My Sports News Digest

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (CFB/Newsfeed) — Penn State is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the university by its former president. Graham Spanier (SPAN’-yer) sued May 25 to obtain old emails that he says are necessary to respond to Penn State’s child sex-abuse probe. According to the Centre Daily Times, the university contends it can’t disclose the messages because of an ongoing investigation by the state attorney general. Documents filed by Penn State on Thursday in Centre County court also argue that Spanier should have first requested the emails under the state’s Right-to-Know law. Penn State is conducting an [...]

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BELLEFONTE, Pa. (CFB/Newsfeed) — Jerry Sandusky won a court ruling Friday that will let him have an expert testify about a psychiatric condition that his lawyer says helps explain letters he wrote to his accusers and other actions being construed as him grooming victims. Judge John Cleland granted a motion that sought to put evidence of “histrionic personality disorder” before jurors in Sandusky’s child sexual abuse case. Cleland’s order also said the former Penn State assistant football coach must make himself available for prosecutors so they can prepare rebuttal psychiatric testimony. The American Psychiatric Association‘s diagnostic manual calls histrionic personality [...]

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ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (CFB/Newsfeed) — A Murray State football player has died in Elizabethtown, where he had returned after his first year. Elizabethtown police Sgt. David Neary confirmed Friday that Jeff Richard died Thursday but gave no further details. The Hardin County coroner’s office didn’t immediately return a call Friday. The university said Richard, a defensive end, appeared in all 11 games last year, starting in the final three games of the season and finishing with 21 tackles, including five tackles for loss and a sack. Highlights include a blocked punt against Tennessee-Martin and recovering a blocked punt for a touchdown [...]

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (CFB/Newsfeed) — Penn State University has made public a report that shows fired football coach Joe Paterno and former president Graham Spanier each earned more than $ 1 million in compensation last year. A form posted on the school’s website lists Paterno’s 2011 salary at $ 1,002,464. He earned another $ 35,546 in benefits. Spanier’s salary is listed as $ 937,955, with another $ 168,630 in benefits. The Centre Daily Times first reported the disclosure Saturday. Both men were let go from their positions in early November after former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with [...]

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SALT LAKE CITY (CFB/Newsfeed) — As a kid, Brian Johnson was so inquisitive he read the warning label inside his football helmet and nearly quit the game. Nearly 20 years later that thirst for knowledge is serving him well instead as he embarks on his first season as Utah’s offensive coordinator – according to the Utes, the youngest at the FBS level. Johnson is best known for engineering Utah’s 31-17 upset over heavily favored Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl, calling plays in a no-huddle offense that helped Utah dart out to a 21-0 lead. Now at 25, the winningest [...]

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HARRISBURG (CFB/Rubinkam&Armas) — Pennsylvania prosecutors said Monday they now believe the alleged locker-room shower assault of a boy by Jerry Sandusky that ultimately led to football coach Joe Paterno‘s firing took place a year earlier than they first claimed. The attorney general’s office said in a court filing that investigators have concluded the alleged attack took place around Feb. 9, 2001. Previously filed court documents, including a grand jury report issued before the former Penn State assistant coach’s arrest in November, dated it March 1, 2002. Then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary has said he complained to Paterno of seeing the boy, [...]

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (CFB/Newsfeed) – Knile Davis unintentionally offered the deepest insight into how the personality of the Arkansas football team has changed in the weeks since Bobby Petrino‘s firing and John L. Smith‘s hiring as his replacement. Davis, the star Razorbacks running back, was comparing the differences in coaching styles between the controlling, businesslike Petrino and the huggable Smith when he mentioned that Smith has a demanding side to his personality as well. “John, he has a serious side,” Davis said. “You can’t be in this game playing around. He can be serious. He knows how to get what he [...]

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LAWRENCE, Kan. (CFB/Newsfeed) – Tony Pierson took the handoff from Dayne Crist deep in the backfield, started off toward his right and then made a subtle move back to his left. Just as a hole big enough for Charlie Weis to run through opened up. Pierson pranced through it and then out-ran a pair of safeties 88 yards for a touchdown, the highlight of a big afternoon for the sophomore running back. He finished with 141 yards on only seven carries to steal the spotlight from Crist’s debut in the Kansas spring game. Pierson and Crist led the blue team, [...]

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