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NFL blasts Brendan Sorsby's conduct, gambling in scathing letter.
Read it in full Brendan Sorsby went all-in on trying to save his college career and lost.
The quarterback then pivoted to the NFL ranks only to find a similar result.
The former Texas Tech quarterback's future is firmly up in the air after the NFL decided against holding a supplemental draft for 2026.
Further, the league condemned Sorsby's conduct and hammered his seeming lack of accountability for his actions as reason why he wouldn't be eligible in a letter sent to the player.
Sorsby applied for entry on June 15, when he withdrew his lawsuit after being granted a temporary injunction that would allow him to play for Texas Tech.
His request to make the leap to the pros was officially denied on June 23 in a letter sent to the player by Larry Ferazani, general counsel of the NFL Management Council.
USA TODAY Sports has obtained that letter in full.
Here's how it reads: Dear Mr.
Sorsby: We are in receipt of your Petition for Special Eligibility, dated June 16, 2026 (Petition).
As announced earlier today, the League has elected not to conduct a Supplemental Draft this year.
Under our Collective Bargaining Agreement, the League retains sole discretion to determine whether it is appropriate to conduct a Supplemental Draft in any given year.
The League has not conducted such a draft for several years and, prior to your submission, the League had no plans to do so this year, as no other player has sought entry.
Your Petitionfiled three business days before the deadline, without any supporting information or documentation, and only after abandoning your recent litigation efforts to avoid NCAA sanctionsdoes not provide a basis for the League to alter those plans.
The issues presented by your Petition are too significant, and too closely tied to the Leagues core integrity interests, to permit meaningful review within the timeline presented.
The sole reasons identified in your Petition for seeking entry into the Supplemental Draft are that you have been declared ineligible by the NCAA, have exhausted all of [your] avenues to continue in the NCAA, and want to now play in the NFL.
The Petition provides no information regarding the basis for, or timing of, the NCAAs decision.
Public sources, however, indicate that in May 2026 the NCAA issued a determination declaring you permanently ineligible from participation in college athletics, based on a sustained pattern of improper gambling activity during your collegiate career at three different universities.
The League does not have the complete record of the NCAAs investigation, and you did not provide any such materials with your Petition.
Available information nonetheless indicates that, over the course of your collegiate career, you knowingly engaged in repeated and significant violations of NCAA rules designed to preserve the integrity of athletic competition.
Reported conduct includes placing wagers on your own team and teammates and, to avoid detection, establishing or funding accounts in the names of intermediaries who placed bets on your behalf.
There are also reports that you may have violated state criminal law.
Your Petition does not address these matters.
Nor does it demonstrate accountability for your conduct or indicate whether, or how, you would adhere to the Leagues rules and policies governing the integrity of competition.
Instead, even after receiving notice of the NCAAs decision rescinding your college eligibility in May, you sought to avoid the consequences of that determination through litigation rather than accepting responsibility for your actions, and you pursued entry into the NFL only after abandoning those efforts.
As Commissioner Goodell has emphasized, participation in the NFL is a privilege that carries with it significant responsibilities, including accountability.
By all accounts, you are a talented player with the potential for future success.
We encourage you to focus on preparing for possible entry into the NFL through the 2027 NFL Annual Draft.
Sorsby violated the NCAA's gambling policies in a scandal that has dominated the college football landscape all offseason long, something that promised to dominate the NFL's summer as well.
Now that won't happen for at least another year.