Towson’s Flacco fifth in voting for national honor
A couple weeks after wrapping up his first season with the Towson football team, Tom Flacco finished fifth in voting Monday for the STATS Walter Payton Award, which recognizes the offensive player of the year at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The redshirt junior quarterback threw for 3,251 yards and 28 touchdowns and ranks fifth in the country in yards, 10th in completions per game (22.4) and 22nd in completion percentage (.613) and is tied for sixth in touchdowns. He also BASEBALL: The Dodgers and manager Dave Roberts agreed to a four-year contract extension through the 2022 season. Roberts, 46, the 2016 NL manager of the year, led the team to consecutive World Series appearances in 2017 and 2018. In three seasons, he’s 287-200 overall. Financial terms of the deal weren’t announced.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Alabama sophomore QB Tua Tagovailoa, Oklahoma junior QB Kyler Murray and Ohio State sophomore QB Dwayne Haskins were named finalists for the Heisman Trophy. The winner will be named at the annual ceremony Saturday night in New York. ... Clemson senior WR Hunter Renfrow won the Burlsworth Trophy, which goes to the top player who began his career as a walk-on. Renfrow has 41 receptions for 472 yards and a TD this season. ... Louisville will introduce Scott Satterfield as its coach Tuesday, The AP reported. Satterfield, 45, spent the last six seasons at Appalachian State, leading the Mountaineers to a 51-24 record. They went 10-2 this season and won the Sun Belt Conference title. ... East Carolina hired Mike Houston as its coach and Jon Gilbert as its AD. Houston, 47, spent the last three seasons at James Madison, leading the Dukes to the FCS national championship in 2016 and a runner-up finish in 2017. Gilbert spent the last two years as AD at Southern Mississippi. ... Massachusetts hired Walt Bell as its coach. Bell, 34, spent this season as offensive coordinator at Florida State after two years in the same job at Maryland. ... Texas Southern hired Clarence McKinney as its coach. McKinney spent the last seven seasons as an assistant under Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M (2012-17) and Arizona (2018). ... Florida State DE Brian Burns announced that he will forego his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Burns led the Seminoles in sacks (10), tackles for loss (151⁄ and forced fumbles (3) this season. ... Oklahoma State RB Justice Hill will forego his senior season, won’t play in the Liberty Bowl and will enter the draft. Hill ran for 930 yards this season. ... North Carolina State WR Kelvin Harmon will forego senior season, won’t play in the Gator Bowl and will enter the draft. He had1,186 receiving yards this season. ... Michigan G Ben Bredeson will return for his senior season.
SOCCER: Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric won the Ballon d’Or award for the first time. Modric, 33, won the Champions League with Madrid and then led Croatia to the World Cup final in July. He was voted player of the tournament. Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo had won the award the last 10 years. Also, Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or. ... Host Portugal will play Switzerland on June 5 and England will play the Netherlands on June 6 in semifinals of the inaugural Nations League.
ALSO: Connecticut was voted No. 1 in The AP women’s basketball poll a day after beating then-No. 1 and defending national champ Notre Dame 89-71 in South Bend, Ind. The Irish dropped to No. 2, swapping spots with the unbeaten Huskies. ... California coach Dave Druden, 42, and Stanford coach Greg Meehan, 42, were named USA Swimming men’s and women’s coaches, respectively, for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Both coached the U.S. at last year’s world championships and both were assistants at the 2016 Rio Games.