“Last time I talked to him, he was trying to get into Howard,” Tuberville told reporters.

Gonzalez, a 6-foot-7, 292-pound sophomore from Miami was ranked the No. 60 offensive tackle in the nation as a prep senior in 2005. Gonzalez played in two games last season but appeared in none this year.

Barnes, of Lincoln High School in Tallahasee, Fla., signed with Tennessee out of high school but failed to qualify. Barnes was ranked the No. 25 safety prospect in the country.

Barnes is not eligible to travel with the team to Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A Bowl, but he will begin practicing with the team in the spring as a true freshman.

Gray, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound defensive end from Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Mississippi, will not be available for spring practice because he is recovering from knee surgery.

Ross Dellenger,
Daily sports writer

Alabama

TUSCALOOSA — Alabama receiver Nikita Stover has one more year of eligibility left, but he isn’t sure what he will do academically next season.

After all, he already has his undergraduate degree — he was one of six Alabama football players who graduated Saturday.

Stover said that now he might get his master’s degree in business.

“I’m happy just knowing if football doesn’t work out, I have something to work toward,” Stover said. “I felt like I achieved everything I wanted to. The hard work is paying off, and I proved doubters wrong.”

When Stover graduated from Hartselle High in 2004, he didn’t meet NCAA academic qualifications. So he enrolled at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College and, two years later, transferred to Alabama with three years of eligibility remaining.

“There were people who after I didn’t make it (to Alabama) were like, ‘Oh, he is going to junior college and will be like everybody else and not make it back to Alabama or whatever college they go to,’ ” Stover said.

Rivals.com ranks Jackson as a three-star recruit, and Scout.com has him with four stars and as the 39th-rated receiver in the country. Jackson said that he intends to enroll in Alabama in January.

He originally committed to Georgia Tech but changed after the Yellow Jackets fired head coach Chan Gailey and hired Paul Johnson to replace him.

Josh Cooper,
Daily Sports Writer

New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Star New Mexico running back Rodney Ferguson won’t play in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday after being declared academically ineligible.

Reserve running back Mike Love also is ineligible and cannot play when the Lobos (8-4) meet Nevada (6-6).

Ferguson, a junior, was the team’s top rusher the past two seasons. He ran for 1,177 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns this season. Last year, he led the conference with 1,234 yards rushing.

Paul Baker will start at tailback. The junior has 324 yards rushing this season, with a career-high 54 yards in a season-opening loss at UTEP.

Middle Tennessee State

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State offensive tackle Franklin Dunbar has announced he will skip his senior year to enter the NFL draft, and redshirt freshman quarterback Salin Simpson is transferring.

Blue Raiders coach Rick Stockstill says Dunbar is entering April’s draft because his family is having financial problems.

A two-time All-Sun Belt selection, Dunbar was arguably the best player for the Blue Raiders this season. He has started a team-high 30 consecutive games.

Stockstill says Simpson is transferring for more playing time.

A redshirt freshman, Simpson was fourth-string quarterback by season’s end. He played in only one game.

Tennessee

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said Tuesday that he has yet to meet with wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor to discuss his future with the team.

Taylor, now in his fourth year as an assistant for the Volunteers, has interviewed for the offensive coordinator position at his alma mater, Baylor. He also could be a candidate to replace Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who was introduced as head coach at Duke on Saturday.

Tennessee receiver Austin Rogers said Monday that Taylor had told players he had been offered the job at Baylor on Sunday and planned to talk Monday night with Fulmer before reaching a decision, but Fulmer disputed that claim.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Fulmer said, adding that he planned to meet with Taylor at some point.

Central Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. — Kevin Smith’s sensational junior season at Central Florida won’t be his last.

The All-American, who’s closing in on Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record, said Tuesday he will return for his senior year.

“I have a lot of things that I want to work on, for me,” Smith said. “I think before I enter a business where you’re discussing money and your life’s going to change, I want to be bigger, faster, stronger. I want to be at the top of my athletic ability before I go on to a field like that.”

Smith has run for 2,448 yards, 180 short of the NCAA record Sanders set in 1989. Smith has a chance to catch Sanders in the Liberty Bowl against Mississippi State on Dec. 28.

UCF coach George O’Leary, a former NFL defensive coordinator, vowed to work his old pro contacts for a realistic look at where Smith would go. Smith promised to rely heavily on his advice, and apparently did. Despite some predictions Smith could be selected in the first round, O’Leary said low-second to fourth round was more realistic.

Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Bobby Petrino will retain at least one member of Arkansas’ current coaching staff.

Tim Horton will remain with the Razorbacks, Petrino said Tuesday. Horton is currently Arkansas’ running backs coach. It’s not clear what role he’ll fill under Petrino, who was hired as the Razorbacks’ head coach last week.

“It’s just the right thing to do. It’s the right fit,” Petrino said. “He’s a guy that should be coaching and working here at the university and he’s going to be a major asset to our football program.”

West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia defended itself Tuesday against complaints from wealthy football boosters who are furious about the administration’s failure to offer coach Rich Rodriguez a deal to remain with the Mountaineers.

Attorney Stephen Goodwin, chairman of WVU’s Board of Governors, said that while the administration appreciates the generosity of its donors, it cannot let them decide how the school’s affairs are run.

“At the end of the day, the university is governed by its board and its president, and the people they appoint to positions of responsibility,” he said. “Making donations to a public university does not entitle anyone to dictate policy or personnel.”

The Board of Governors has confidence in how president Mike Garrison and athletic director Ed Pastilong handled the negotiations, Goodwin said.

“WVU went to the ends of the earth to keep the coach here, and clearly, some of our major donors assisted the school in that effort,” Goodwin said. “... But he clearly was looking for an excuse to leave.”

Rodriguez took the job as Michigan coach on Sunday after seven seasons in Morgantown, where he led West Virginia to four Big East championships and a 60-26 record.

The university also announced Tuesday that associate head coach Bill Stewart has been placed in charge of practices as the team prepares for the Fiesta Bowl and the administration starts looking for someone to replace Rodriguez.

AP player of year

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — At Southeastern Conference media days in July, Florida coach Urban Meyer joked about all the questions surrounding quarterback Tim Tebow.

“We’re going to run the ball every play this year,” Meyer said.

“Tim can’t throw. Yeah, tell all the other teams in the league that, too.”

Five months later, Tebow has proved to be much more than passable as a passer. He’s become the best player in college football.

The Florida star won AP Player of the Year honors Tuesday in a vote that was similar to the one that made him the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy.

“That’s cool,” Tebow said Tuesday. “Again, it’s a huge honor. It’s a cool thing. Any time you’re honored for an individual award, it goes back to the team. Without those guys and their support, you can’t accomplish something like that on your own.”

Tebow received 31 of a possible 58 votes from AP poll voters. Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, the Heisman runner-up, received 19 votes, and Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan was third with four votes.

The Associated Press

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