Dan Wetzel
Multiple Authors
Since the widespread legalization of sports wagering, NCAA gambling scandals have mostly involved low-major programs involving obscure games and insignificant prop bets.
A first half over/under, for example, for a North Carolina A&T-Delaware men’s basketball game.
Promo Code: Easy to Ignore.
That changed Monday when ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the NCAA is investigating Texas Tech transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby, for making “thousands of online bets on a variety of sports via a gambling app.” Suddenly, a Heisman hopeful for a 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. Addiction in any form, including sports wagering, can wreck a life whether they had a highly paid football career or not.
And that career is very much in jeopardy, at least at the college level.
To be clear, there is no allegation that Sorsby’s gambling led him to impact outcomes, either team or individual during his previous stops at Cincinnati or Indiana. There is no indication law enforcement are currently involved.
However, the NCAA strictly prohibits athletes from betting on college or professional sports. Punishments range from the loss of 30-50% of a season, to a “permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports.”
The full banishment 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 what would be a redshirt season, he bet on the Hoosiers to win games, sources told Thamel.
How it all plays out remains to be seen.
What is clear is college football has its first major modern gambling scandal.
After spending two seasons at pre-Curt Cignetti Indiana, Sorsby transferred to Cincinnati where he developed into a star. He completed 62.9% of his passes while throwing for 45 touchdowns and rushing for 18 more.
This offseason, he was the most coveted player in the transfer portal, fetching an estimated $5 million to pick the Red Raiders over LSU, Miami and others. The aftermath of his transfer turned ugly, with Cincinnati suing Sorsby over an alleged $1 million exit fee in his NIL contract.
The move was seen as the latest muscle flex by Texas Tech, who behind the spending of billionaire booster and former player Cody Campbell, has built a new age powerhouse in Lubbock.
Sorsby was expected to push Tech to a repeat Big 12 title and another College Football Playoff appearance this season.
Now, he could be done and Tech could be left scrambling with the transfer portal closed. Next on the depth chart is either Will Hammond, who is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last October, redshirt freshman Lloyd Jones III, who appeared in just one game last year, or Tulsa transfer Kirk Francis who arrived expecting to be a backup.
“We love Brendan and support his decision to seek professional help,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said in a statement. “Taking this step requires courage, and our primary focus is on him as a person.”
It’s notable what this isn’t — a scandal that could have happened in the 1950s, with shadowy figures luring a player to shave points.
It’s Sorsby doing what huge numbers of everyday Americans do, pulling out his phone and betting on sports.
In the wake of a 2018 Supreme Court decision, sports wagering is now allowed in 39 states and Washington, D.C. Gambling advertising and coverage, once considered taboo, is now everywhere. That certainly includes ESPN and, when prediction markets are included, outlets such as CNN, Fox, CBS and others.
Such inundation is why a 2023 study by the NCAA estimated that 60% of college students had bet on sports at least once. That number is almost assuredly higher now, meaning Sorsby was doing nothing more than what many of his classmates were doing.
Sorsby, however, is no typical college student. He is a de facto professional athlete who is making vast sums of money because of the public’s interest in college football. That requires a belief in the integrity of the games.
It’s why the NCAA, like professional sports leagues, has strict rules involving athletes and coaches betting on sports. To the NCAA’s credit, it spends enormous time and resources educating players about those rules, let alone the broader dangers of gambling, legal or otherwise.
Sorsby had likely heard those messages repeatedly across his four years as a college athlete. He’s in treatment anyway.
“It’s absolutely a challenge,” Mark Hicks, the NCAA managing director of enforcement, told ESPN last year. “Sports betting is not new here in the US, obviously. It’s been around for many, many, many years. But with the ease of the mobile apps, it has just become a more visible part of our culture.
“So you have young people that are coming into college already engaged or certainly very familiar with gambling and sports wagering,” 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. This is society-wide.
All the NCAA can do is preach and hope, hope and preach.
This day, it knew, was inevitable. Many more, potentially far bleaker, are as well.
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