Kirk Herbstreit: Brendan Sorsby injunction sets ‘sickening’ precedent for college football

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The injunction allowing quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play for Texas Tech this fall after serving a two-game suspension highlights the growing role the court system plays in decisions about eligibility and rules in college football, one that ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit worries could set a “sickening” precedent for the sport.

While Sorsby has openly admitted to a gambling problem and the NCAA banned him as a result, a judge in northwest Texas effectively superseded all of that to reinstate Sorsby anyway, citing the harm that would be done if he could not play football.

In an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday, Herbstreit expressed concern that the sport’s rules are becoming easier to manipulate than ever.

“It’s sickening that if you don’t hear what you like, you can just go to your local judge and find the answer that you want,” he said. “I just don’t know where this ends. If this is where we are right now, pretty much you can do whatever the hell you want to do in this sport, and if anybody says anything, just find a local judge to tell you the answer you want to get.”

Like his Fox Sports counterpart, Joel Klatt, Herbstreit questioned the teeth any NCAA ruling can have after the Sorsby ruling and others, such as a successful lawsuit by Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss that allowed him to play a sixth season of college football despite the NCAA declaring him ineligible.

Worse yet, Herbstreit said, the fact that these cases are heard in local courts creates a perception that judges are biased.

“I think the biggest thing for me, and I think for all of us that follow college football, is who’s the governing body over the sport, and what power does that governing body have, if any?” Herbstreit explained. “The NCAA, when they found out about this, they ruled him ineligible. And like we’ve seen in many other cases, when somebody finds out that the NCAA didn’t give them the answer they want, they go, ‘OK, no problem. We’re just going to go to our local jurisdiction, local judge, and finds out if we can make this happen.'”

Despite Texas Tech’s argument that it is helping Sorsby by bringing him back into the football program, Herbstreit sees a system that cares little for players. As the College GameDay panelist explained Friday, college football now has schools “bribing” players by turning NIL into pay-for-play, ignoring the material lessons that team collegiate sports are supposed to provide, and then giving these players a free-for-all in the legal system to maneuver through their careers however they want.

“We’re not preparing these kids for real life,” he said. “I think we’re all OK with them making money, but I think the concern is where this is heading five years from now, ten years from now, with, I think, there’s going to be a lot of issues with these guys when that bag doesn’t keep coming, and they have to go get a job. And what do you do now?”

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