Port Charlotte Sun from Port Charlotte, Florida • A19

The Sun January 8, 2015 www.sunnewspapers.net SP Page 3 for emotional pain and suffering and loss of past and present earning and earning capacity. Representatives for the woman declined comment. Florida State president John Thrasher said in a statement he is disappointed in the lawsuit. The university has contended that it took all the proper steps in fulfilling its Title IX obligations. A key portion of the lawsuit is expected to center on when the Title IX coordinator was alerted.

Florida State previously said the only authorities aware of the incident before January 2013 were Tallahassee police, campus police and the Victims Advocate Program. The university said its Title IX officials become aware of the incident until November 2013, when contacted by the Tallahassee Police Department and that the woman was not made available for an interview with the school until Aug. 6, 2014. The lawyers have maintained that she was willing to talk throughout the process. In his two seasons, the Seminoles went 26-1 with Winston starting and won the 2014 national championship.

reached this very difficult decision after careful consideration and long thought, realizing how difficult it would be to say goodbye to my family at Florida Winston said. will always take pride in leading our team back to national prominence and am confident that my returning teammates will continue the success for many years to Winston set the national freshman record with 40 touchdown passes while throwing for 4,057 yards and 10 interceptions en route to winning the title. His numbers dropped in 2013 after losing his top two running backs, two starting receivers and his starting center. Winston threw for 3,907 yards with 25 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in 2014. He also faces questions about the off-field incidents.

A state attorney declined to press sexual assault charges against Winston in December 2013, and the university cleared him last month in a code of conduct hearing. He was suspended for three baseball games in May for the theft of crab legs from a grocery store in Tallahassee. He also was suspended from the Clemson football game in September after making and comments about female anatomy on campus. Coach Jimbo Fisher supported Winston throughout. was a blessing to be able to coach Fisher said in a statement.

embodies what you as a coach want as a person, a student and a player. one of the greatest players in Florida State WINSTON FROM PAGE 1 NFL DRAFT WHEN: April 30-May 2 WHERE: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago TV: ESPN, NFL Network only seen the beginning. NFL teams will investigate his life off the field. They will measure every portion of his body and test every slice of his athleticism. They will put him through psychological evaluations and give him intelligence exams.

The 28 games he put on film will only scratch the surface. I were in a position to draft him, I certainly said Bill Polian, former Indianapolis Colts president and Buffalo Bills general manager. a great deal of information not available. Anybody making a decision right now is doing it Mel Kiper, draft expert, said Winston the No. 1 player taken in the NFL draft.

Todd McShay placed Winston at the top of his draft rankings, ahead of Mariota, because of arm strength and experience in a pro-style offense. But many teams may be scared away by something other than the 17 interceptions Winston threw in his redshirt sophomore season. An NFL quarterback, especially one taken high in the first round, serves as a face of an organization, a pulse of a locker room and a general on the field. After many off-field troubles, will teams trust Winston to fulfill all of those roles? you got to go and investigate the off-field stuff very, very thoroughly, which sure every team said Polian, who drafted Peyton Manning first overall. make a judgment based on what you find out.

I put any stock in media reports. You go right to the source and find out what the details Winston will be compared to Mariota, the other Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. They provide a stark contrast. Winston plays in an offense that requires him to make pro- style throws into narrow spaces; Mariota operates a fast-paced attack with quick, simple reads and frequent rollouts. Mariota made news when he received a speeding ticket; Winston found trouble in matters both childish and chilling.

talent cannot be denied, which is why, as Polian said, every team picking in the top 10 will study him a fine-tooth As he won the first 27 starts of his career, he displayed the ability to make every throw necessary in the NFL and the cool to make them in crucial moments. Even as he played through a minor knee injury this season, which limited his mobility, Winston carved defenses from the pocket. DRAFT FROM PAGE 1 THE WRONG DEBATE At suncoastsportsblog.com, Rob Shore explained in The Hat Trick why Mariota-Winston might be the wrong draft debate: The top player on the draft board of many analysts is Southern California defensive end Leonard Williams. So should the Bucs be even looking at a quarterback in the coming draft? Well, yeah. everybody say that you need a franchise quarterback? The Chicago Bears have a so-called franchise quarterback in Jay Cutler.

What has it gotten the Bears except for a lot of discussion about what to do with him and his bloated contract? The Cincinnati Bengals have a so-called franchise quarterback in Andy Dalton and the Detroit Lions have one in Matthew Stafford. now making tee times. Maybe Williams the answer either. The Bucs have put a lot of money in their defensive line with big contracts to Gerald McCoy and last free agent prize, Michael Johnson. But when the Bucs won the Super Bowl, they did so with a dominant defense and a journeyman quarterback.

Just a thought. COLLEGE FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK Miami welcomes new Testaverde CORAL GABLES Vinny Testaverde won a Heisman Trophy at Miami. Now his son wants to be a quarterback for the Hurricanes. Vincent Testaverde has applied to transfer from Texas Tech to Miami and is expected to be declared immediately eligible, despite appearing in one game this season for the Red Raiders. As a walk-on at Texas Tech, the typical rule decreeing he sits out one season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules apply.

He left Texas Tech to be closer to his home in the Tampa area and Miami jumped at the chance to welcome another Testaverde. Miami wanted to add another quarterback behind starter Brad Kaaya. Backups Jake Heaps and Ryan Williams have exhausted their eligibility, and reserve Malik Rosier will also be playing baseball this spring. certainly very excited for obvious Vinny Testaverde told The Associated Press. The school the move, presumably because Vincent Testaverde completed his enrollment.

That process could be finished as early as today. Vincent Testaverde completed 15 of 26 passes against Texas in his lone Texas Tech appearance, before leaving earlier this month. His father won the Heisman in 1986, his senior year at Miami. The Hurricanes were 6-7 this season and have a rising star at quarterback in Kaaya, plus they won a bowl game since 2006. But Vinny Testaverde raved about the job Miami coach Al Golden has done.

Vinny Testaverde still ranks fifth on career passing list with 6,058 yards, and is tied for fourth with 48 touchdown throws. He went on to play 21 NFL seasons, his total of 46,233 yards passing still ranks ninth- best in league history. And now his son is going to follow along the same path. The younger Testaverde plans to wear No. 14 at Miami, his retired jersey.

hope we can make that Vinny Testaverde said. Bowl ratings up, attendance down: The new playoff era is drawing lots of college football fans to bowl game broadcasts. But it necessarily drawing more fans to stadium seats.The 38 bowls this season drew an average announced attendance of 43,285, down 9.2 percent from the average of 47,659 for the 34 bowls last season that led up to the BCS championship game. Even if you exclude the four new bowl games which all drew fewer than 30,000 fans the average attendance for the remaining 34 bowls is 45,904, down 3.7 percent. Around the nation Defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor enrolled at Alabama, six months after Georgia dismissed him following an arrest for assaulting his girlfriend.

Taylor was dismissed from Georgia in July 2014 following his arrest on aggravated assault and family violence Veteran NFL assistant Brian Schottenheimer was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Schottenheimer, 41, has served as offensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams the last three seasons after holding the same position with the New York Jets from 2006-2011. A ssociATed Heisman son applies for transfer NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WHO: Ohio State (13-1) vs. Oregon (13-1) WHEN: Monday, 8:30 p.m.

WHERE: Stadium, Arlington, Texas TV: ESPN RADIO: 99.3 FM, 620 AM Miami hiring within rules A ssociATed MIAMI The NFL weighed in on the conflicting explanations of the Miami new power structure, saying the team violate the Rooney Rule in hiring Mike Tannenbaum as executive vice president of football operations. The rule requires teams to consider minority candidates when hiring for senior football operations positions, but that apply to new job, the league said Wednesday. have discussed the hiring of Mike Tannenbaum for a senior football position with Dolphins owner Steve the league said in a statement. Ross has confirmed that general manager Dennis Hickey retains all of his prior authority over the draft and other personnel matters, and that Mr. Hickey will continue to report directly to Mr.

Ross on these matters. Any public statement to the contrary is erroneous and does not accurately reflect the reporting structure at the In a news release announcing the hiring Tuesday, the Dolphins said Hickey would report directly to Tannenbaum. But the release also said Hickey would continue to lead the personnel and scouting departments and have control of the 53-man roster. During a subsequent conference call with reporters, Tannenbaum said Hickey would have the final say on roster and draft decisions but would be boss. and all of the other departments will be reporting to said Tannenbaum, a former general manager for the New York Jets.

what that GM job entails, one of the things that I hope and I know Steve hopes is Dennis will have more time to worry about scouting and all of that entails and running the scouting NFL: Miami IRVING, Texas Jethro Pugh played alongside Hall of Famers Bob Lilly and Randy White in a long career as a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, which may explain why he was among the most unsung Super Bowl winners in the storied history. Pugh, who played in the first four Super Bowls for Dallas and was part of a that won two of them, died Wednesday. He was 70. The team said Pugh died of natural causes four days before the Cowboys were to play their first postseason game in Green Bay since the famous Ice Bowl in 1967. Pugh and Lilly were side-by-side in sub-zero temperatures in a 21-17 Dallas loss that sent the Packers to a second straight title at the start of the Super Bowl era with a victory over Oakland.

was a terribly unsung person among that bunch of great players he said Gil Brandt, who was the personnel director when the Cowboys drafted Pugh in the 11th round in 1965. Pugh was the first Dallas player to lead the team in sacks five straight seasons (1968-72). DeMarcus Ware, the franchise sacks leader, was the only other to do it. Pugh is fifth on the career list with 99 sacks. Brandt said Pugh was a 20-year-old graduate of Elizabeth City State in North Carolina when Dallas drafted him.

He became a starter the year of the Ice Bowl and started his five-year streak of leading the team in sacks a year later. Pugh played on Dallas teams that beat Miami and Denver in the Super Bowl after the 1971 and 1977 seasons. He was on teams that lost to Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Pugh never made the Pro Bowl in 14 seasons, while teammates Lilly, White, Mel Renfro, Cliff Harris and Chuck Howley combined for 42 all-star appearances. Pugh was second-team All-Pro in 1968.

Anchor of dies at 70 By SCHUYLER DIXON A ssociA OBITUARY: NFL Jethro Pugh 1944-2015 NFL PHOTOS Jethro Pugh in the 1975 NFC championship game, which Dallas won 37-7 against the Los Angeles Rams. Aaron Rodgers practice Wednesday because of a lingering left calf injury. The quarterback left no doubt about his plans for Sunday when the Green Bay Packers host the Dallas Cowboys. going Rodgers said. a matter of Missing practice was part of the plan for Rodgers, who has dealt with the injury for about three weeks.

While the Packers practiced inside the frigid Hutson Center training facility, Rodgers stayed exclusively in the training room for treatment. He hopes that occasional acupuncture will also help, along with the valuable rest that the Packers received for earning a bye for the opening round of the playoffs. possible Rodgers could also wear a wrap to further protect his lower left leg. There is progress, though never enough for coach Mike McCarthy said. I think the training staff feels good about it and we feel confident in the direction Around the league: The Carolina Panthers will be without starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei for playoff game against Seattle after undergoing surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick will train with Kurt Warner and quarterbacks coaches Dennis Gile and Mike Giovando on Monday in Phoenix. Gile said they have developed a program for the next 12 weeks until Kaepernick re-joins the 49ers in early April. Assistant general manager Scott Pioli will take on pro and college scouting and will have new NFL draft responsibilities in a restructuring of the Atlanta personnel department. A ssociATed NFL NOTEBOOK Packers QB says play, a matter of Rodgers sits out, according to plan NFL PLAYOFFS SATURDAY AFC: Baltimore at New England, 4:35 p.m. (NBC, 99.3 FM) NFC: Carolina at Seattle, 8:15 p.m.

(FOX, 99.3 FM) SUNDAY AFC: Dallas at Green Bay, 1:05 p.m. (FOX, 99.3 FM) NFC: Indianapolis at Denver, 4:40 p.m. (CBS, 99.3 FM).