Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby was granted an injunction to compete for the Red Raiders this fall, Judge Ken Curry of the 99th Judicial Circuit in Lubbock County, Texas, announced Monday morning.
The injunction rules that the NCAA cannot prevent Sorsby from practicing with or competing for the Red Raiders this fall, but is also under the condition that Sorsby continues to seek counseling for his gambling addiction and that he serve a 2-game suspension to begin the season. Texas Tech plays Abilene Christian and Oregon State to open the season.
Judge Curry found Sorsby's argument persuasive that the key factor in the case is whether Sorsby himself would be harmed if he was not able to participate in college football this fall, for which he will be paid a reported $5 million in NIL.
Not addressed in Curry's ruling is whether the NCAA and the schools it represents would be harmed through the unprecedented action of allowing a player who bet on his own team to continue competing in college football. Sorsby admitted to betting on Hoosiers football games while at Indiana.
Gambling on one's own sport has -- in the past -- been the red line in all sports leagues, thereby protecting the integrity of competition and keeping sports from becoming professional wrestling.
Judge Curry found Sorsby's personal career prospects more important than that, and so now Sorsby plays on.
"The NCAA strongly disagrees with the court’s ruling in Sorsby's case and is deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome — which undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports. The NCAA is committed to supporting student-athlete mental health but must continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one's own sport," the NCAA responded in a statement Monday morning.
It remains to be seen whether the NCAA will appeal the decision.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.