4B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2006
Quigley
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Last season Cornish played a significant role on special teams, collecting nine tackles. Cornish said he would prefer to limit his special teams duties because he would like to be fresh at running
season.
"Jon's a valuable player for us, both on offense and on special teams," Mangino said.
back. But it remains to be seen how the coaching staff will use Cornish for special teams next season.
Four other running backs will join Cornish and Quigley in the
backfield next season, including Gary Green, who was injured this spring. Kansas signed three running backs as well — Jake Sharp, from Salina, D'Marcus Lang, from Scurry, Texas, and Donte Bean, from Rowlett, Texas.
— Edited by Kathryn Anderson
NFL
Potential stars overlooked by scouts
BY JEROME MINERVA
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Who says NFL scouts know everything?
They missed on Antonio Gates, now considered the best tight end in football.
They missed on Kurt Warner, who merely became a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and an MVP of the Super Bowl. And on Rod Smith, who's fourth on the career yards receiving list among active players.
allong derive players All those players didn't go in the first round of the draft. In fact, they didn't go in any rounds.
Despite all the poking and prodding at the NFL Combine each year, players deemed too small, too slow or too injured invariably go on to become stars in the NFL after being passed over by personnel directors and general managers.
So who will be this year's Priest Holmes? Dick Vermeil, for one, doesn't pretend to have the answer.
the answer.
"You'd like to believe that we're all smart enough to draft them anyway, but none of us are, obviously," the former Chiefs coach said.
Holmes went undrafted in 1997 after an injury-filled career at Texas, but latched on with the Ravens as a free agent. After showing a glimmer of his potential, he signed with the Chiefs in 2001. Holmes went on to rush for a league-record 27 touchdowns in 2003, a mark broken last season by NFL MVP Shaun Alexander.
Vermeil, who won a Super Bowl with the Rams in 1999,
said teams don't take it lightly when they miss on evaluating a player.
played.
"I think every time someone misses on somebody that glaringly, they go back and evaluate their reports, evaluate the scouts that wrote the reports. They deeply evaluate the whole situation better and see where they made a mistake, or if they did."
Vermeil told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
crysant. Warner may have the most improbable success story. Undrafted out of Northern Iowa, he played in the Arena Football League and then NFL Europe.
"Many times there's little, mitigating circumstances that just prevented ... you didn't think a guy would drop from a first-round pick (to) out of the draft. Maybe he drops to a sixth- or seventh-round pick. So, I think people do go and re-evaluate everything."
He finally got his shot in St. Louis when starting quarterback Trent Green went down with a knee injury in the 1999 preseason. Vermeil stuck Warner in the lineup, leading to a storybook career he's still writing in Arizona.
Warner was the league MVP in 1999 and 2001 and MVP of the 2000 Super Bowl, leading the Rams to a 23-16 victory over Tennessee. He also led St. Louis to the 2002 Super Bowl, where the Rams lost to New England 20-17.
Another two-time Super Bowl winner, Denver's Smith is the NFL's career leader in receptions (797), yards receiving (10,877) and touchdowns receiving (65) among undrafted players. At
just 6-foot, 200 pounds, he's the only undrafted player to eclipse 10,000 yards receiving. The rap against Smith? He played at that non-football factory, Missouri Southern.
Chargers GM A.J. Smith said sometimes it's just a matter of luck. He should know.
tuck. He died in San Diego was one of 19 teams vying for Gates, a college basketball standout for Kent State. Smith said the football gods were with him the day Gates' original agent, Eugene Parker, called him with the good news.
"You know, of all these 19 teams, we've decided that we're going to sign with you," Smith recalled Parker saying. "So, I've never stood at a podium and took credit for this. This is absolutely what you call luck. Period and simple. And sometimes it happens in this business. And the San Diego Chargers were very, very lucky."
Willie Parker will never forget the embarrassment of Senior Day at North Carolina in 2003. The Steelers' starting running back never set foot on the field for the Tar Heels that day against Duke, even with friends and family looking on.
Gates, an All-Pro, last season led NFL tight ends with 89 catches for 1,101 yards and 10 touchdowns.
For some teams, it's being in the right place at the right time.
As the story goes, Steelers scout Dan Rooney Jr. remembered Parker as a high school player in Clinton, N.C. He saw him at his pro workout day in Chapel Hill and lobbed the front office hard to sign him.
NFL suspends Williams
Fourth drug violation means no 2006 season
BY STEVEN WINE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
News that Williams had
Scott Audetty/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams was suspended for the 2006 season by the NFL on Tuesday for violating the league's substance abuse policy for the fourth time.
The 1998 Heisman Trophy winner at Texas and 2002 NFL rushing champion, Williams retired and sat out the 2004 season, then returned last year to play for new Miami coach Nick Saban.
Williams served a four-game suspension at the start of the 2005 season for his third violation of the drug program, then ran for 743 yards and averaged 4.4 yards a carry while sharing playing time with rookie Ronnie Brown.
fourth time.
The league announced the suspension after Williams' appeal of his latest positive drug test was denied. Williams met with NFL counsel Jeff Pash on April 10 in an attempt to have the league overturn the test.
"I'm disappointed with the decision, but I respect it," Williams said in a statement released by the team. "I'm proud of my association with the National Football League and look forward to returning to the Dolphins in 2007."
Williams had been participating in the offseason training program at the Dolphins' complex and was there working out shortly before the league announced its decision.
Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams pulls in a pass from quarterback Gus Frerotte during their 27-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this file photo in Tampa, Fla. Ricky Williams was suspended for the 2006 season by the NFL on Tuesday for violating the league's substance abuse policy for the fourth time.
Williams' previous positive tests were for marijuana, which he acknowledged using. The latest test apparently involved a drug other than marijuana.
failed another drug test surfaced in February, while he was in India studying yoga and holistic medicine.
histic medicine. Saban repeatedly has praised Williams' conduct and performance last season and supported him in the appeal process
"This is a league decision, and we are disappointed in what it means for Ricky and the team," Saban said in a statement. "Ricky did an outstanding job for the Dolphins, not only as a player but also what he added as a person to the team's chemistry and to our overall success."
overall success. Attorney David Cornwell represented Williams in his appeal.
resented with them. "We raised substantial and legitimate issues arising out of the application of the NFL's policy and program for substances of abuse," Cornwell said in a statement. He urged the players' union and ownership to "review the issues we raised on the appeal ... and restore the original intention of the NFL's policy to put equal focus on helping NFL players as is put on testing and suspending them."
The suspension represents a financial blow for Williams, who owes the Dolphins $8.6 million for breaching his contract when he retired in 2004. His return last season was motivated partly by the need for a paycheck, and that may be a motivation for him to return in 2007.
It's possible the suspension could mean the end of the mercurial running back's career.
If he does try to return next year,he'll be 30 years old and will have played a total of 12 games in the previous three seasons.
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