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On Monday, a local judge in Texas granted an injunction to allow Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play next season despite years of gambling activity, including placing bets on his own team, that ended with him entering in-patient treatment for gambling addiction.
The ruling is just the latest in a string of cases in which players have asked local judges to give them NCAA eligibility. But it marked the first time a judge has forced a league to allow a player to participate despite engaging in gambling activity. While the ruling doesn’t set a nationwide precedent, it could be cited in future arguments for other players across the country.
The NCAA has already filed a notice of appeal, per documents obtained by Front Office Sports on Monday night. But the ruling sent shockwaves across the industry—and as a result, some schools may be taking matters into their own hands.
Calls for Boycott
Athletic directors at two power conference schools—Georgia and Nebraska—have instructed their departments to refrain from scheduling Texas Tech in non-conference play in all sports. In addition, conferences will hold meetings to consider whether to boycott Texas Tech on a conference-wide level.
Georgia AD Josh Brooks has called for a Texas Tech boycott, a spokesperson confirmed to FOS. So has Nebraska AD Troy Dannen, according to Yahoo Sports. Brooks later posted a statement on X saying: “True integrity means holding your program accountable when things go wrong, not buying custom legislation or running to a local courtroom to bypass the rules.”
A spokesperson for Nebraska did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Monday night, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said the conference has planned a meeting with athletic directors and the Big 12 executive board for later this week to discuss the situation. “The ramifications of today’s ruling are significant and could have broad impacts across college athletics, creating great concern amongst our membership,” he said.
After the meeting with Big 12 athletic directors Tuesday, Yormark said: “We had a thoughtful and productive conversation with our athletics directors today as we continue to work through the broader implications of this situation. Many of our athletics directors voiced their opinions. We will continue to have open and honest dialogue amongst the group, and until there is something to report, these conversations will remain within the conference.”
The Big Ten also scheduled a meeting to discuss the prospect of a league-wide boycott of Texas Tech, according to ESPN. A Big Ten representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
FOS also made inquiries to the SEC and ACC on Monday night regarding whether they might hold conference-wide meetings to discuss a potential boycott or next steps. Representatives did not immediately respond to comment requests.
While it’s unclear what power state attorneys general could have in the matter, at least one has already weighed in. “I’m outraged at a court’s decision to unilaterally reinstate a star player for the Texas Tech football program and set a horrific precedent in a case involving serial betting on his own team,” Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond said in a post on X on Monday night. “Rules exist for a reason, and this player clearly violated reasonable standards instituted by the NCAA.”
Texas Tech Reacts to the Ruling
AD Kirby Hocutt did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the calls to boycott Texas Tech specifically. But in response to the ruling Monday, Texas Tech officials simply stated they were doing what all other schools had done during this chaotic period in college sports—used whatever resources were at their disposal to gain a competitive advantage.
“As we have said before, we do not believe that the circumstances surrounding Brendan’s case warranted permanent ineligibility,” Hocutt said Monday. He added that the school will continue to monitor his activity and support his recovery.
Texas Tech University board chair and booster Cody Campbell—an advisor of U.S. President Donald Trump who has championed the Protect College Sports Act—added: “This unfortunate situation is the outcome of a broken system. I’m doing everything I can to fix it, but until there is a permanent solution, Texas Tech and its student athletes have to do the best they can to navigate and compete amid the chaos that exists in the reality of the world we live in.”
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