Carter Starts NFL Career Ahead $7.125 Million With Record Bonus

Running back Ki-Jana Carter, the No. 1 choice in the NFL draft, will receive a $7.125-million signing bonus, biggest ever for a rookie, after agreeing Wednesday to a seven-year, $19.2-million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.

The contract includes three “voidable years” that could reduce it to a four-year deal, leaving Carter, who went to Penn State, a potential free agent in 1999.

Carter’s contract is somewhat smaller than that given quarterback Kerry Collins by the Carolina Panthers--$23.2 million over seven years--but has a higher signing bonus that Collins’ $7 million.

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Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones has offered to let free agent Deion Sanders play wide receiver as well as cornerback in his bid to sign the two-sport star. . . . Sophomore tailback Travis Cozart has been kicked off the Tennessee team for failure to maintain grades, involvement in a telephone fraud scandal and for a brush with the law. . . . The NCAA restored the eligibility of West Virginia defensive lineman John Browning, who had signed with an agent last spring to try the NFL draft. . . . Maryland quarterback Scott Milanovich will stay for his senior year rather than try the NFL supplemental draft, despite a four-game NCAA suspension for gambling on college games. . . . Felicia Moon, wife of Minnesota Viking quarterback Warren Moon, said she will not press charges, though she fled her Missouri City, Tex., home Tuesday and told authorities her husband struck and choked her.

Jurisprudence

In a lawsuit filed in Phoenix, the parents of Althea Hayes say Sun forward Jerrod Mustaf and his cousin, LeVonnie Wooten, plotted their daughter’s death. Hayes was shot in the head July 22, 1993. Wooten is in jail, charged with murder. Mustaf is not charged.

Basketball

Sacramento King first-round draft pick Corliss Williamson underwent surgery in Little Rock, Ark., to remove a herniated disk and is expected to be ready for basketball in about three months.

The New York Knicks have raised the price of the approximately 60 courtside tickets at Madison Square Garden from $500 to $1,000 a game.

Drake University drew one year of probation and a reprimand from the NCAA for rules violations in recruiting prospective transfer Stevie Johnson, from California.

The United States shot 32% in the second half and lost to Croatia, 82-65, in the quarterfinals of the Junior World Basketball Championship in Athens.

Olympics

The concrete-slab foundation of the Olympic dormitories in Atlanta was a poor choice because it was laid over weak soil, and that is to blame for one building sinking nine inches, another six inches, Georgia’s engineering consultant, Jim Niehoff, said.

The U.S. Olympic Festival equestrian competition at Denver was canceled because of concerns about an outbreak of a viral equine disease.

Tennis

Olivier Delaitre, Richey Reneberg and Aaron Krickstein were among five seeded players to lose at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. Delaitre, seeded No. 7, lost, 6-3, 6-2, to Mark Philippoussis; No. 8 Reneberg lost to Grant Stafford, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; and No. 9 Krickstein lost, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, to Mauricio Hadad.

Names in the News

Five Mighty Duck players filed for salary arbitration: goaltender Guy Hebert, defenseman Bobby Dollas, forwards Bob Corkum and Todd Krygier and backup goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov. . . . Former Detroit Tiger catcher Bill Freehan resigned as Michigan’s baseball coach after six years.