The NCAA has taken a closer look at Cincinnati in the wake of the Brendan Sorsby gambling controversy, sending the school a letter of inquiry on Wednesday over possible rules violations, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.
Sorsby’s case has been building for weeks. He announced nearly a month ago that he was leaving college football for the NFL supplemental draft, but the fallout from the gambling investigation has kept moving. Court documents showed that he placed at least 40 wagers on Indiana football while he was still on the team, and that his total betting volume reached at least $90,000 over a four-year span.
Not all of those bets were on his own team. Some were small wagers, including live bets on pitches during Cincinnati Reds games while he was part of Cincinnati’s football program. Still, the Indiana bets are the ones that have drawn the most attention, especially because gambling on your own team has long been viewed as a major line that players are not supposed to cross.
Sorsby has said the wagers on Indiana football were simply a way of showing support while he was a backup.
The biggest question now centers on Cincinnati. Compared with Texas Tech, the Bearcats have been quieter in the public eye throughout this situation.
Texas Tech fought for Sorsby’s eligibility in court, but he opted to leave college football before ever taking a snap there. Cincinnati is different, because Sorsby was already starting for the Bearcats after placing the wagers and before he checked himself into a treatment program for his gambling habits.
That timeline is what makes the NCAA inquiry so important. The issue is whether Cincinnati’s staff knew about Sorsby’s gambling problem while he was in the program. If the coaching staff was aware and still kept him in the lineup, the school could be staring at serious consequences from the NCAA.
On the field, Sorsby was a major producer for Cincinnati. The Bearcats went 1-1 in his two seasons as a starter, and he put up 5,613 passing yards and 45 passing touchdowns across 2024 and 2025.
He also added 1,027 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns. In 2025, he earned a spot on the All-Big 12 Second Team offense.
Indiana, meanwhile, is not expected to face NCAA scrutiny, even though most of Sorsby’s wagers were placed there. He transferred to Cincinnati in the same offseason that the Hoosiers moved on from head coach Tom Allen.
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