At one point, QB Brendan Sorsby might have been an “easy button” option for the Cleveland Browns long-standing quarterback quandary. Sorsby’s sorted road, after transferring to Texas Tech, put him on the way to the NFL Supplemental Draft process, as everyone assumed that betting on college football and betting on his own team’s games would not stand, even if an appeal was filed in the home of the Red Raiders.
“Everyone” was wrong, as that Texas court approved an injunction that would allow Sorsby
to play this season in college, unless he still decided to try to enter the Supplemental Draft or the NCAA appealed and won that appeal, barring Sorsby from playing.
As expected, the NCAA did appeal Monday’s ruling, requesting a sped-up process:
According to SB Nation’s Mark Schofield, a former practicing lawyer, noted a big hurdle the NCAA has to overcome. Thankfully, Schofield used language that non-lawyers can understand:
Appeals of these decisions are reviewed on one standard: Abuse of discretion. Judges in temporary injunction cases are given substantial deference in deciding those matters, and to overturn the order in this case, the NCAA must convince the appellate court that Judge Curry abused that discretion, and that the ruling was arbitrary, capricious, or failed to apply the law correctly in reaching the decision.
Texas courts have defined this standard as follows: A trial court abuses its discretion if its decision is “arbitrary, unreasonable, and without reference to [any] guiding [rules and] principles” or is “so arbitrary and unreasonable as to amount to a clear and prejudicial error of law.” See Mercedes-Benz Credit Corp. v. Rhyne, 925 S.W. 2d 664 (Texas 1996) and Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833 (Texas 1992).
As Schofield summarizes later, the appeals court “cannot simply substitute its own judgment for that of the trial court.
While it may seem unlikely that the appeals court will be able to overturn the ruling, the request for an expedited appeal plays a role in whether Sorsby could still be an NFL Supplemental Draft option for teams like the Browns. Unless more legal maneuvers occur, the Texas Tech quarterback has until June 22nd to apply for the NFL’s draft.
If he misses that deadline, the NCAA would likely still be seeking to overturn Monday’s ruling after that:
Barring another legal challenge, this time against the NFL’s Supplemental Draft deadline, complete closure on Sorsby’s 2026 NFL future will come in two weeks, if not sooner.
