Heisman winner Rodgers in ICU with COVID

Johnny Rodgers, the 1972 Heisman Trophy winner and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, was in an Omaha hospital intensive care unit Monday with COVID-19.

Rodgers’ business partner, Denny Drake, said the Cornhuskers’ football great was hospitalized Thanksgiving morning with the virus at Nebraska Medical Center, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Rodgers also developed pneumonia but seemed to improve after a few days in the hospital, Drake said. However, he took a turn for the worse last week and was placed in the ICU.

Rodgers, 70, has since improved and is “feeling much better,” Drake said.

“He was pretty weak until late yesterday,” Drake told the World-Herald on Sunday. “He called me this morning, and his voice sounded good.”

Rodgers did not immediately return a text message left Monday by The Associated Press.

CRISTOBAL TO MIAMI

Mario Cristobal is going home again. Cristobal is leaving Oregon and returning to Miami, accepting an offer to become head coach at his alma mater, where he won two national championships as a player. He let the Ducks know of the decision Monday, his team meeting in Oregon nearly simultaneous with Miami announcing the firing of coach Manny Diaz after three seasons.

“My family and I are excited to return home to the University of Miami,” Cristobal said.

Cristobal and Miami were finalizing terms on a 10-year, $80 million deal, by far the richest the Hurricanes ever have given a coach. Diaz was making around $4 million annually. The university has said it plans to give athletics an influx of cash, in part because the school’s hospital system has seen profits skyrocket during the pandemic.

BROWNS CHAMP GLASS DIES

Bill Glass, a four-time Pro Bowl defensive end with Cleveland and member of the Browns’ 1964 NFL championship team, has died. He was 86.

The Browns said Glass died Sunday night surrounded by family at his home in Waxahachie, Texas. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Glass spent seven seasons with the Browns, who acquired him from the Lions as part of the trade involving quarterback

Milt Plum.

An All-American offensive guard at Baylor, Glass switched to defense when he began his pro career in 1957 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian

Football League. A year later he joined the Lions, who had drafted him with the No. 12 overall pick.

Glass spent four seasons with Detroit before going to Cleveland, where he became a star. He was credited with 16 ½ sacks in 1965, back when they were not recognized as an official stat by the league.

Glass finished with 87 ½ sacks, getting 77 ½ in his seven seasons with the Browns. He retired after the 1968 season and was inducted into the Browns Legends program in 2007.

After he retired, Glass, who was born in Texarkana, Texas, started his own ministry, Bill Glass Behind the Walls, working extensively with helping reform prisoners.

MLB MEDIATOR MOFFETT DIES

Kenneth Moffett, the federal mediator during the 1981 baseball strike who briefly succeeded Marvin Miller as the second head of the players’ association, has died. He was 90.

Moffett died Nov. 19 at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, said his wife.