A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
One of college football's top quarterbacks is entangled in a gambling scandal. Brendan Sorsby, the incoming quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, has admitted to placing thousands of bets over four years as a college athlete. The NCAA ruled him permanently ineligible to play, but Sorsby sued, and this week, a Texas judge granted him an injunction against the NCAA's decision. To explain what's going on, we reached out to Shehan Jeyarajah, college football writer for CBS Sports. So, Shehan, what argument did Sorsby make in court?
SHEHAN JEYARAJAH: So Brendan Sorsby and his attorneys ultimately made the case that he had a clinically diagnosed gambling addiction. And his lawyers argued that he was receiving specific treatment related to that, and that that should be considered a mitigating factor when it comes to the gambling that he did while a student athlete.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, on Monday, a judge - in Lubbock, Texas, by the way - ruled that Sorsby would get a two-game suspension in September. So effectively, he's going to be eligible to play for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. How has that decision been received by the college sports world?
JEYARAJAH: Yeah, it's been considered an outrage in the college sports world. Actually, multiple programs - Georgia and Nebraska specifically - have said that they no longer will schedule Texas Tech, not just in football, but in any sports at this point. Multiple stakeholders have even gone on the record to say that schools on their schedule should consider not playing games against them this fall, though I do think that's unlikely.
MARTÍNEZ: What about the NCAA? What is it saying?
JEYARAJAH: So the NCAA certainly is very against this ruling. They put out a very public statement. And they've appealed as well to the 7th Court of Appeals in the state of Texas. But at this point, there's not a whole lot that they can do. Now, I will say as well, we are in the midst of lots of college football stakeholders appealing to Congress to act to try to pass not just legislation related to this issue, but comprehensive college football reform legislation. And those calls have only grown louder as this case has gone through the system.
MARTÍNEZ: You know, I saw a headline in Seattle Times - stunning ruling shows just how far college sports has spiraled. I mean, Shehan, is it fair to lump this ruling with the feeling that many people have that college sports is just out of control? There's all these name, image and likeness deals where athletes - in many cases teenagers - can just move around to the highest bidder and play for any school they want, and conferences realigning to make the most money possible. Is it fair to lump one thing with the other?
JEYARAJAH: The reality is we are in a Wild West era of college athletics where essentially the rules are being constructed as we go. And, you know, five years ago, there was the law passed and the decision made to institute name, image and likeness, which meant that athletes were allowed to profit off their likeness. In 2025, we had the NCAA lawsuit that was ultimately settled that allowed schools to directly revenue share with their athletes. Among all this again, we've had loosening restrictions on gambling, both nationally and at the NCAA level.
So this is very much part of a broader story of college athletics where so many of the restrictions that have defined college athletics in the past century are going away. And ultimately, I mean, the only way that you can almost compare it is the plane is being constructed as we fly through the air.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
JEYARAJAH: And at this moment, there isn't necessarily a clear answer to what that's going to look like.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Shehan Jeyarajah with CBS Sports. Shehan, thank you very much.
JEYARAJAH: Thank you so much for having me.
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