Brendan Sorsby ruling labeled ‘as disastrous as there has ever been in modern sports’

The college football world as a whole was stunned on Monday when Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby was granted an injunction against the NCAA and ruled eligible for the 2026 season despite placing over $90,000 dollars in sports bets during his college career.

The NCAA’s previous policies on gambling suggest that it shouldn’t be possible for Sorsby to be able to play, but all of that is irrelevant after this ruling. Understandably, some of the biggest personalities in college sports were stunned by the ruling.

Attorney Tom Mars, who has worked a number of NCAA cases during his career, was stunning by the ruling in a statement shared by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

“In 40 years as a lawyer, I’ve never been as shocked and surprised by a court ruling,” Mars stated.

Kevin Clark of ESPN called it “disastrous” and compared it to the recent issues with NIL and the transfer portal.

“As disastrous a ruling as there has ever been in modern sports,” Clark wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The pathway is now clear: gamble as much as you like, including on your own team and hope you are–or get–good enough that you can lawyer up down the line. A much bigger disaster than anything with NIL or portal.”

Even Scott Van Pelt of ESPN, one of the most well-respected and beloved voices in all of sports, couldn’t believe the ruling and blasted the ability that players have nowadays to take any issue with the NCAA to court and come out on top more often than not.

“There really aren’t any rules. You just go to court. If it fails, go to court again until a judge says you’re all set,” Van Pelt wrote. “Want a 7th year? Sure. Broke rules? Ahhhh, it’s fine. There AREN’T any rules.”

Sorsby, Texas Tech and the NCAA are both going to face massive backlash for this case, and they already are seeing some of that in the reaction to this ruling. It surely is a storyline that is going to follow the Red Raiders throughout the 2026 season.

The post Brendan Sorsby ruling labeled ‘as disastrous as there has ever been in modern sports’ appeared first on ClutchPoints.