THE HOT CORNER

1 MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts said suspended forward D.J. Funderburk is now allowed to practice with the team but won’t play in the season opener vs. Georgia Tech tonight. Keatts suspended Funderburk in late September for violating team policy, and later said Funderburk had “benchmarks” to meet in order to work his way back to the team. Keatts said he’s allowed Funderburk to practice in recent days because he is “starting to move toward the things that I’ve asked him to do,” but there’s still no timeline for Funderburk to be cleared to play. The redshirt junior is the team’s top big man after averaging 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds last year as a reserve.

2 PRO FOOTBALL: Le’Veon Bell had an MRI on one of his knees and the New York Jets are awaiting results to see if the star running back will need to miss any time.

3 COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Purdue QB Jack Plummer is expected to miss the rest of this season with a broken right ankle and openingday starter Elijah Sindelar is unlikely to return because of a broken collarbone, leaving former walk-on Aidan O’Connell to try to keep long-shot bowl hopes alive.

4 COLLEGE FOOTBALL: The celebratory hit Miami safety Bubba Bolden took during a win over Florida State was costly. He’ll miss the rest of the season with an injury that happened shortly after he made a third-quarter interception of a deflected pass in the 27-10 win at Florida State. Bolden caught the pass thrown by Florida State’s Alex Hornibrook, got up and sprinted a few yards. Then teammate Gurvan Hall leaped and crashed into Bolden — who landed awkwardly and sustained what appeared to be an ankle injury.

5 PRO BASEBALL: The Phillies declined club options on LHP Jason Vargas and RHPs Jared Hughes and Pat Neshek.