least one jersey swap occurring. While Ghalenoei sat by himself in the dugout, his players gathered together and walked around the field applauding their remaining thousands of flag-shaking, roaring fans.
Both of Iran’s next two matches are tougher on paper, endangering their chances of getting out of the World Cup group stage for the first time. Iran, Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand have one point apiece after the opening round.
“We’re facing more hurdles, but we’re not going to let that stop us from doing our best,” Ghalenoei said. “I think today was one of the best games in the World Cup so far, and I think the fans really enjoyed it inside the stadium and outside the stadium.”
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Associated Press writer Amy Taxin and AP Sports Writer Beth Harris contributed to this report.
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Against the backdrop of immense backlash and a slew of legal filings, quarterback Brendan Sorsby and Texas Tech have mutually agreed to part ways, sources tell On3’s Pete Nakos.
He plans to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, applying for it after parting ways with the school. The NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that Sorsby plans to drop his college eligibility lawsuit Tuesday; that will make him eligible for the supplemental draft as a player who has exhausted college eligibility.
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Sorsby has been the subject of significant scrutiny in the college football world after a controversial legal decision temporarily restored his eligibility for the 2026 season. He had previously been declared ineligible by Texas Tech and the NCAA for wagering on college sports.
But when a court granted a temporary injunction for Brendan Sorsby against the NCAA, allowing him to play after serving a two-game suspension, multiple parties immediately took staunch opposition. The Big 12 conference was among them.
The Big 12 has continued to fight the court ruling through legal avenues. The conference has repeatedly stressed it thinks Sorsby playing would significantly harm the college athletics landscape.
Along with the NCAA, the conference has taken steps to legally ensure it can act in its own interests in the Brendan Sorsby case. Failing to allow the conference to enact its own bylaws, the Big 12 said, would be harmful.
“The Big 12 filed a legal complaint asking a federal court to protect the constitutional and contractual rights on the Conference and our member institutions to take actions expressly permitted under our Bylaws,” read a Big 12 statement on Monday, obtained by On3’s Pete Nakos. “The Big 12 has long spoken out about the dangers of sports wagering and remains committed to protecting the competitive integrity of conference competition. Universities should not field players who have bet on their own team’s games in college athletics.
“This situation is evolving with pending legal matters and the upcoming start of the football season, and the Conference hopes for a timely resolution off these issues. The Board continues to keep all options on the table.”
The latest filing by the NCAA, seeking a stay on the injunction granted to Brendan Sorsby, was a major escalation in the case. The NCAA was seeking a more timely resolution to the case than what had previously been on the table.
As it stood, Brendan Sorsby, who admitted to placing a multitude of bets while in college, including some on his own team while at Indiana, could have played this fall after serving a two-game suspension. Many parties, including the Big 12 and the NCAA, came out staunchly against that injunction provided by the court ruling.
They argued that such a ruling would undermine the credibility of the system as a whole and weaken the institutions’ ability to enforce their own rules. The NCAA argued a stay to the injunction was necessary to preserve the status quo while the appeals process unfolded.
“The trial court’s temporary injunction sweeps beyond anything Texas law permits,” the NCAA filing read. “It undermines the integrity of college sports, rewrites member-adopted rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, immunizes Brendan Sorsby from discipline for admitted and serial violations of NCAA anti-gambling rules, incentivizes a run on courthouses across the country to challenge even the most obvious and straightforward student-athlete eligibility decisions, and demolishes the status quo.”