NCAA announces integrity violations involving two former Fordham men's basketball players stemming from sports betting

The NCAA has announced integrity violations for two former Fordham men’s basketball players — Elijah Gray and Will Richardson — Tuesday morning.

Both players were dismissed from their new programs this season and did not play a game. Gray was dismissed from Wisconsin, while Richardson was dismissed from Albany. The reason for both players’ dismissals were not initially given, but the reasoning has now come to light.

Per the NCAA’s release, one student-athlete (Gray) agreed to the violations. He, however, denied following through on manipulating game outcomes. The second student-athlete (Richardson) did not cooperate with the investigation. 

In an interview conducted in September of last year, a third-party individual told NCAA enforcement staff that a known bettor (who was indicted earlier this year on wire fraud and bribery charges) made contact with men’s basketball student-athletes under the guise of being an agent for NIL.

He then recruited some of those student-athletes to underperform in games for sports betting reasons. The third party individual indicated that several student-athletes — including Gray and Richardson — were potentially connected to that known bettor. 

Per the release, another student-athlete on Fordham‘s team indicated to the NCAA that he had overheard Gray, Richardson and a fourth student-athlete discussing throwing a game for money.

Student-athletes who are found to have violated NCAA rules are ineligible and can only be reinstated with the assistance of an NCAA school. In the immediate future, Gray and Richardson will remain ineligible and will not be allowed back on a college basketball court. With both players no longer with their respective programs, the opportunity for them to play won’t be there anyway.

Brendan Sorsby heading to rehab over sports gambling addiction

The news of more NCAA violations comes just one day after it was revealed that Texas Tech star quarterback Brendan Sorsby is taking immediate leave of absence for gambling addiction.

As far as some of the bets are concerned, Sorsby attended Cincinnati Reds games on repeated occasions, and placed live wagers on balls and strikes, sources tell On3’s Pete Nakos. The bets ranged anywhere from $2.50 to less than $1 per pitch.

Sorsby’s gambling has not drawn any attention from law enforcement nor has it been linked to any attempting influencing of the outcome of games. It is reportedly just a steady flurry of small bets over a period of time. As of now, there is no timetable on Sorsby’s treatment nor any additional information on his potential return to the Texas Tech football program.

On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this article.