BYU’s Staley Leaves Early for NFL Draft

Brigham Young running back Luke Staley will skip his senior year and make himself eligible for the 2002 NFL draft.

“I feel it is time for me to take my skills to the next level and achieve some additional goals I have established for myself,” Staley said Wednesday.

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Staley ran for a school-record 1,582 yards despite sitting out two games this season. His 28 touchdowns set another BYU record and led the nation.

Staley was a first-team All-American selection and won the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation’s top running back.

Because of ankle surgery, Staley won’t play in Monday’s Liberty Bowl against Louisville and won’t be able to work out for scouts at the NFL combine in Indianapolis in late February.

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Brian Scott, South Carolina’s top receiver, strained his left knee and is doubtful for the Outback Bowl against Ohio State on Jan. 1.

Scott has 40 catches for 647 yards and four touchdowns and was the team’s MVP this season.

“Brian Scott could be out and that would be a big loss,” Coach Lou Holtz said. “That would mean that not only would we be without our top defensive player [Kalimba Edwards], we could be out with our team’s MVP.”

Kentucky, which admitted to more than three dozen NCAA violations from 1998 to 2000, probably won’t find out until next month what penalties will be imposed on the school’s football program.

Athletic Director Larry Ivy said the school had hoped to hear from the NCAA’s committee on infractions by Dec. 25, but now hopes to find out before Feb. 6, the national letter of intent signing date.

A likely reason for the delay is that two weeks after Kentucky’s Nov. 16 hearing, the infractions committee asked the school to submit a report outlining why the committee should not add a charge of lack of institutional control.

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Oregon arrived in Phoenix for Tuesday’s Fiesta Bowl, the anger at not being chosen for the national championship game waning a bit as it contemplated the possibility it still could earn half the title.

“I’m not as angry as I was,” said Duck Coach Mike Bellotti, adding that he remains miffed that his team could be ranked No. 2 in both major polls and not play in the bowl championship series national title game.

The day the Miami-Nebraska championship matchup was announced, Bellotti likened the BCS to “a cancer.”

He said that while he has cooled off, his feelings haven’t changed.

“I understand it’s a system that is trying to accommodate all and probably can’t really accommodate any,” Bellotti said. “I do think now that I’m much more in favor of a playoff system of some type.”

Bellotti said the chance to meet No. 3 Colorado in a game that could result in a split national title makes it easier for his players to shake off some of the disappointment of not going to the Rose Bowl.

“That disappointment probably will live with them the rest of their lives, to be honest with you,” Bellotti said.