Brendan Sorsby agent says Cincinnati should be 'catching heat' over gambling case

Texas Tech has taken a lot of criticism for its handling of Brendan Sorsby's gambling case and fight for eligibility.

But the quarterback's agent says save some heat for Sorsby's former school, Cincinnati.

As USA TODAY Sports reported in April, Cincinnati was alerted of Sorsby's gambling prior to the start of the 2025 season.

By knowing Sorsby was gambling and playing him anyway, Cincinnati could face NCAA scrutiny.

“If anybody should be questioned or catching heat, it should be Cincinnati,” Sorsby's agent Ron Slavin told 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “Because they knew for two years and never said anything or didn’t do anything about it. That’s the part of the story that gets lost.”

With word of Slavin's allegations out after the radio interview, the University of Cincinnati issued the following statement on Wednesday afternoon, June 17:

"We will reiterate what we have said before. All of our student-athletes receive extensive gambling education multiple times throughout the year, and we would never knowingly play an athlete who violated NCAA sports wagering regulations. If we ever became aware of impermissible wagering, we would report to the NCAA and comply with sanctions."

The Big 12, which includes Cincinnati, uses ProhiBet, a compliance driven app every student-athlete in the conference must download on their phone. The app notifies universities when athletes attempt to sign up for betting platforms or place prohibited wagers.

In court documents, the only evidence involving Cincinnati is an August 2024 incident involving the ProhiBet app on Sorsby's phone, where he was trying to access Prize Picks, a prediction market. UC compliance investigated and found Sorsby was denied access to the app; therefore, did not gamble.

UC compliance gave him educational assignments as required. In an interview last week, Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield said the negativity of gambling is continually discussed.

Complicating matters is the pending litigation between Sorsby and Cincinnati from Sorsby's transfer to Texas Tech. Cincinnati is seeking a $1 million buyout it says Sorsby owes for transferring to another school, and Sorsby filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it’s an “unreasonable and disproportionate” penalty.

Sorsby was paid $875,000 to play for the Bearcats in 2025, and said in the most recent motion that Cincinnati is using the $1 million penalty to prevent future players from transferring — despite NCAA unlimited transfer rules.

"I wish Brendan the best in his future endeavors, which looks like the NFL," Satterfield said on June 16. "I wish him the best as he heads that route. It certainly has been a wild ride over the last month or so. I'm pulling for Brendan in his future endeavors at football."

After a Lubbock County judge granted a temporary injunction allowing Sorsby to play the 2026 season, other schools talked a scheduling boycott while members of the Big 12 raised objections to Sorsby playing this season. In the end, it became too much of a burden and Sorsby decided to enter the NFL supplemental draft, abandoning his efforts to play for the Red Raiders.

“It just came down to too much pressure from everybody else on Tech and Brendan still wanted to play at Tech, this wasn’t Brendan Sorsby not wanting to play college football," Slavin said. "This was Brendan Sorsby just being advised by the school that.. you know we had a seven days left to file for the supplemental draft and didn’t know where this thing was going to go. So we won in court, we did our job on our side but for whatever reason the world melted down and like college football was ruined forever.”

Satterfield said all 32 NFL teams came to Cincinnati's campus last year, with many eager to talk about Sorsby and expects there to be strong interest in his former QB.

"In light of everything that came out, it was such a media storm, especially over the last couple of weeks," Satterfield said. "I think the way it all worked out … it's going to be the best for college athletics."