Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s protracted eligibility fight took another twist when it was reported that he would withdraw his eligibility case against the NCAA.
Instead, the Red Raiders quarterback will enter the NFL Supplemental Draft despite being granted an injunction that would have extended his college football career by one season.
Mike Florio Reveals Brendan Sorsby Could Face Possible Blowback From NFL
During Tuesday’s segment of the “PFT Live” podcast, analyst Mike Florio explored whether the NFL could punish Sorsby for his gambling activities that the NCAA dealt with by withdrawing his eligibility.
“Tomorrow, his lawsuit in Lubbock County will be withdrawn,” Florio said. “That’s how he loses his eligibility. He has to surrender to what the NCAA wants to be eligible for the supplemental draft. If he had tried to maintain his argument that he’s eligible to play college football this year, the NFL could’ve said, ‘You can’t come to the supplemental draft.’
“Will they let him in? There’s no reason to not let him in because the NCAA has found that he’s no longer eligible to play. Doesn’t mean that someone at 345 Park Avenue won’t have something up their sleeve, as we saw with Terrelle Pryor, who got screwed in 2011. I’m concerned the league is gonna try to pull something here.”
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Florio further revealed that Sorsby had specifically hired renowned attorney Jeffrey Kessler to his defense team to ward off any potential repercussions handed down by the NFL due to his gambling transgressions in college football.
In Dec. 2010, Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor was handed a five-game suspension by the NCAA for selling memorabilia. He withdrew from the university in June 2011 and was banned from the athletics department.
This triggered his eligibility for the supplemental draft, during which he was selected by the then-Oakland Raiders in the third round. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell chose to uphold the NCAA’s five-game ban leveled against Pryor.
The supplemental draft works differently than the NFL Draft, as teams can submit blind bids for prospects in the draft, utilizing their next season’s picks in the process and the team with the highest bid gets to select the player.
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Forty-six players have been selected in the supplemental draft since its inception in 1977, but the last player picked was Jalen Thompson by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2019 version.
