SPORTS BRIEFS: Jameis Winston to start at QB for Tampa Bay

Winston named Bucs starting quarterback

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith named Jameis Winston as the team’s starting quarterback on Friday

Winston, the first overall pick in this year’s draft, will work with the first team when the Bucs begin training camp Saturday.

“Jameis Winston will be our starting quarterback,” Smith told reporters Friday. “He’ll take first reps tomorrow. We’re excited about that.”

Winston got some first-team work during the offseason workouts and third-year pro Mike Glennon often worked with the starters.

“I would never put a guy in that position if he wasn’t ready for that,” Smith said of Winston. “A lot has been said about Jameis and mentors. Jameis doesn’t need a mentor. Jameis is ready to take the reins and go with it.”

Winston was one of the most polarizing players in the draft because of his off-field issues at Florida State: stealing soda at Burger King, participating in a BB gun fight in which Seminoles players shot out more than $4,000 worth of windows, shoplifting crab legs at Publix, getting suspended for a game after standing on a table at the student union and shouting a vulgar phrase, being sued over a sexual assault allegation and countersuing for defamation.

With his performance with the Bucs so far, Winston is minimizing doubts about his ability to make the transition to the pro game at 21 years old. He has picked up the offense quickly.

NFL, union ask judge to decide on Brady suspension by Sept. 4

The National Football League and its players union asked a U.S. judge on Friday to decide whether to uphold New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension in the “Deflategate” case by Sept. 4, before the season begins.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in New York, who is overseeing litigation over the suspension, on Thursday urged the two sides to discuss a resolution and to cool down their rhetoric.

Friday’s move was a surprise since the union, on behalf of Brady, had been expected to request an injunction to delay the suspension until Berman could render a resolution.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Brady for the first four games of the season for his alleged role in a scheme to deflate the footballs in the AFC title game in January.

New England’s 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts enabled the Patriots to advance to the Super Bowl, where they defeated the defending champion Seattle Seahawks 28-24 to earn a championship many now view as tainted.

A football inflated below league standards can make it easier to grip for a quarterback.

The request by the NFL and the union asks for motions in the case to be filed by Aug. 7 and replied to by Aug. 14, with the oral arguments and decision to follow shortly thereafter.

The NFL and the union declined to comment on the request.

NCAA awarded stay in O’Bannon payment case

The plan for the NCAA to compensate athletes as much as $5,000 a year is on hold after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay Friday in the court case.

Part of last summer’s O’Bannon ruling against the NCAA stated players could begin receiving compensation for their names and likeness. Athletes could be seeing that money soon.

Last August, a U.S. District Court judge ruled against the NCAA in the Ed O’Bannon case, contending that the NCAA broke anti-trust laws and that some college football and men’s basketball players were entitled to compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ruled schools could start offering those athletes as much as $5,000 annually in deferred compensation. The money would be put in trust, and athletes would not be eligible to receive it until they left school. That ruling was to go into effect on Saturday, although no athletes would be eligible for compensation until the 2016-17 academic year.

The NCAA appealed Wilken’s order, and the stay came Friday in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court heard the NCAA’s appeal in March, but has not ruled on the actual appeal.

“We are pleased that the Ninth Circuit today granted the NCAA’s motion for stay. As a result, the NCAA will not be implementing any changes to its rules in response to the district court’s injunction at this time. We continue to await the Ninth Circuit’s final ruling,” NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said in a statement.