CINCINNATI — The University of Cincinnati athletic department disputes a claim from Brendan Sorsby’s agent, who says the school knew about the quarterback’s gambling and didn’t do anything about it.
“All of our student-athletes receive extensive gambling education multiple times throughout the year, and we would never knowingly play an athlete who violated NCAA sports wagering regulations,” the school’s athletic department said in a statement Wednesday. “If we ever became aware of impermissible wagering, we would report to the NCAA and comply with sanctions.”
Sorsby’s agent, Ron Slavin, made the claims in an interview with KRLD radio in Dallas.
The NCAA banished Sorsby from competition for gambling activity that included wagers on his own team while on the roster at Indiana in 2022 and betting on pro sports. He dropped his unprecedented legal battle to play for Texas Tech this year.
Sorsby declared for the NFL supplemental draft Tuesday and has until Monday to file. His attempt to speed up his professional career leans heavily on a rarely used offseason process designed for prospects not eligible for the league’s primary draft.
He is tentatively planning to work out for NFL teams before the supplement draft.
Sorsby plans to hold his pro day July 10 at a Dallas-area high school, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the process for conducting the supplemental draft wasn’t complete.
The deadline for applying for the draft is Monday, but there were still procedural issues related to a Texas district court’s temporary injunction that had cleared the way for him to play for Texas Tech this fall.
Sorsby, who is from the Dallas area, would have to be ineligible from NCAA play to be able to apply for the NFL’s supplemental draft. That rarely used draft would be completed at least a week before the start of the first training camp in late July.
The temporary injunction issued June 8 by a Lubbock County court prevented the NCAA from blocking the quarterback’s eligibility for what would have been his final college season. That would have to be dropped to make him ineligible again.
The NCAA had declared the 22-year-old Sorsby permanently ineligible after he admitted making thousands of bets worth at least $90,000 during his time at three different schools. His college career began at Indiana, before playing for Cincinnati the past two seasons and then transferring to reigning Big 12 Conference champion Texas Tech in January.
Those bets included at least 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, though none on the game in which he played for the Hoosiers that season.
The June 22 deadline for entering the supplemental draft was among the key factors that led to the decision Monday for Sorsby to pursue the pros rather than move forward with the legal process that had gotten more uncertain.
Sorsby spent a month in a residential treatment program for a diagnosed addiction. Then he sued the NCAA and gained a court-ordered reinstatement that prompted nationwide backlash toward Texas Tech.
Sorsby filed suit against the NCAA on May 18. The case was heard June 1 in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located, and he was granted the temporary injunction against the NCAA on June 8. The NCAA and the Big 12 went to different courts this week.
The NCAA on Monday asked a Texas appellate court for an emergency motion to stay the injunction, and for a resolution of the case before the start of Texas Tech’s season. The Big 12 went to federal court seeking an order to back its ability to use its bylaws for possible sanctions against Texas Tech if Sorsby had played this season.
Sorsby, who never took a snap for Texas Tech, played in 35 college games, 24 at Cincinnati the past two seasons after 11 at Indiana the two seasons before that. He threw for 7,208 yards with 60 touchdowns and 18 interceptions while completing 594 of 968 passes (61.4%). He ran 320 times for 1,295 yards and 22 more scores.
At Cincinnati last season, he threw for 2,800 yards and 27 TDs while running for 580 yards and nine touchdowns. He ranked third in the Big 12 with 281.7 total yards per game.
The University of Cincinnati is suing Sorsby, accusing him of breaching his name, image and likeness contract following his transfer to Texas Tech. The university filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in February.
Slavin has said pursuing legal action against his client is misguided and that Sorsby intends to fight the lawsuit and any resulting damages.
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