Seminoles’ Booker Plans to Redshirt

Former Ventura St. Bonaventure High running back Lorenzo Booker, arguably the nation’s most-coveted recruit last year, will be redshirted by Florida State, Coach Bobby Bowden said Wednesday.

“I talked to him today and he’s smart enough, feels like it’s best,” Bowden said.

Booker is listed behind Greg Jones, Nick Maddox and Willie Reid on the Seminoles’ depth chart. If any of those players gets injured for an extended period, Bowden said he would change his mind.

“If they go down, I’m going to have to get out of my redshirt,” Booker said. “Which, if it happens late in the season is really an inconvenience to me, but we’re all out here for the same goal so I’ve got to take that into consideration.”

Booker holds California records for yards rushing (8,502) and touchdowns (137) in a career.

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ESPN has stopped a commercial that angered some Tennessee fans.

The commercial showed Lee Corso, one of the “College GameDay” analysts, waiting for an elevator. The doors open and the elevator is filled with orange-clad Volunteer fans. A pig runs out and an overweight woman holding another pig and wearing a shower cap and robe yells, “Come here, Rocky Top!”

An elderly man wearing shorts and hooked up to an IV bottle is shown with a couple kissing in the back of the elevator. A sign mentioning Tennessee alumni is also visible.

The Tennessee football office said it was swamped with calls from fans upset about the commercial.

Relations between ESPN and the school have been strained since 1997 when fans accused ESPN of campaigning for Michigan’s Charles Woodson over Tennessee’s Peyton Manning in the voting for the 1997 Heisman Trophy.

The Nashville Tennessean reported that the outrage turned nasty at times and that Chris Fowler, the host of GameDay, described the reaction of Volunteer fans on a national radio show as “trailer park frenzy.” He later apologized.

In 1999, an ESPN.com report alleged academic improprieties within the football program.

The GameDay crew is scheduled to air its show from the Knoxville campus on Sept. 21, when the Volunteers play Florida, and Nov. 9, when Tennessee plays host to Miami.

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The Blue-Gray Classic, a college all-star game since 1939, won’t be played this year because organizers could not line up a corporate sponsor.

“I’m sick,” Charles Jones, the game’s executive director, told the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

Jones said he couldn’t meet a deadline imposed by ABC, which televises the Christmas Day game, to find a sponsor.

Longtime sponsor Kelly Tires was absorbed by parent company Goodyear Tires and did not renew its sponsorship after the 2000 game,

Last year, Jones made up some of the difference by lining up 10 secondary sponsors. But he said the terrorist attacks caused several potential title sponsors to back off from the annual expense.

Jones is hopeful of resurrecting the event after a one-year hiatus.

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A decision by Washington State officials to play Saturday’s season opener against Nevada in Seahawks Stadium in Seattle apparently has paid off.

Although the venue is 300 miles west of Pullman, Wash., site of the campus, the Seattle Times reports that 61,800 tickets had been sold in the 67,000-seat stadium and there is a good chance the game will be sold out.

The biggest crowd to watch a Cougar “home” game came in 1997 when 40,306 saw Washington State defeat Stanford in Pullman.

Athletic Director Jim Sterk pushed for the game in the new home of the NFL’s Seahawks to help bring exposure to the program and to keep in touch with alumni in Western Washington.

Although Coach Mike Price was initially opposed to the idea, he appears to have softened his stance after learning that many of the state’s top prep prospects are expected to be in attendance.

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San Jose State’s Neil Parry, who had part of his right leg amputated two years ago, may not be able to resume his playing career because of insurance concerns, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Parry suffered compound fractures to his tibia and fibula in a game against Texas El Paso on Oct. 14, 2000, and was told that his lifetime coverage for his prosthesis would be canceled if he were to play. Parry is expected to need a new $15,000 leg every two years for at least the next decade.... Starting this season, bowl games will count toward players’ statistics in the national record books, according to the NCAA. The governing body started keeping statistics in 1937 when there were few bowl games.