Memphis to play game despite killing

After a day of mourning the death of teammate Taylor Bradford, the Memphis Tigers will take on Marshall as planned tonight.

“There’s going to be a 3 1/2 -hour block where we have to have our minds on business, as hard as it is,” Memphis Coach Tommy West said.

Bradford, a 21-year-old defensive lineman, was shot to death Sunday night, about three hours after Memphis finished practice. West met with Athletic Director R.C. Johnson before letting the team vote Monday morning on whether to play the scheduled home game.

The decision was unanimous.

“I think we’ve got to do a good job with them,” West said “They know that they made that decision. Can we do that? We’ll see. I don’t know.”

The university is providing counselors for the Tigers, who stayed together Monday night. West said the players asked to be left alone to grieve for Bradford, who was popular with teammates and fellow students.

Classes at Memphis were canceled Monday after the shooting, which school officials said was a targeted attack but city police later said could have been random.

By late Monday afternoon police had not identified any suspects. Bradford was shot about 9:45 p.m. Sunday, apparently near a university housing complex.

After the shooting, the 21-year-old junior crashed a car he was driving into a tree. Police said they had not determined whether he was shot before or after he started driving the vehicle.

The Big Ten may take up to three weeks to decide whether to discipline Michigan for using an ineligible player.

Athletic Director Bill Martin said he didn’t know whether penalties, if any, might include forfeiture of the Wolverines’ 14-9 victory over then-No. 10 Penn State on Sept. 22. It was one of three games in which freshman safety Artis Chambers played this season.

Martin said Saturday that the university immediately contacted the Big Ten after learning that Chambers was ineligible under the conference’s freshman rules.

Chambers, who enrolled at Michigan in January, cannot play the remainder of the season and did not travel with the team for Saturday’s game at Northwestern.

Martin and athletic department spokesman Bruce Madej said Monday that they could not talk about Chambers’ case because of privacy laws.

Martin acknowledged Saturday that the university had misinterpreted Big Ten freshman eligibility rules.

Florida will be without offensive tackle Phil Trautwein (foot) and freshman running back Chris Rainey (shoulder) for the rest of the season. . . . Texas quarterback Colt McCoy will play against Oklahoma this week despite showing signs of a concussion and being taken out of the game Saturday against Kansas State, which the Longhorns lost, 41-21.