One QB, 40 bets. A Draft Class Reborn

Brendan Sorsby.

If you don’t know his name by now, you’ve probably been living under a rock. Texas Tech’s star quarterback was caught betting over $90,000 on college and professional sports over the past four years, and even placed 40 wagers on his own team back in 2022.

It’s the type of offense that erased Hall of Famers like Pete Rose from history in other sports. But Texas Tech didn’t just back Sorsby to stay in college football; they strategically filed a lawsuit to be heard by an overly sympathetic judge, who ruled he could return to Texas Tech and only have to sit out two games this season.

This situation is a whole mess, and it might just be the death knell for the NCAA.

The NCAA is F*****. And yes, that’s with a capital F.

We’ve known the NCAA doesn’t really have a lot of power for a while now, but this ruling really drove that point home. One of the cardinal sins in sports is betting on your own team, and Sorsby did it 40 times! If once is an accident and twice is a coincidence, I don’t know what 40 times is.

Sorsby committed the biggest no-no in sports, and now he gets a slap on the wrist because some judge who conveniently lives in Texas Tech’s backyard said so, and the NCAA can’t do a dang thing about it.

The NCAA as we know it has had one foot in the coffin for a while now, but Brendan Sorsby put the final nail in it.

Now that you have all the facts…

You know the old adage: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure? Well, that could be the case for a few NFL teams with the Brendan Sorsby situation.

The Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals are the most likely candidates to pick No. 1 and No. 2 next year. Arch Manning and Dante Moore seem to be the two top guys in this class, but if one of them doesn’t play well or stays in college, Sorsby will give them another option at quarterback.

If you’re the Cleveland Browns or New York Jets, who are more likely to be picking in the 5-10 range, you don’t have to move up to No. 1 or No. 2 to get your quarterback. You could still get one of Manning, Moore, or Sorsby at No. 3 or maybe even No. 4 or No. 5.

As for the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders, two teams who already have their franchise quarterbacks, if one of them lands that No. 3 pick, they could sell it for a king’s ransom to someone like Cleveland or Las Vegas.

Sorsby’s return to college may suck for the NCAA, but it could help quite a few NFL teams out.

People have been talking about the 2027 quarterback class the same way they were talking about the 2026 quarterback class a year ago. On paper, it seems to be absolutely loaded, but nothing is ever guaranteed. We saw that first-hand last year, when guys like Garrett Nussmeier, Cade Klubnik, and Drew Allar didn’t live up to the hype.

Sorsby's return to college and likely entry into the 2027 draft is a good sign, though. All it does is give this illustrious 2027 class one more name to throw in the first-round mix.

We said this last year, but with Sorsby in the mix, it feels like, at worst, the 2027 class will have three first-round quarterbacks: Arch Manning, Dante Moore, and Brendan Sorsby. And that’s at the bare minimum. I haven’t even talked about guys like Trinidad Chambliss, CJ Carr, Darian Mensah, and Drew Mestemaker.

Things can always change, and by the time the draft rolls around in April, some of these guys will be irrelevant, and some others we haven’t even talked about will enter the conversation. But one thing’s for sure. If Sorsby is half as good as he was a year ago, he’ll be in first-round consideration, and all that does is make the 2027 class even better.

I will never, ever, defend a guy who bet on his own team. That’s one of the worst things you can do as an athlete, because it jeopardizes the integrity of the game. However, it does feel like everyone is being a bit hypocritical.

The NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA have all partnered with major sportsbooks, such as FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM to be their official sportsbook partner. If you’re so concerned about players betting on sports, why are you forcing these sportsbooks down people’s throats? One reason: $$$

The NCAA doesn’t officially partner with any sportsbooks, but they do have a deal in place with Genius Sports, which provides live stats to the major sportsbooks, allowing them to receive live bets on pretty much every college game. Their hands aren’t as dirty as the NFL’s, but they certainly aren’t clean, either.

On top of that, the same fans that are dragging Sorsby through the mud are the same ones who spend billions of dollars a year betting on sports.

I know they’re not athletes betting on their own team, but they’re still part of the reason sports betting is as big as it is today.

Again, I won’t defend Sorsby for what he’s done, but if college and professional sports leagues are trying so hard to stop players from gambling, maybe they shouldn’t promote these sportsbooks every chance they get.

Now let’s look at some of our must-read stories from the past week:

• Caleb Williams was named the Madden 27 cover athlete, but can he overcome the famous Madden curse?

• The Los Angeles Rams are currently +550 to win the Super Bowl, but how do their preseason odds compare to those of other preseason favorites in the past decade?

• If your kid wants to play in the NFL, make sure he plays wide receiver, because a guy who has never topped 620 yards in his career just signed a $100+ million contract.

• A lot of people think the New England Patriots could regress in 2026 with a much tougher schedule, but will the addition of A.J Brown help them stay competitive?

• Sophomore slumps are a real thing, but not everyone falls victim to one. Here are 10 second-year players that could break out in 2026.

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