Colleges

Fulmer to risk trip to Alabama

By Times wire
Published July 26, 2005

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer will travel to Alabama for this week's Southeastern Conference media days with no worries, a year after not attending in person because of what he called a "legal circus."

Conference officials said they have not planned additional security measures for the event but had a "heightened awareness" because of Fulmer's continuing legal dealings with attorneys who say he conspired with the NCAA to bring down the Crimson Tide football program.

"I am looking forward to going to SEC media days," Fulmer said Monday. "I don't have any concerns."

Fulmer has been the target of attorneys representing former Alabama assistant coaches Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams because he spoke to NCAA investigators about possible recruiting violations in 2000. Alabama was placed on five years' probation in 2002.

BULLS FRESHMAN TO REPORT: Jerome Murphy, a freshman defensive back from Elizabeth, N.J., will report to USF next month as planned. Coach Jim Leavitt said last week that Murphy would wait until January to begin classes because of a broken leg, but USF trainers evaluated Murphy last week and were satisfied with his recovery.

The Bulls are expected to add a scholarship player in Gibbs graduate Paul Uhatafe, whose brother Siaosi is a sophomore fullback at USF. Paul, a 6-foot-2, 290-pound guard who earned second-team Times All-Suncoast honors as a defensive tackle last fall, has earned the necessary entrance exam scores and is awaiting approval from the NCAA clearinghouse.

Uhatafe is recovering from surgery in February to repair a torn knee ligament. His father, Navi, said if he doesn't report with the freshmen next month, he'll start at USF in January.

Offensive lineman Kane Hannaford (Kentucky) and defensive back Robert Flagg (Michigan State), who said in the spring they were transferring to USF, will not be part of the roster, Leavitt said.

ASU SHOOTING: A university investigation into events before the killing of a former Arizona State player found "errors in judgment" by coach Dirk Koetter and then-athletic director Gene Smith but no violations of university policies or procedures.

The committee, headed by law professor Myles Lynk, also concluded in a report that no faculty or staff members had any cause to believe Loren Wade, then an ASU player and now charged with the killing, was capable of shooting a person.

Wade was a sophomore running back when former player Brandon Falkner was shot to death outside a Scottsdale nightclub March 26. Wade is awaiting trial for first-degree murder.

BUCKEYE CLEARED: Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith did not break NCAA rules when he missed a class to attend a football camp in Nashville sponsored by Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair this summer, the school said.

NEW POLL: A dozen retired coaches, many of them Hall of Famers, have agreed to take part in a poll that the organizer hopes to unveil in late September. Ideally, the Master Coaches Survey will have 15 or 16 voters who will be provided game films of the top teams, said Andy Curtin, an Atlanta lawyer and former sports agent. The poll is not part of the Bowl Championship Series.

--Times staff writer Greg Auman contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 26, 2005, 01:17:10]