Louisville’s Jackson to enter NFL draft

Lamar Jackson is leaving Louisville to enter the NFL draft, one season after becoming the youngest Heisman Trophy winner. The 20-year-old junior quarterback tweeted Friday he talked with his family before announcing the decision, which was confirmed by the school. His decision was somewhat expected after he compiled some statistics that were better than those from his Heisman-winning numbers as a sophomore. He finished third in this season’s vote. Jackson thanked Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino, teammates and fans on Twitter. “It has been nothing short of an honor to be a member of #Cards Nation and to play for this university.” Jackson, 6 feet 3 and 212 pounds, is a dynamic player but it’s uncertain how high he’ll be drafted this spring. Despite accounting for 5,261 offensive yards and45 touchdowns — his second consecutive season in which he surpassed 1,500 yards rushing and 3,500 passing — questions remain about his accuracy and size. The native of Pompano Beach, Fla., led the Cardinals to three consecutive bowl games, though they lost their past two. Jackson totaled 329 yards and three touchdowns in last week’s Tax Slayer Bowl but also threw four interceptions in Louisville’s 31- 27 loss to No. 24 Mississippi State. South Carolina: Coach Will Muschamp has promoted Bryan McClendon to offensive coordinator. McClendon played at Mays High School and was a wide receiver at Georgia. He joined Georgia’s coaching staff in 2007 as a graduate assistant and led the team as the interim head coach in the 2015 Tax Slayer Bowl after Mark Richt was fired. “In his two years here at South Carolina, he’s been outstanding,” Muschamp said of the 34-year- old McClendon. “You see the rapport he has with our staff, with our players, how he positively affects everybody in our entire organization.” McClendon will remain in charge of wide receivers. Missouri: Dallas Cowboys wide receivers coach Derek Dooley joined Missouri coach Barry Odom’s staff Friday as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Dooley replaces Josh Heupel, who left last month to become Central Florida’s coach. Dooley, the49-year-oldson of former Georgia coaching great Vince Dooley, spent the past five seasons with the Cowboys after going 15-21 in three seasons as Tennessee’s coach. He was 17-20 as coach at Louisiana Tech from 2007-09. Dooley served on Nick Saban’s staffs with LSU and the Miami Dolphins. Dooley played at Virginia and earned a law degree from the University of Georgia in 1994. Florida: Coach Dan Mullen announced Friday that Christian Robinson has joined the Gators after one season at Mississippi State. Robinson, a former Georgia linebacker, previously spent two years (2015-16) as a defensive graduate assistant at Mississippi. During his time with Rebels, he worked primarily with the defensive line. Robinson began his coaching career at his alma mater in 2013 as a graduate assistant and quality control assistant. A Norcross native, Robinson started 17 of 51 games as a linebacker with the Bulldogs (2009-12) and finished with 159 tackles and 4½ sacks. Clemson: Former all SEC linebacker Lemanski Hall — and one-time teammate of coach Dabo Swinney— has been named Clemson’s 10th full-time assistant coach. Hall, who spent the past three seasons as a defensive analyst for the Tigers, will coach defensive ends and give Clemson five assistant coaches on offense and defense heading into the 2018 season. Hall was starting linebacker for Alabama in 1992 when it won the national championship. Swinney was a receiver on that squad. Southern California: Tailback Ronald Jones II will skip his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Jones finished his career fifth in school history with 3,619 yards while averaging 6.1 yards per carry. Notre Dame : Running back Josh Adams has declared for the NFL draft. Adams finished 19th in the nation with 110rushing yards per game and led the nation with seven runs of 60-plus yards.