Former Brown Rucker to have pension garnished

Former Browns wide receiver Reggie Rucker will have nearly $400 a month garnished from his NFL pension payments after stealing from his nonviolence nonprofit groups.

Rucker was sentenced last year to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $110,000 for using money from two charities to pay gambling debts and personal expenses. The garnishments recently approved by a judge are Rucker’s first meaningful payments to the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance and other groups.

His attorney has said the 69-year-old intends to pay restitution using money he might get from a class-action settlement between the NFL and athletes who suffered concussions. That claims process might take years.

His attorney blamed Rucker’s actions on a gambling addiction caused by football-related brain injuries. Prosecutors scoffed at that argument.

ZIMMER RETURNS TO VIKINGS » Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says he did not initially give the proper amount of care to a detached retina in his right eye that caused him to miss a game last season.

Zimmer returned to the Vikings this week after a leave of absence to allow a right eye that has needed eight surgeries to rest and recover. Zimmer says that after doing some research on the condition since the season ended, he has come to the realization he “probably needed to take it a little bit more serious than I did.”

Zimmer tried to coach through the issues when they first surfaced last season.

He says he met with doctors this week and continues to be optimistic that he is close to a resolution.

College football

AL PACINO TO PLAY JOE PATERNO IN HBO MOVIE » Al Pacino will star as late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in an upcoming HBO biopic directed by Barry Levinson.

HBO says the film will focus on Paterno dealing with the fallout from the child sex abuse scandal involving his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. The all-time winningest coach in major college football history was fired days after Sandusky’s November 2011 arrest and died two months later at the age of 85.

A report commissioned by the university and conducted by a team led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded that Paterno and three administrators hushed up the allegations against Sandusky.

The three administrators were sentenced to jail terms Friday. One of them, former university President Graham Spanier, plans to appeal his conviction.

WARRANTS ISSUED FOR ARREST OF MICHIGAN STATE PLAYERS » Three Michigan State football players have been charged with criminal sexual conduct in connection with an incident that occurred on campus in January.

Arrest warrants signed Tuesday by an Ingham County judge name Donnie Corley, Demetric Vance and Josh King. It was not clear when they would be arraigned.

Corley, 19, and Vance, 20, face third-degree criminal sexual conduct. King, 19, is charged with first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct and distributing an image of an unclothed person.

Coach Mark Dantonio says all three players have been dismissed from the football program.