North West Sports Beat

Oklahoma State released quarterback Wes Lunt from his scholarship last week to allow him to transfer to another school, but apparently not just any school.

• The Cowboys have restricted Lunt from going to a Southeastern Conference program or Southern Mississippi, CBSSports.com reported Friday.

  Oklahoma State didn't specify the reason for the limitations, which normally are based on transfers within the conference or to a school on a future schedule. According to CBSSports, com, school spokesman Gavin Lang said the matter was between Lunt and Cowboys coach Mike Gundy.

  Lunt reportedly is interested in going to Southern Mississippi, Tennessee and Vanderbilt in the SEC, Louisville or Illinois, which is in his home state. Oklahoma State plays one SEC school, Mississippi State, in 2013. Lunt's former offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, is head coach at Southern Miss.

  After starting as a true freshman last year, Lunt appeared to lose a battle for the job in the spring with Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh

  Lunt threw for 1,108 yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions last season.

Alabama coach Nick Saban took the higher road when asked to respond to recent comments from former assistant Tim Davis.

• "It's a little disappointing when someone who works with you says something," Saban said on the Dan Patrick Show on Friday.

  Davis, who worked for Saban with the Miami Dolphins and at Alabama for a total of three years, is currently Florida's offensive line coach. He called Saban "the devil himself" and said he was glad to be working for UF coach Will Muschamp, another Saban protege.

  "It's a tough, demanding job. And at the same time, if anybody had an issue or problem with me, I would want them to just tell me," Saban said.

  Davis was the director of player personnel at Alabama in 2008. Prior to that, he was the Dolphins' offensive line coach under Saban for two seasons.

  "I've always wanted to work with Will," Davis told the boosters. "Will's got a plan. Will coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three. He did seven. And his DNA is not any different than Nick."

  --Maurice Clarett was a noted NFL failure, but the former Ohio State running back is chasing another dream -- playing rugby in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

  Clarett, 29, has been training for several months with the Columbus affiliate of Tiger Rugby, according to Paul Holmes, the director of the team.

  The developmental program is responsible for helping select the team to represent the United States at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Clarett will participate in an international event May 25 in Mechanicsburg, Ohio.

  ---Former Arizona State quarterback Andrew Walter announced he's running for congress.

  Walter would run for Arizona's ninth congressional district, which is in Maricopa County and includes Tempe but also parts of Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler.

  Walter was drafted 69th by the Oakland Raiders in the 2005 NFL Draft.

  ---One semester on the West Virginia campus was enough for true freshman quarterback Chavas Rawlins, a three-star recruit who informed the school he plans to transfer. Rawlins enrolled at WVU in January, and his recruitment was led by quarterbacks coach Jack Spavital. Spavital was hired by Texas A&M as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Former Arizona State quarterback Andrew Walter announced he's running for congress.

• "I've been to many different places over the years, but Arizona will always be my home," Walter said in a message on his web site, andrewwalter2014.com. "I want to take the hard work and dedication the Walter name is known for and make a difference in Washington."

  Walter would run for Arizona's ninth congressional district, which is in Maricopa County and includes Tempe but also parts of Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler.

  Walter was drafted 69th by the Oakland Raiders in the 2005 NFL Draft. He returned to Arizona State to pursue an MBA at age 27 and founded Andrew Walter Holdings, a business lending firm.

Maurice Clarett was a noted NFL failure, but the former Ohio State running back is chasing another dream -- playing rugby in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

• Clarett, 29, has been training for several months with the Columbus affiliate of Tiger Rugby, according to Paul Holmes, the director of the team.

  The developmental program is responsible for helping select the team to represent the United States at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

  Clarett will participate in an international event May 25 in Mechanicsburg, Ohio.

  A third-round NFL draft pick, Clarett never played a game in the league and served 3 1/2 years in prison on weapons and robbery charges.

  Clarett played one season at Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes to the 2002 BCS championship game with 1,237 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was dismissed from the program after one year after an investigation into his receipt of improper benefits.

Alabama coach Nick Saban took the higher road when asked to respond to recent comments from former assistant Tim Davis.

• Davis, who worked for Saban with the Miami Dolphins and at Alabama for a total of three years, is currently Florida's offensive line coach. He called Saban "the devil himself" and said he was glad to be working for UF coach Will Muschamp, another Saban protege.

  "It's a tough, demanding job. And at the same time, if anybody had an issue or problem with me, I would want them to just tell me," Saban said.

  Davis was the director of player personnel at Alabama in 2008. Prior to that, he was the Dolphins' offensive line coach under Saban for two seasons.

  "I've always wanted to work with Will," Davis told the boosters. "Will's got a plan. Will coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three. He did seven. And his DNA is not any different than Nick."

  Saban has taken criticial comments in stride before. In the height of recruiting after Alabama's national championship win over Notre Dame, rival coach James Franklin at Vanderbilt referenced Saban as "Nicky Satan." Franklin said the comments were made in jest and meant to be a joke, but later apologized.

  "It's just disappointing," Saban said Thursday. "If somebody has a problem with me, I'd appreciate it if they'd tell me. If I'm doing something to offense somebody, I'd certainly like to do whatever I have to do to fix it. It's not our intention. It's not what we try to do. We're in a tough business. It's very competitive. Sometimes you've got to demand that people do things that maybe they don't want to do, but it's not personal."

An angry Bill O'Brien defended the Penn State football program on Wednesday after a Sports Illustrated article accused school officials of providing inadequate medical care for players.

• "At the top of [my] responsibility list is taking care of this program's players. The student-athletes in this football program are the number one priority to me," O'Brien told the Daily Collegian -- the student-run school newspaper. "Their health and safety is the number one priority to me. It's not near the top, it's not around the top; it's at the top."

  The 23-page Sports Illustrated story cited named and anonymous sources who claim the quality of care for players has been compromised since the removal of longtime team doctor and orthopedic surgeon Wayne Sebastianelli. The article also questioned the motives that resulted in the decision to remove Sebastianelli.

  Sebastianelli had been the team doctor and orthopedic surgeon since 1992 when he was selected over David Joyner, the new athletic director at Penn State. Joyner also is an orthopedic surgeon and former Penn State football player. Joyner and Sebastianelli are portrayed as angry rivals in the Sports illustrated article.

  "Any changes that were made were done for, and only for, the benefit of the student athletes, the football program and for Penn State," Joyner said in a statement issued by the school. "Any characterization otherwise is appalling, offensive, preposterous and completely untrue."

  O'Brien agreed, saying the article was a "character assassination" on Joyner, whom he called a "first-class" person.

  Sebastianelli was asked to leave four days after Joyner took over as athletic director following the Jerry Sandusky trial. He remains the doctor in charge of the entire athletics department's medical program.

Julie Hermann was named Rutgers athletic director, tasked with leading the university back to respectability and into the American Athletic Conference before the Scarlet Knights join the Big Ten in 2014.

• "She is one of the most respected athletics administrators in the country and she was deeply involved in moving Louisville from Conference USA to the Big East and from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference," said Rutgers president Robert L. Barchi. :Her 15 years of leadership experience will be an invaluable asset to the university as we prepare to enter the Big Ten

  Hermann, 49, will be the third female athletic director among all BCS programs, joining California's Sandy Barbour and North Carolina State's Debbie Yow. She was most recently the senior associate athletic director at Louisville, where she had a marketing and brand management focus and netted $10 million in gift agreements in the past year.

  Tim Pernetti resigned his post on April 5, two days after basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for physical, verbal emotional abuse of his players, which was caught on video and aired on national television programs, sparking a firestorm of reaction in New Jersey and beyond.

  "Rutgers is poised to soar," said Hermann. "With a world-class faculty and academic reputation, a strategic location and the power and reach of the Big Ten, the university is positioned to create a best-in-class experience for every student who accepts the challenge to learn and compete at Rutgers."

  Hermann will receive an annual base salary of $450,000, according to Rutgers. She can earn $50,000 based on achievement of academic and athletic performance goals as determined by the president.

  Rutgers reviewed 63 candidates in a national search and committe co-chair Kate Sweeney said Hermann's "student'centered approach to athletics" separated her from the competition.

  Hermann played volleyball at Nebraska and was the head coach of the volleyball team at Tennessee before joining the Louisville athletic department in 1998.

  In addition to the Rice scandal, men's lacrosse coach Brian Brecht was suspended April 19. At that time, Rutgers launched an inquiry into allegations of verbal abuse led by acting athletic director Carl Kirschner. Brecht was reinstated Tuesday.

UCLA defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa is delaying his junior season in 2013 to recover from right hip surgery.

• The Los Angeles Times first reported the surgery would result in a medical redshirt year.

  Several injuries on the defensive line could spark a scheme adjustment by coach Jim Mora Jr.

  Odighizuwa was the leading candidate to replace first-round draft pick Datone Jones in the Bruins' defense and depth at the position is considered shallow.

  Odighizuwa posted 3.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries as a sophomore.

It was last September that Notre Dame notified Michigan that it would not continue its football rivalry with the Wolverines after the 2014 season, but it was over the weekend that Michigan coach Brady Hoke publicly expressed his disappointment by taking a shot at the Irish.

• Hoke told a crowd at the West Michigan Sports Commission luncheon in Grand Rapids that the Irish were "chickening out" of their series with Michigan, multiple media outlets reported.

  "We have unbelievable rivalry games at Michigan," Hoke said. "The Notre Dame, that rivalry, which they're chickening out of ... they're still going to play Michigan State, they'll play Purdue; they don't want to play Michigan."

  Notre Dame gave notice to Michigan on Sept. 22, 2012, that it would discontinue the series beyond 2014.

  That came 10 days after Notre Dame announced its move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, an agreement that requires the Irish to play five games against schools in that conference each season.

  Michigan and Notre Dame will play on Sept. 7 in Ann Arbor, and then the final game of the series on Sept. 6, 2014, at Notre Dame.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday that three of head coach Urban Meyer's assistants received salaries that topped $500,000 in 2012.

• Defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, co-defensive coordinator Everett Withers and offensive coordinator Tom Herman each make more than half a million dollars annually.

  Fickell's pay actually decreased to $600,000 from when he coached the team after Jim Tressel's resignation in 2011.

  Withers and Herman each got pay raises of $130,000 and now earn $580,000 and $550,000, respectively.

  Smith said the reason for the high salaries was in response to Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison getting a $750,000 salary. Other conferences, including the Pac-12 and SEC, are also giving assistant coaches similar pay.

  "It wasn't because, 'We're competing with Alabama,' " Smith said. "That wasn't the idea. I had to bite the bullet (after Mattison). We didn't have anybody near that level, and the Pac-12 started doing the same thing. The reality is, as that changed, we had to change with it."

  Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris leads assistant coaches in the nation with a $1.3 million salary.

Colorado quarterback Jordan Webb and former offensive lineman Alexander Lewis were charged with second-degree assault after the two were arrested early Saturday morning.

• Lewis, who is transferring to Nebraska, also was charged with two counts of harassment, the Denver post reported Sunday.

  Webb was the primary starter at quarterback last year for Colorado, throwing for1,434 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. He suffered a torn ACL in the spring but was expected to return at some point this fall.

  "Jordan's exact involvement in this incident is still being investigated," Buffaloes coach Mike MacIntyre said. "We continually stress the importance of appropriate behavior to our players and do not tolerate any detrimental conduct in our football program. Once all of the facts come to light, if Jordan is found responsible for any misconduct, he will be disciplined according to team rules."

  Lewis started 12 games last season but did not practice in the spring after shoulder surgery. He had announced his decision to transfer on Friday.

  "As for Alex Lewis, as of Friday he was off of the team when he did a media interview and announced that he is transferring to Nebraska," MacIntyre said. "Since he is no longer a Colorado Buffalo, it will be up to Nebraska to decide what discipline he might face."

Bill Lewis was an All-American center at Nebraska, and now Alex Lewis has decided to leave Colorado and follow in his father's footsteps and play for Bo Pelini and the Cornhuskers.

• "It's been a dream of mine to play where my father played," Alex Lewis told the Omaha World-Herald. "I finally get to do that."

  As a true sophomore, Lewis started 12 games last season for the Buffaloes, earning a Pac-12 honorable mention honor. The 6-foot-6, 285-pounder can play tackle or guard.

  After sitting out next year, he will have two years of eligibility left. He had considered transferring to Florida State, Michigan, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

  Lewis should be able to vie for playing time immediately after this season. The Cornhuskers are scheduled to lose three scholarship tackles -- Jeremiah Sirles, Brent Qvale and Andrew Rodriguez -- after 2013.

Oklahoma quarterback Kendal Thompson was arrested for public intoxication Friday morning in Norman, Okla., Soonerscoop.com reported.

• An officer found Thompson sleeping on a hill and smelled alcohol on his breath while responding to a complaint of a loud party, according to a police report.

  Thompson reportedly did not obey an officer's commands, leading to him being charged with interference as well.

  An Oklahoma spokesperson said that coach Bob Stoops was aware of the arrest and will "handle the matter internally."

  Thompson, 20, is competing for the starting quarterback job.

Quarterback Wes Lunt is leaving Oklahoma State after one season to transfer to another school, coach Mike Gundy announced Thursday.

• Lunt emerged as the No. 1 quarterback at the start of last season and became the first true freshman to start a Cowboys opener since at least 1950. He made an impressive debut, completing 11 of 11 passes for 129 yards against Savannah State.

  But assorted injuries limited Lunt, a four-star recruit, to five starts and 1,108 passing yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions last season.

  Coming out of spring practice last month, junior Clint Chelf remained the team's No. 1 quarterback after starting the final six games last season. J.W. Walsh also was in the mix with Lunt.

  "We appreciate Wes and we thank him for everything he has done," Gundy said. "He's leaving on good terms and is making this decision based on what he thinks is best for his future."

  If LUnt transfers to another FBS program, he will have three years of eligibility remaining.

When Nick Saban wants to get away, he packs up the family and heads to Clayton, Ga., to his 9,600-square-foot, six-bedroom home on Lake Burton.

• But now the coach of the reigning NCAA champion Alabama Crimson Tide has decide to sell the $10.95 million home -- and that decision has nothing to do with the Alabama-Georgia rivalry.

  Saban has decided one home on Lake Burton is enough.

  "My family and I own another home on the lake," Saban said in a statement, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. "Lake Burton is our favorite getaway. It's a beautiful, hidden gem, where we find great peace and seclusion."

  Saban's hidden gem has more than 700 feet of lake frontage and well as mountain and sunset views. For peace and seclusion on the 1.7 acre plot, the Sabans have enjoyed a massive grand room with a 24-foot vaulted ceiling, formal and professional kitchens, a wine cellar and a European-style pub room.

  And of course along with the custom boathouse there are staff quarters at the North Georgia estate.

  Saban's home will go to the highest bidder in an auction scheduled for June 6.

Mount Union coach Larry Kehres resigned Wednesday after leading the NCAA Division III program to unparalleled success.

• Kehres won 11 national championships and 23 Ohio Athletic Conference titles and compiled a 332-24-3 record, a .924 winning percentage, since he became coach in 1986. His teams also finished undefeated 21 times and the 332 wins rank fifth in college football history behind Jon Gagliardi (489), Eddie Robinson (408), Bobby Bowden (377) and Pop Warner (336).

  The 63-year-old Kehres will remain as athletic director at the school, located in Alliance, Ohio. His son, Vince, will take over as head coach.

  "The best part of the job was developing relationships with players and continuing those relationships following their graduations," Kehres said. "Coaching the Purple Raiders has been a tremendous experience for my family. We have shared many great experiences with our players, fellow coaches, trainers and their families. We plan to continue to enjoy working with Mount Union coaches and athletes."

  Vince Kehres played on two national championship teams. He joined his father's coaching staff 13 years ago and spent the last eight as defensive coordinator.

  "Obviously, Mount Union football has been a part of my entire life," Vince said. "I promise this program will continue to uphold the values and ideals that have made Mount Union what it is in the world of college football."

  Mount Union won the 2012 national championship in Larry Kehres' final season.

Heisman Trophy winners Vinny Testaverde, Danny Wuerffel and Ron Dayne and 1995 runner-up Tommie Frazier lead the 2013 College Football Hall of Fame class to be inducted Dec. 10 in New York City.

• Testaverde played at the University of Miami form 1982-1986. In '86 he led the Hurricanes to a perfect regular season, passing for 2,557 yards and 26 touchdowns. But the Hurricanes fell to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl, handing a national title to Joe Paterno. Testaverde went 23-3 as a starter playing for coaches Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson. For his career, he had more than 6,000 passing yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Miami to three straight bowl games.

  At Wisconsin, the powerful Dayne won the Heisman in 1999 and was a first-round pick of the New York Giants in 2000. He set the NCAA Division I rushing record with 6,397 yards and logged 1,220 carries in four seasons in Madison.

  Frazier, who was second to Eddie George in Heisman ballotting in 1995, was a four-year starter for the Cornhuskers and guided Nebraska to national titles in 1994 and '95.

  Wuerffel played for Steve Spurrier in Florida's 'Fun 'N' Gun' offense. The Gators played in back-to-back national championship games, including a 52-20 Sugar Bowl victory over Florida State in 1996. That victory came three weeks after Wuerffel won the Heisman Trophy. He finished his career with 10,875 passing yards and 114 touchdowns, which stands as the Southeastern Conference record.

  Orlando Pace, an All-American left tackle at Ohio State and the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1997, former Arizona linebacker Tedy Bruschi, the fourth Wildcats' star to join the Hall, Michigan State linebacker Percy Snow and former Colorado head coach Bill McCartney were other notable members of the 12-person class.

  Former Oklahoma linebacker Rod Shoate, who died in 1999, was voted in posthumously. He was a four-time All-Big 8 pick and three-time All-American with the Sooners.

  Kentucky end Steve Meilinger, Baylor quarterback Don Trull and Texas defensive back Jerry Gray, a first-round NFL draft pick in 1985 now coaching with the Tennessee Titans, joined former Temple and Navy coach Irving Wayne Hardin in rounding out the class.

  Testaverde becomes the seventh Hurricanes player to be inducted, joining Bennie Blades, Don Bosseler, Ted Hendricks, Russell Maryland, Gino Torretta and Arnold Tucker in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Justin Taylor had dreams of running to national titles with Alabama. He originally committed to play for the Crimson Tide as a three-star running back from Georgia, but he never made it to Tuscaloosa.

• Instead, Taylor ended up at Kentucky where he redshirted last year. On Monday, Taylor was granted his release by Kentucky.

  "We appreciate Justin's efforts and wish him the best as he continues his career," Coach Mark Stoops said in a statement.

  Stoops said the 5-foot-10 back, who ran four times for nine yards in Kentucky's Blue-White Game, had "a lot of work to do" to earn playing time, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

  At least four players appear to be in the mix for playing time, and Taylor was not one of them.

  In addition to those four holdovers, Stoops, in his first year with the Wildcats, signed JoJo Kemp, one of the nation's top running backs.

  Several unpublished reports on Monday had Taylor transferring to South Carolina State, the Herald Leader said. The South Carolina State sports information director would not confirm if Taylor was planning to play for the Bulldogs.

The Southeast Conference can claim bragging rights to college football supremacy, but it still has a way to go before it can come close to the Big Ten when it comes to generating revenue from television.

• Big Ten schools are expected to receive a record payout -- $25.7 million to each school -- from the conference this year, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Of that $25.7 million, $19 million will come from television revenue.

  Last year, each school received $24.6 million, with $8.1 million coming from the Big Ten Network. This year the network's contribution dips to $7.6 million because of additional money paid to Nebraska, which is in its second year in the conference.

  Each school also will receive $10.9 million from the conference's deal with ABC and ESPN.

  USA Today projects the SEC Network, which will launch in fall of 2014, will lead to payoffs of more than $30 million for each school once the network is running.

It is hard to say no to mom and because of that Florida State reaped the reward on Signing Day when Matthew Thomas, ranked as one of the outside linebackers in the nation, signed to play for Jimbo Fisher and Florida State.

• But on Monday, the five-star recruit said he told Fisher he does not plan to be a Seminole and hopes the school will allow him to play elsewhere.

  Thomas explained his decision to the Miami Herald, saying it was nothing personal, but that his mother influenced his thinking on Signing Day.

  "What happened was on Signing Day [was] I wasn't sure who I wanted to sign with. I had issues with different schools. But when I told my mom I didn't want to sign with anybody and wait and give it a few days she said I couldn't do that. She said, 'FSU is a good school -- pick them. It's close to home.' I wasn't agreeing with it. But I felt like I was being disrespectful to her if I didn't sign. So I made her happy," Thomas said.

  Thomas said he has been unable to convince himself he made the right choice on that February day. On Monday, he let the staff at Florida State know that he was considering his options to play at Southern California, Georgia or even perhaps Miami.

  The 6-foot-3, 205 pound Thomas said Florida State does not want to release him and was planning on visiting him to try to convince him to stay in Tallahassee.

  Just as Thomas has had a change of heart, so has his mother, who along with his father, are supporting Thomas to be freed from his letter that he signed.

  "I just want to go and have fun playing football," he said.

Eight guaranteed bowl slots, starting with the Dec. 27 Military Bowl, highlight the Atlantic Coast Conference's 2013 postseason schedule released Monday.

• The ACC bowl schedule culminates with the Jan. 3 Discover Orange Bowl. The ACC champion, if it's not in the Vizio BCS National Championship Game played at the Rose Bowl, will play in the Discover game at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens,

  Fla. and be nationally televised by ESPN.

  The Discover Orange Bowl has the first choice of teams which qualified for the BCS after the five conference champions and/or their replacements, have been placed.

  The selection order for the other ACC bowls are the Russell Athletic Bowl, the

  Hyundai Sun Bowl, the Belk Bowl, the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl,

  the AdvoCare V100 Bowl and the Military Bowl.

  The ACC also has a conditional bowl agreement with the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl should either the Pac-12 or BYU not be able to fulfill its commitment to the bowl game, and the ACC has an available, bowl-eligible team. The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl will be played on Friday, Dec. 27, with a 9:30 p.m. kickoff.

  The ACC bowl schedule:

  Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman -- Dec. 27, 2013, 2:30 p.m., ESPN.

  Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (conditional) -- Dec. 27, 2013, 9:30 p.m., ESPN.

  Russell Athletic Bowl vs. Big East -- Dec. 28, 2013, 6:45 p.m., ESPN.

  Belk Bowl vs. Big East -- Dec. 28, 2013, 3:20 p.m., ESPN.

  Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl vs. SEC -- Dec. 30, 2013, 3:15 p.m.,

  ESPN.

  AdvoCare V100 Bowl vs. SEC -- Dec. 31, 2013, 12:30 p.m., ESPN.

  Hyundai Sun Bowl vs. Pac-12 -- Dec. 31, 2013, 2 p.m., CBS.

  Chick-fil-A Bowl vs. SEC -- Dec. 31, 2013, 8 p.m., ESPN.

  Discover Orange Bowl vs. BCS at-large -- Jan. 3, 2014, 8 p.m., ESPN.

Kentucky starting defensive back Ashely Lowery was responsive and alert on Sunday after surviving a serious auto accident in Georgia a day earlier.

• Lowery was moving his extremities and was awake in intensive care at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Ga., according to family spokesman Doug Stutsman,

  The impact of the early Saturday morning crash in Georgia ejected Lowery, a native of Cleveland, Ga., approximately 100 feet from his overturned 2006 Nissan Altima.

  The extent of Lowery’s injuries were yet to be released.

  The 6-foot-1, 219-pound Ashley started eight games in 2012 as a sophomore and was the Wildcats' fifth-leading tackler with 43 stops.

Dennis Franchione has guided Texas State to a 10-14 record in his first two seasons as head coach of the Bobcats. Despite being under .500, Franchione has been awarded with a five-year extension that will pay the former Alabama and Texas A&M coach $400,000 beginning in 2014.

• "Coach Franchione has been a strong leader for our program, increased visibility, generated a high level of enthusiasm and instilled a strong work ethic for student-athletes on and off the field," Texas State president Denise Trauth said. "He also has helped guide the program into the coveted ranks of the Football Bowl Subdivision. There has been great buzz about being elevated to the top level of college football, and we expect more good things as our program grows."

  Texas State went 4-8 last season in its first and only season as a member of the WAC; the Bobcats are joining the Sun Belt in the fall.

  This is Franchione's second stint in San Marcos, Texas. He led Texas State to a 13-9 record in 1990-91. He left to take over the program at New Mexico, followed by Texas Christian, Alabama and Texas A&M.

  In 27 years, Franchione has a record of 197-115-2.

ESPN and the SEC, in a joint announcement Thursday, revealed that the SEC Network will launch in August of 2014.

• The announcement was made by conference commissioner Mike Slive and ESPN president John Skipper.

  The 20-year agreement is the longest sports rights contract in American television. The financial terms were not revealed.

  The network will televise 45 football games per year, three each Saturday during the regular season. It will also air more than 100 men's basketball games per season.

  ESPN will manage the SEC Network and produce it from its regional studios in Charlotte, N.C.

  It will be distributed through an agreement with AT&T U-Verse. The SEC also created getsecnetwork.com, a website in which customers of other cable and satellite TV providers can urge them to provide the network.

The NCAA has decided not to go through with rule changes passed in January to allow unlimited electronic communication between college coaches and football recruits.

• The Division I Board of Directors officially suspended that proposal and several others during a meeting on Thursday in Indianapolis.

  College and high-school coaches had reacted negatively to the easing of restrictions on such communications as text messaging, which had been banned since 2007 in football recruiting. The NCAA received more than 75 requests for an override.

  The board also suspended:

  -- the rest of Proposal 13-3, which would have allowed unlimited contact by college coaches with recruits;

  -- Proposal 11-2, which would have eliminated a requirement that only a head coach or assistant could perform the duties of a recruiting coordinator;

  -- Proposal 13-5-A, which would have allowed unlimited printed materials to be mailed to prospects.

  -- Proposal 13-2, which would have established a uniform starting date for recruiting contact of July 1 before a prospect's junior season.

  The board also tabled plans to raise academic standards in 2016 for a incoming Division I athlete's eligibility. The changes would have resulted in significant numbers of academic redshiirts for first-year student-athletes.

  "We are supportive of moving as aggressively as possible while still studying the issues with due diligence," board chair and Wake Forest president Nathan Hatch said in a statement. "It's important to make sure all the pieces of the recruiting model work together to make the most effective change in the culture."