Brendan Sorsby and College Football’s First Biggest Gambling Scandal

Since Comprehensive validation In sports betting, the NCAA gambling scandals mostly involved low-profile programs involving obscure games and insignificant prop bets.

For example, the first half over/under for the North Carolina A&T-Delaware men’s basketball game.

Promo code: Easy to ignore.

When ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that changed Monday The NCAA is investigating Texas Tech transfer quarterback Brendan SourcebyTo make “thousands of online bets on various sports through one gambling app”. Suddenly, a hopeful College Football Playoff contender is in the headlines.

Sorsby, 22, has checked into a residential treatment program, the school announced Monday, to address a gambling addiction. Everyone should hope that he gets the help he needs. Any type of addiction, including sports betting, can destroy a life whether they had a high paying football career or not.

And that career is very much in jeopardy, at least at the college level.

To be clear, there are no allegations that Sorsby’s gambling affected his team or individual results during his previous stops in Cincinnati or Indiana. There is currently no indication that law enforcement is involved.

However, the NCAA strictly prohibits athletes from betting on college or professional sports. Penalties range from losing 30-50% of a season to “permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports.”

The full expulsion comes from a 2023-written NCAA guideline for players who gamble in any way on their own team. In 2022, when Sorsby was a freshman at Indiana in the middle of a redshirt season, he bet the Hoosiers to win the game, sources told Thamel.

It remains to be seen how it all turns out.

What’s clear is that college football’s biggest modern gambling scandal, like the star power — and NIL dollars — tied to the Sorsby dwarfs. Iowa and Iowa State Investigations.

After spending two seasons at pre-Cert Signet Indiana, Sorsby transferred to Cincinnati where he became a star. He completed 62.9% of his passes while throwing for 45 touchdowns and rushing for 18 more.

This offseason, he was the transfer portal’s most coveted player, at an estimated $5 million Pick the Red Raiders Over LSU, Miami and others. After his transfer turned ugly, with Cincinnati is suing Sorsby $1 million exit fee allegedly in his NIL contract.

The move was seen as the latest muscle flex by Texas Tech, who has built a new-age powerhouse in Lubbock behind the spending spree of billionaire booster and former player Cody Campbell.

Sorsby was expected to lead Tech to another Big 12 title and another College Football Playoff appearance this season.

Now, that can be done and Tech can be shaken by closing the transfer portal. is next on the depth chart Will HammondThe redshirt freshman, who is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last October Lloyd Jones IIIWho appeared in just one game last year or Tulsa transfer Kirk Francis Who came hoping to be a backup.

“We love Brendan and support his decision to seek professional help,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said in a statement. “It takes courage to take this step, and our primary focus is on him as an individual.”

It’s notable for what it isn’t — a scam that could have happened in the 1950s, with shady stats enticing a player to shave points.

It’s SourceB doing what the vast majority of Americans do every day, pull out their phones and bet on sports.

In the wake of a 2018 Supreme Court decision, sports betting is allowed in 39 states and Washington, D.C. Gambling advertising and coverage, once considered prohibited, is now everywhere. This of course includes ESPN and, when the prediction market is included, outlets such as CNN, Fox, CBS and others.

A 2023 survey by the NCAA estimated that 60% of college students had bet on sports at least once. That number is almost certainly higher now, meaning Soursby wasn’t doing more than many of his classmates were doing.

Sorsby, however, is no ordinary college student. He is a de facto professional athlete who is making a lot of money because of the public’s interest in college football. This requires trust in the integrity of the games.

That’s why the NCAA, like professional sports leagues, has strict rules for athletes and coaches to bet on sports. To the NCAA’s credit, it spends a lot of time and resources educating players about those rules, the wider dangers of gambling, legal or otherwise.

Sorsby likely heard those messages over and over during his four years as a college athlete. He is in treatment anyway.

“It’s absolutely a challenge,” NCAA managing director of enforcement Mark Hicks told ESPN last year. “Sports betting isn’t new here in the United States, obviously. It’s been around for many, many, many years. But with the ease of mobile apps, it’s become a more visible part of our culture.

“So you have young people who are in college already involved or certainly very familiar with gambling and sports betting,” Hicks said.

There is no perfect solution. There is no message or punishment or piece of legislation that will be 100% effective, even with the highest-paid and highest-profile athletes. It is society wide.

All the NCAA can do is hype and hope, hope and hype.

This day, it knew, was inevitable. There are many more, potentially far-reaching, as well.