Thursday, August 26, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
Football
Leaf prepared to leave Chargers
By The Associated Press
If Ryan Leaf is placed on injured reserve, he doesn't want to stay in San Diego. Of all the Chargers'
options, a trade is not one of them.
"Don't waste the time," club president Dean Spanos said when asked what the team would do if Leaf
asked to be dealt. "It's not even a question. They know it's not in the cards. It's not going to happen. We'd take a $7 million hit."
Chargers coach Mike Riley confirmed a published report that the troubled second-year quarterback will ask for a trade if the team puts him on injured reserve, which would end his season before it starts.
"He was just frustrated and mad." Riley said. "It was just like that: I'm going to be ready to play. If I can't play, I want to be traded. I guess I didn't feel threatened, because a trade is not going to happen anyway."
Leaf sustained a tear in his right shoulder and underwent surgery July 26 to repair it. The Chargers said then that Leaf would be out for 3-4 months, and didn't know if there would be an available roster spot for him.
Although he'd at best be the third stringer, Leaf keeps saying he feels he'll be ready to play in October.
Leaf's prorated signing bonus would count $7.5 million against this year's cap, which is approximately $75.3 million.
Saints
It was not a good day for the New Orleans Saints. Rookie running back Ricky Williams was lost for at least one game and Joe Johnson is gone for the season.
Williams, the Heisman Trophy winner for whom the Saints traded all their 1999 draft picks to Washington to get in their backfield, has a slow-healing left-ankle sprain. It will keep him out of
Saturday's exhibition game against Green Bay, but he is expected to be ready for the regular season.
The injury occurred during the first exhibition game against Miami on Aug. 13.
Johnson, a Pro Bowl defensive end, ruptured a tendon in his right knee during a line drill, apparently without contact. He comes off a seven-sack season.
William Roaf, a five-time Pro Bowler, sprained his left knee and ankle when players landed on his leg in a pileup. He was helped off the field, and he will miss the Green Bay exhibition game.
Dolphins
Rookie defensive end Dimitrius Underwood, who walked out on the Minnesota Vikings to pursue his faith, now appears ready to play for Miami.
Underwood met with Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson and agreed to report for practice Monday.
"I am happy he decided to play, because you can never have too many talented players, and obviously he is a talented player." Johnson said.
Underwood, the 29th player taken in the first round of the April draft, was claimed off waivers by the Dolphins last week.
Eagles
Bobby Hoying, Philadelphia's starting
starting quarterback at the outset of last season, was traded to Oakland for a conditional draft pick and reunited with Raiders coach Jon Gruden.
Hoying, 26, thrived under Gruden, then the Philadelphia offensive coordinator, late in 1997, but lost his starting job and confidence during the Eagles' 3-13 season. The Eagles have Doug Pederson starting, with rookie Donovan McNabb, the second overall selection in the draft, as the backup.
Key players' injuries plague Saints
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — While running back Ricky Williams will miss the New Orleans Saints' third exhibition game on Saturday, coach Mike Ditka expects his only 1999 draft pick to be ready when the games start to count.
"Ricky is fine. He'll be ready for the season opener," Ditkas said as he left the Saints' practice field Tuesday night.
contrary to reports that circulated on Tuesday, the injury is not
Williams, for whom coach Ditka traded his entire draft and more in April, sprained his left ankle in the first exhibition game against Miami on Aug. 13. Trainer Dean Kleinschmidt said
"He had another medical evaluation by an
worse than
the team
thought.
LSU Medical Center orthopedist," Kleinschmidt said. "This exam confirmed the medical staff's original diagnosis of a left high ankle sprain. Surgery is not indicated. There is no fracture."
Reports that Williams would miss five weeks, however, are erroneous. Kleinschmidt said.
Williams, who wears a protective boot on the injured ankle, left camp, refusing to speak to reporters. He walked on the Stairmaster on both Monday and Tuesday after watching his teammates practice.
Williams will miss Saturday's home game against Green Bay. After that, his condition will be reassessed. The Saints play Sept. 2 against Tennessee before opening the regular season on Sept. 12 at home against Carolina.
Ditka also stormed off the practice field Tuesday, refusing to talk to reporters after Pro Bowl players Joe Johnson and William Roaf both went down with injuries.
Johnson is out for the season
after rupturing a tendon in his right knee during a line drill. His knee apparently collapsed without contact.
"Maybe he just stepped wrong," defensive end Jared Tomich said. "He just collapsed. It was a real fluke."
Johnson had just returned to practice on Monday after sitting out all of training camp because of a bulging disc in his lower spine.
Roaf, a five-time Pro Bowler, sprained his left knee and ankle when players landed on his leg in a pileup. He was helped off the field, and Kleinschmidt said later that he will miss the Green Bay exhibition game.
Jaguars fringe faces possible cuts
Chiefs game provides chance to make impact
The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—If the fringe players on the Jacksonville Jaguars haven't made an impact by now, it's probably too late. If they have, their preseason game tonight against the Kansas City Chiefs gives them a chance to make the team.
cuts, three Jaguars running backs — George Jones, Chris Howard and Stacey Mack are among the dozens of reserves and free agent rookies all around the league who are fighting long odds to make their team.
Or, more importantly, to avoid being released.
one tailback spot on the Jacksonville roster, behind Fred Taylor, Tavian Banks and the recuperating James Stewart.
In the final game before the first round of
Those three are presumably competing for
All have shown flashes through two-a-day practices and the first two processes.
has secured a job. They'll likely get three or four carries each, in a nationally televised game, to make an impression on their own coaches, or some others that might be tuned in
"I really don't have any way of evaluating it," said Jones, a third-year veteran who came to the Jaguars midway through last season. "I just worry about me. I make sure I give myself a chance. If it's not here, then maybe it will be somewhere else."
Howard also came to the Jaguars midway through last season. He didn't pile up big numbers, however, and knows the next game could be his last with the Jaguars.
Making things more difficult for the fringe guys is that this is the week teams try to give more time to their starters.
Penn State requests tough season opener
Associated Press
No. 10 Wisconsin at all.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—Penn State had plenty of reasons to turn down the offer to play in the Pisskin Classic.
So why risk it? Why sign up for a game against No. 4 Arizona?
The third-ranked Nittany Lions already face one tough non-conference opponent, No. 12 Miami in the Orange Bowl. Their Big Ten schedule, meanwhile, is geared for a title run: They meet both No. 8 Michigan and No. 9 Ohio State in Beaver Stadium, and they don't face
Simple. This Penn State team can win this game — and a lot more this year — and denials aside. Jatero knows it.
Penn State's coach insists that he didn't want to play it, that his team voted for the early test.
But he's been known to test his teams in these made-for-TV openers. The Lions were underdog winners against No. 7 Southern Cal in 1997, and they
beat Georgia Tech in 1991, the year after the Yellow Jackets finished No. 2. They once even took on a No. 1, Nebraska, although they were routed.
"In most cases, you feel like you've got a pretty good football team," Paterno said Tuesday. "This particular year, I think we're a good football team."
Then, dispelling any notion that he has abandoned his tradition of bad-mouthing his new team before the season, he added, "Whether we're as good
as people think we are, I doubt it."
But if the past is any measure, he won't regret the decision to play Arizona.
"Really, there are very few negatives," he said. "When you have a chance to prepare for a team as good as Arizona, you probably get a little more out of summer conditioning and preseason practice. Win or lose, you are probably a better football team when you start the next week."
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