Texas A&M QB Allen headed for Houston
Kyle Allen didn’t go far after leaving Texas A&M. The highly touted quarterback is enrolling at Houston, where the 14th-ranked Cougars just wrapped up a 13-1 season under firstyear Coach Tom Herman.
Allen spent two seasons with the Aggies. He will sit out next year under NCAA transfer rules but will have two seasons of eligibility remaining beginning in 2017.
California wide receiver Kenny Lawler will skip his senior season to make himself eligible for the NFL draft. Lawler joins quarterback Jared Goff as Cal players leaving school early to go to the NFL. Lawler was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection this season. ... Mississippi State defensive lineman Chris Jones has declared for the NFL draft. ... All-American cornerback Jalen Ramsey said he is leaving Florida State following his junior season for the NFL draft.
Shane Beamer, the associate head coach and running backs coach at Virginia Tech the last five years and son of longtime Hokies coach Frank Beamer, is Georgia’s new special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. New Georgia Coach Kirby Smart announced the addition of Beamer to his staff Tuesday.
Iowa State has hired former Toledo defensive coordinator Jon Heacock to run the Cyclones defense.
Louisiana State Coach Les Miles said senior tight end Dillon Gordon was injured during what Baton Rouge police have described as a fight involving a stabbing in a bar near campus. Miles said Dillon did not have life-threatening injuries and is expected to recover fully.
Texas A&M Athletic Director Eric Hyman will step down after four years on the job. Hyman will stay on until his replacement is hired.
Serena Williams retired during her Hopman Cup match in Perth, Australia, completing a day of injuries and upsets for the leading women’s players less than two weeks from the Australian Open.
Williams, who missed the U.S. team’s opening loss to Ukraine on Monday because of inflammation in her left knee, was trailing 7-5, 2-1 against Australia’s Jarmila Wolfe when she left the court in her first match of the season.
“I just have some inflammation that’s been going away very slowly,” Williams said. “It’s going away, but just needs a little more time.
Venus Williams lost to Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in the first round at Auckland, New Zealand.
Rafael Nadal won his first match of the new season, 6-7 (5) 6-3, 6-1, against Spanish countryman Pablo Carreno at the Qatar Open in Doha.
The Texas Rangers signed lefthander Cesar Ramos to a minor league contract with plans to convert the 31-year-old reliever back into a starter. Ramos had a career-high 65 relief appearances with the Angels last season, going 2-1 with a 2.75 ERA. He has 10 career major league starts.
Anders Bjork, Matthew Tkachuk and Ryan Donato each scored two goals and the United States defeated Sweden 8-3, to win bronze at the world junior hockey championship in Helsinki, Finland.
Later, Kasperi Kapanen scored a wraparound goal 33 seconds into overtime and Finland rallied past Russia, 4-3, to win the gold medal.
Nina Loeseth ended a 16-year World Cup victory drought for the Norwegian women’s slalom team, posting the fastest time in both runs on the Deborah Compagnoni course at Santa Caterina Valfurva, Italy. Loeseth beat second-place Sarka Strachova of the Czech Republic by a margin of 1.12 seconds.