Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - DANGEROUS PRECEDENT: Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby SHOCKS College Sports With Betting Ruling

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

Texas Tech faces unprecedented turmoil as quarterback Brennan Sorsby’s court-granted eligibility shakes the foundation of college football. Can the NCAA maintain competitive integrity when thousands of bets and high-powered boosters influence the game? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs expose how Sorsby’s legal battle, gambling scandal, and a crucial ruling by a Lubbock judge are sending shockwaves through the Big 12 and beyond. Key discussions spotlight Sorsby’s $5 million NIL deal, the powerful role of Texas Tech Board of Regents chairman Cody Campbell, and the looming influence of national legislation like the Protect College Sports Act. Hear the fallout as Big 12 schools threaten boycotts and the College Football Playoff’s silence fuels uncertainty. Will money and legal loopholes define the future of college sports—or can lasting reform restore order to NCAA football? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

District judge in Lubbock, Texas, just set the most dangerous precedent in the history of college sports. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cains. The headline that everybody is talking about is Brendan. Sorsby has been granted his injunction and the Texas Tech starting quarterback will be allowed to play the 2026 college football season. But there's so much else that comes with this ruling by a Lubbock County

judge. The next steps, folks, what precedent does this set? How could other players benefit from what Sorsby was just given? Is the NCAA now completely broken? How do you enforce anything, if anything and everything, players, coaches, and universities do wrong can be overturned by a judge. So, all right, Kenton, let's start with why the judge ruled in Sorsby's favor today. And first thing, after this ruling came out, a lot of people have been saying, you know, Dono, why should you be surprised? This was, you know, a local judge, probably has Texas tech season tickets. Maybe I'm just naive, but like I really thought that this one is a bridge too far when this young man has bet no less than 9,000 times over the past three years for over

$90,000. And here was another thing, Kent, and I want you to react to this real quick, because I didn't know this last week when we spoke about Soresby last, okay? because what we kept seeing was, well, he only, you know, most of this happened when he was at Indiana. Like he was only betting on the team to win. Like he never bet on the team to lose and he wasn't playing in games so he couldn't manipulate the results. But it's actually come out in the findings. There were at least two occasions where he was placing wagers on negative outcomes for the Indiana Hoosiers. And what those negative outcomes were, and for those who were, you know, deep in the betting world, you know,

there's a lot more you can bet on than just straight up wins and losses, right? Of course. But he placed at least one bet on the under for Indiana passing yards and a first half under for Indiana scoring. So, I mean, it's bad enough even if you're betting on your own team to win, but you throw that into the mix as well. It's like playing college sports is a privilege. Like, okay, I don't play college sports, so I do have a right in a state where sports betting is legal. have a right to place wagers. But you forfeit that right when you have the privilege of playing for a college football team. Absolutely. And Donno, I played college football for quite some time.

And when I did play, they made it clear. None of this was a lot. They made it clear. None of this was allowed. And we were getting by on cost of living. That was it. That was a scholarship plus a little something for cost of living. I was not a kid that got pale grant. Thank God for my mother, who, you know, worked very hard and, you know, had made above the limit for any type of payal assistance. But with that being said, I don't understand how now of any time this happens. And then not only how now of any time when players are making money, because let's be honest, where do you get the thousands of dollars to bet if you're not getting paid? Where do you get it to bet?

he's already in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with Cincinnati and now he's set to make about five from Texas N.M. Somewhere between three and five is the number that's being wildly, you know, speculated there. So here's my question for this whole thing. Here's my question for this whole thing. Where does it stop? Where does it end? Everybody talks about this thing was the canary and the cold mouth for God of sports. Oh, the NIL was in.

Oh, the players transfer was in. Oh, this thing, that thing, the third thing was it. If you cannot maintain competitive integrity, which I know a lot of people are going to say, well, you know, nobody was saying that word up until this moment. You know why nobody was saying it? Because nobody was violating it. You know, guess what other word doesn't come up in our day-to-day speak? Donald, do you randomly say manslaughter or homicide on the day-to-day? No, only if I'm watching court TV.

or something. My point, exactly. So competitive integrity is the same way. I've never had to wonder, was Ruben Bain really rushing the quarterback as hard as he could? Was he setting the edge to his best ability? Was C.J. Bailey making that boneheaded throw because he's young or because he's got the under? I've never had to wonder that. But with this ruling, because everybody says, well, British Swordsby didn't play in the games where he bet the under. he was the backup quarterback for at least one of them. At least one of them. People have cross-referenced the dates with when he was there, said he was one play away from being in the game.

Not to mention you play for the team. You have inside information that other people don't have. It's like inside trading. And I'm going to tell you, as a player, you know, there are sometimes where you know. You have watched the way your team is preparing a certain week. And I was never a captain in college, so I'm not going to tell you that lie.

but from high school and Little League and all that, you could tell when your team was not preparing the right way. And you're like, oh, we're going to get waxed. We are not, we're going up against a big top team and we're joking around and not locked in. This is going to be ugly. And so the reality of this thing is this is one of the darkest days. And I'm not exaggerating.

This is one of the darkest days in college sports history. ever, but definitely in recent sports history. Because what else can you call a day where not only was a guy found to have bet on his own team in violation of the rules, not only his own sport, but you're talking about betting on negative outcomes for your team. And then, and Donna, I'm going to give it back to you after this, but the reason it was, it was, you know, the injunction was filed was, it would make me, it would do this young man irreparable and permanent harm for him to not play.

I'm not going to get into a lot of things in our society at large, but how many people committed crimes that were victimless, and yet they had irreparable and permanent damage done to their lives, for the rest of their lives, based on the wrong decisions that they made. I'm not saying that this young man belongs in prison. I'm not saying that this young man deserves to be barred from ever working with finances or anything like that ever again. I'm not saying anything like that. But what I am saying is it is so deeply, it is so foundationally unfair to say these consequences would be too much for this young man to bear when we have for forever in this country said you've got to do it.

the right way. And if you break the law, there are consequences. And we're not talking about a 15-year-old, 14-year-old, 13-year-old bedding. We're talking about grown-man, growing man, placing thousands of bets. In Texas, where it's illegal to bet,

sent money. Now we're talking, why you're fraud? Yeah. I mean, you could argue he could be in actual legal trouble for this, and he's not. Like, he's not in legal trouble. of trouble on his team. But you know what? In Kenton actually just yesterday, and I hate to admit

this because, you know, I could have easily just gone on the pay for parking app and paid for a couple hours. I received a $60 parking citation, but I'm going to appeal it because for me to pay that citation would be very psychologically harmful. I mean, I'm on a very strict budget every month. I didn't budget $60 for a parking ticket. That's going to mess with my psyche. I can't pay that I'm going to get I'm going to get Sorsby's lawyer we're going to go to town on these people let's let's get really into it right it's the no hoar if it's the uh if the the the blacksmith didn't make the horses you the horse can't ride the horse can't deliver the message the message they can't fortify the east they don't fortify the east they lose the war don't got a 60

dollar ticket he can't do date night don't can't do date night this is one too many missed date nights don't's wife is leaving him to take it half now and now he's got to do three episodes a day. He's got to do three episodes a day to take care of that alimony. Those TGI Friday's tabs are not getting any cheaper. They're not getting cheaper. Also, upgrade the chili. Stop going to TGI Friday. That's your first time.

But it's not getting no cheaper. You see what I'm saying? This is the foolishness that we are looking at with this type of result. This is the foolishness where everybody now lives in the world. Oh, the consequences are just so hard. Oh, that's just so

me. And again, we're not My biggest point that I keep emphasizing, we're not talking about a child. He did not have this betting problem, start this betting problem as a child. We're talking about an adult, making adult money, making adult actions. And I'm going to tell you, I talked on this show before about the crash documentary on Netflix and all that and how we are enabling generations. of children of who will be adults to say, hey, nothing that you ever do is your fault. We can always find a way to skirt it,

to skirt blame, to deflect and find a way around it. Am I a perfect angel? No. I've done wrong things in my life that I've had to atone for, that I've had to go to court for it and handle and all that good stuff. Nothing too serious. I've got no felonies of Americans, not like that. But I've done things.

things that I've driven a little too fast. I've gone, you know, I've done things that I should not have behind the wheel. I've done that. I haven't hurt anybody, but I've done that. I own that. I had to live it. I couldn't go before the judge. Your Honor, it would make me sad if I had to pay this ticket.

I know that the speed limit was 60, but it's a freeway. It should be 80. And I'm sad because I think it's irreparable harm to my mental health to have. to have to deal with this. This is a shame. And when we get deeper into this thing, because Donald and I are going to peel the layers back, layer by layer. The phrase

comes to mind. Every McAvellian scheme is pushed forward by a useful idiot. And this, Brennan Sorsby, you are the useful idiot that is pushing the McAvelian scheme of making sure none of your brothers get paid. But we'll talk about that when we get back.

If you haven't heard the name Cody Campbell, you're about to learn something. And even if you had heard that name, you'll still probably learn something about how this situation is being manipulated by a billionaire. You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Folks, patio season is here,

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And if you want to make your status official, join the Everydayer Club. You get ad-free versions of these Lockdown ACC Podcasts, exclusive Discord chats with hosts and other listeners and so many other great benefits. Go to Lockdown Podcast.com slash Everydayer to join the Everydayer Club today. Thank you for making Locked on ACC your first listen. He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cains. Yeah, I'd like to thank Kenton if I had billions of dollars, and I'm still young, maybe that's in my future,

that I would be able to play the game of life like this. So there is a billionaire Texas A&M booster, who's also the Board of Regents chairman named Cody Campbell. It's got a lot of oil money. So Cody Campbell was the primary financier of the NIL deal that got Brendan Soresby to Texas A&M in the first place, reportedly a $5 million NIL agreement. Okay. And so, of course, you make that agreement to bring one of the hottest available transfer portal quarterbacks to your town. If he gets in a little trouble with this gambling thing, Cody Campbell was at the forefront of backing

the university's legal and administrative appeals. As chairman of the board of regents, Campbell was able to align the university's administrative weight behind Sorsby. Now, I would venture to guess Kenton, if Brandon Sorsby was a backup linebacker and not a really good starting quarterback, probably would have been kicked off the team immediately. You wash your hands. Oh, we can't ruin the integrity of Red Raiders football by having a compulsive gambler on our team.

but, you know, it's a hot quarterback you just paid $5 million for, better find a way to fight the process. So following the NCAA's initial denial of reinstatement for Soresby back in May, Campbell supported university efforts, including a formal appeal penned by Texas A&M president, Lawrence Chauvinek, if I'm saying that name correctly, to challenge the NCAA's permanent ineligibility ruling, Texas Tech aggressively argued in court that the NCAA's rigid stance, would actively deter future athletes from seeking necessary medical help for gambling addictions.

I can't believe that defense actually worked, but it worked. But here's the other thing, Kenton, because it's probably not that surprising billionaire Texas A&M booster is fighting for his investment of that $5 million NIL deal. But here's where it gets crazy. So Cody Campbell is also actively consulting with Texas Senator. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell is the other senator who are backing that Protect College Sports Act. And in that Protect College Sports Act, they need to protect and fix college sports because you don't want players doing things like gambling on games and you don't want players to be able to transfer twice under Protect College Sports.

Brendan Sorsby's second transfer, the one that brought him to Texas Tech, would be illegal. right you want to make sure you cap nil and all this other stuff so cody campbell is part of actually actively destroying college sports and he came out and made a statement today that what happened with sorsby this is an effect of the wild west and the chaos of college sports it's a lawless system and this is why my bill can fix it while he's also fighting for sorsby to play. So now Sorsby being eligible this year becomes the best example for Cody Campbell to get his bill passed because Congress needs to step in. He's playing both sides at this masterfully. And again, like, I don't even know if I'm mad. Like, I'm impressed. James Moriarty is rolling over in his grave.

Yes, I know he's a fictional character, but I'll tell you. This scheme is so incredibly dumb. It's just so dumb. The reality of this thing is very simple. Number one, you talk about not only is Brendan Swords be a two-time transfer guy now, but you're also talking about the fact that he's engaged in not only a legal battle because of his gambling, but he's also engaged in a legal battle with Cincinnati as he signed a two-year deal. Yeah. And he left early.

But Dono, did he make any bets against Cincinnati while he was at Cincinnati? Not that I'm aware of. Okay. So who did he bet against his first school in Indiana, right? So he bets against his first school, transfers to a second school, does well at the second school, because now I'm going to the big leagues. I'm going to the champ of my conference now in the second time. And the guy who bankrolls him coming to the champs is also sitting on the other side saying, man, these players are transferring too much.

It's the Wild Wild West. It's the Wild Wild West. If anybody can say anything about me on this show, whatever you say about me, whatever you say about, oh, I talk too much about politics, oh, I think too much about the players and all their predictions, not the game. Oh, I'm part of what ruined college sports. Whatever you can say about me, you can always say, I have been consistent. You have.

On Locked on Wolfpack, when we talked about Justin Ganey, going to get a 24-year-old from somewhere over in Europe. I said he need to take his old butt indeed and go get a job. I don't know what your job board is over in Slovenia or Czechoslovakia or wherever you're from. But get on that and find yourself a job. That's what I said. Because I'm not going to sit up here and bash and wait for it's okay when my coach does that. No.

And even though it was a difference of your entire roster being built that way versus one player, still, no, I don't like it. But this man is bankrolling one side to say, this guy needs to play. We need to find any loophole we can to play. And then on the other side of it, he's funding it to say, man, aren't these players getting away with murder, basically? Aren't they just doing whatever? They don't know what they're doing. They're just giving out money and all types of foolishness. We need to get a hold on this.

You are the thing that we need to get a hold of. It's you. So it's so infuriating to watch this play out because this is not. speculation. These are facts. These are facts. They say Dono and I have never come on this air and told you this is a fact. If it's speculation and vice versa. We've never told you a speculation that we know it's a fact. Is he on the board of regents at Texas Tech? Yeah, the chairman. Was he a major part of getting Sources be there? Was he a major part of that decision? Yes. And did he or did he not coordinate? Has he not been publicly seen coordinating with with Ted Cruz and

What's it? Can't well. Can't well to get this thing rolling. Is that also a fact? Yes, it is. So again, this ain't something that's going to get a sued because it's factual. This is all factual. And even if we do get sued, we'll just go to court and say, Your Honor, it would hurt us.

It would hurt our feelings a lot. It would hurt our feelings a lot. You know, I'm not a homeowner. Dono's a new homeowner. And it would hurt both of us irreparably if we had to pay for slander. in this man. Oh, but what's that? It has to be a lie for it to be slander. It has to be a lie. And Dono and I are just telling you the facts that when you look at college football and who destroyed it, when you look at, when you go back and look at the overarching things, because I don't think the NCAA,

as it exists now, will exist in eight to ten years. I just don't. And when you look at all the things that led to it, this will be one of the biggest moments, even if Brennan Soresby is ruled and eligible Donald. Yeah. Yeah, because, I mean, bottom line, I would figure somebody that's so influential within Texas Tech, if he really wanted to take a stand, he'd either say, yeah, we need to kick him off the team and sue him for the NIL deal we gave him because he violated, you know, he violated our agreement and our trust. Or you could have said, we're not going to foot the bill for the appeals process. Like, you could have done any number of things. Or let's take it back to the beginning. You could have not bought him to campus if you're now campaigning for people. to not be able to transfer twice for no reason. Ah, yeah.

Simefield is still the coach. That's still the same head coach from when he started there. Same quarterback coach, same old quarterback. But I digress. Go ahead, Donald. Yeah, well, let me read you because I paraphrased it earlier, but let me give you the actual statement that Cody Campbell made, which is hilarious.

And people are criticizing him for this. This unfortunate situation is the outcome of a broken system, he says, about the source of his situation. I'm doing everything I can to fix it. But until there is a permanent solution, Texas Tech and its student athletes have to do the best they can to navigate and compete amid the chaos that exists in the reality of the world we live in. So he wants to fix that chaos,

but in the meantime, he's going to make sure he thrives in it, which is wild. Again, stand for something. Be a man and actually stand for something. if you're going to stand for it if i was a big time booster to nc state and just again he came to my office and said hey mr gives i need a couple million to go get a 24 year old from Slovenia i would say absolutely not find somebody else find another way i will i'll double whatever i was going to give you to go get you somebody that's of age i don't care what country he's from whatever country he's from and more power to him i don't care what the situation is if he's of age

And he has not been drafted and played professionally. Let's go get him. Let's go get him. But I would sit up here and not only do that, but then take it a step further and say, actually, Justin, fill out your whole bitch with Euro guys and all that. Because we got to compete in the world we live in. Because I'm a man that stands for something.

I'm a man that stands for something. The things I stand for, I actually stand for. When I say I don't like this, I actually don't like it. If I was going to sit here and help sponsor or help get a bill to the floor that said no second transfers, I'm not taking second transfers. I'm not doing it. But again, some people, when this competition on the line and when their money insulates them from consequences, they don't want to have to deal with the heat. They don't want to have to deal with the real deal of this is what's going on. This is how it is.

It's shameful to me. It's embarrassing to me. It's an embarrassing way to exist. as a man in my opinion and not just a man, but as an adult, in my opinion, to have no backbone, no spying for the things that you purport yourself to be, the things that you purport yourself to stand for. If I am the type of person that believes, oh, you know, this thing or that thing shouldn't exist, well, if I get a lot of money, I'm not just going to go out and buy a bunch of that thing. I'll say, oh, I didn't mean it shouldn't exist.

I meant it shouldn't exist while I was poor. It's different. No, I stand for it. for something. The same things I stand for now. I'll stand for tomorrow. I'll stand for the thousand years unless something meaningful happens to change my mind on it. I'm a stand on that. Cody Campbell is standing on what's best for Texas Tech football in whatever moment. And that's a damn shame because that, my friends, is as morally bankrupt as it gets. The same way that we've called out Ole Miss, the same way we've caught out Lane Kiffin,

same way we've caught out where we need to call out the Cody Campbell's of the world because they're what's wrong with college football. Yeah. Well, now, well, let's talk about the next steps in the aftermath when we come back because Texas Tech is, they're under a lot of pressure and they're getting threats, but I wonder if these are idle threats. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. You know, Kent, have you seen the headlines of what seemed to be coming from reputable reporters? There's been a handful of them about Big 12 schools, you know, as a. result of this precedent with Soresby being granted eligibility for this year. Now, just so we're clear, he does as a part of the, as a part of the injunction, he's got to sit out the first two games, which are both cream puff non-conference games. He does have to sit out two games. He'll be available for the Big 12 season opener in game three. But I'm seeing headlines about supposedly

schools in the Big 12 are threatening to take Texas Tech off the schedule and they want them booted from the conference with the only holdouts right now being for whatever reason UCF and BYU but that all the rest of the schools want to refuse to play them unless Sorsby's ineligible. There are calls for, you know, non-conference potential opponents boycotting Texas Tech from their schedule. But yeah, I don't know if this is just people flapping their gums or if these are actual real threats. I mean, do you think anything comes from this? I would hope so,

but the same thing that got us in this mess is the same thing that will keep us here, which is money. Yeah. I would hope so, but do you think that Texas Tech will sit around while their schedule is decimated and they've got to now play,

you know, basically the SWAT conference. No disrespect to the SWAT. No disrespect. I love me to M-M-CU football. You know what I mean? That's Southern and Grambling, John. I'm here for it every year, right? But the reality,

is do you think they're going to sit around and go from playing against your Kansas States of the world, your Iowa states of the world, your BYU of the world? You think they're going to go from that to having to scrape together a schedule like the Pac-12 teams did last year where they played these other twice,

a home and home. In college football, you think they're going to do that and they're going to sit there doing that while smiling, saying we got our quarterback so we don't care. None of this is reputable to me. And the only group that I wanted to hear from that I really didn't college football

playoff. I wanted to hear them say we're a private agency. They will not be allowed in. You will not be allowed in with a player who violated the meaningfulness of what we stand for in this type of way. We don't care if you go 12 and 0 and your average margin

of victory is 35 points. We do not care. You will not be able to participate in our tournament, in our playoff with a player on your team that has been proven to violate the competitive integrity of the game. And that's all there is to it.

That's the one group. All these schools, they're tied in to a conference agreement. There's nothing you can do. It's true. There's nothing you can do. You can go ahead and shout to the clouds. You can scream through the clouds. You could not put your boys on the field.

But the same way we talked about Notre Dame and what them not being at the conference did, what did it do when they skipped the bowl game, Donald? What did that mean for Notre Dame? Nothing. No fine. Right? but every other team would have been fine. The same thing's going to happen to these big 12 teams.

You could say we're not going to play Texas A&M, but guess what? That fine going to come on down. Oh, you don't want to play them. Your Mark is going to make an example out the first one. Here you go. Here's $2 million for you. Oh, you don't want to play them. Here's $3 million for you because we ain't paying Fox Sports back.

We ain't paying them back. We already got the money. So, you know, it's a shame that the only group that could do something about this in a very meaningful way is choosing to sit on their hands. That's a little bit concerning for me. But, you know, in the grand scheme of things, it is what it is. As much as I would love to see a situation where, you know, everybody comes together and decides that this is nonsense.

This is BS. We won't stand for it. The reality is money makes people stand for things all the time that otherwise you would never. Well, we appreciate everybody's time. And this is crazy. We'll see if any more layers of the. onion get peeled back. Make sure you follow Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton. And I went with that

TGI Friday's reference for you, by the way, for your Twitter handle. Because I don't know if there's any TGI Fridays left to me. Much as I want to go to one. I don't know if there's still any left. Well, you know, they say Buffalo Wild Wings got endless apps now. So you don't got to worry about the TGI Friday's endless app. You and the Donno crew can go in Buffalo Wild Wings and just tear that place down. That's true. Well, you can follow me at Alex Dono. Check me out on Locked on Cain. Check Kenton out at Lockdown Wolfpack. We'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one sports podcast network, the Lockdown Podcast Network,

your team every day.