Former Vols star Barnett has deal
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles and first-round pick Derek Barnett have agreed on a fouryear contract. Barnett was drafted 14th overall after the defensive end broke Hall of Famer and Chattanooga native
Reggie White’s school record with 32 sacks in three seasons at Tennessee. All of Philadelphia’s draft picks are now signed. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Barnett upgrades a pass rush that didn’t have a player register more than Fletcher Cox’s 6 1/2 sacks in 2016. He already has impressed defensive coordinator
Jim Schwartz in offseason practices. “He’s really tough,” Schwartz said. “He’s got a great center of balance. He’s not on the ground very much. … He’s good against the run and good against the pass — played right and played left. All those things led us to draft him.”
› FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New York Jets were busy Thursday. After completing a morning trade that sent safety Calvin Pryor to Cleveland for linebacker
Demario Davis, later in the day they signed former Pittsburgh safety Shamarko Thomas and waived linebacker
Jevaris Jones. Davis, 28, is with the Jets for the second time after a previous four-year stint in which he started 51 games. He signed a twoyear, $8 million contract with Cleveland as an unrestricted free agent before the 2016 season, when he made 15 starts and finished second on the team with 99 tackles and two sacks. Pryor is a former first-round pick from Louisville who made 38 starts for the Jets over three seasons, recording 184 tackles and two interceptions. He made 15 starts last season and finished with 60 tackles.
› IRVING, Texas — Longtime Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and former Texas coach Mack Brown, along with former players Calvin Johnson, Ed Reed and
Charles Woodson are among those making their first appearance on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot this year. The newest Hall of Fame class will be announced Jan. 8 in Atlanta. The ballot released Thursday by the National Football Foundation includes 75 players and six coaches who competed in NCAA Division I’s Football Bowl Subdivision. An additional 98 players and 31 coaches from lower divisions and the NAIA also are up for consideration. Beamer coached Virginia Tech from 1987 to 2015 and won 238 games, while Brown won 158 games in 15 seasons with Texas, including a national title in 2005. Johnson was an All-America receiver for Georgia Tech, Reed was a star safety on Miami’s 2001 national championship team and Woodson played defensive back and returned punts for Michigan, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1997.
BASEBALL
› TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama has hired longtime Southeastern Conference baseball assistant Brad Bohannon as its head coach, Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne announced Thursday. Bohannon replaces Greg Goff, who was fired last week after winning just five SEC games in his first season. Bohannon was an assistant at Kentucky from 2004 to ’15 and at Auburn the past two seasons. He was responsible for signing 13 Kentucky players who went on to professional baseball, including 2014 Golden Spikes Award winner A.J. Reed, and his first recruiting class at Auburn was ranked No. 9 by Collegiate Baseball. Bohannon said his “goal is to make the University of Alabama the best baseball experience in the country.”
› MIAMI — A sports merchandise company erroneously sent promotional emails celebrating teams clinching spots in the College World Series on Thursday, even though the NCAA baseball postseason is just beginning. Fanatics, based in Jacksonville, Fla., sent the emails with subject lines like “Tar Heels are going to Omaha!,” a nod to the site of the eight-team CWS. The company did not immediately provide a reason for the mistake but said it was quickly corrected.