NEW YORK — Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens and New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper are among 235 NFL players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents next month.
A complete list of players with at least six seasons in the league and contracts due to expire was posted Thursday by the NFL on . Also among the players on their way to being free to sign with another club in an uncapped 2010 season, starting March 5, are Indianapolis Colts linebacker Gary Brackett, New England Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork, Oakland Raiders defensive end Richard Seymour and Arizona linebacker Karlos Dansby.
• Bills starting right tackle Brad Butler, who just completed his fourth NFL season, announced his retirement.
Vanderbilt recruit killed
POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — A high school football star who had signed to play at Vanderbilt University was shot to death by his mother’s ex-boyfriend shortly after police arrived to investigate a report of a person with a weapon, authorities said.
Officers heard four or five gunshots around 2:30 a.m. Thursday as they arrived at the home where Rajaan Bennett, 18, lived with his mother, said Powder Springs Maj. Charles Spann. Inside they found Bennett, a running back at McEachern High School who was rated among Georgia’s top college football prospects, dead of a gunshot wound.
Boyd said Clifton Steger, 39, shot Bennett and then killed himself. Bennett’s uncle, Taiwan Hunter, 32, was wounded and underwent surgery. He was in critical condition Thursday afternoon.
• Iowa running back Jeff Brinson has decided to leave the Hawkeyes and transfer to a school closer to his home in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Daytona begins repairs on Turn 2.
Daytona International Speedway began repairs to the damaged portion of Turn 2 that forced two delays during the Daytona 500 totaling more than two hours.
Track president Robin Braig said a team of engineers and asphalt specialists from North American Testing Corp. decided a strip of pavement will be removed and a reinforced concrete patch will be poured in the area where a significant pothole developed during Sunday’s race. The patch in the asphalt surface will be about 6 feet wide and 18 feet long, and should hold up until the 2 1/2-mile, high-banked superspeedway undergoes a $20 million repaving scheduled for as early as 2012. The current surface was paved in 1978.
Footnotes.
UCLA forward James Keefe will have surgery on his left shoulder next week, marking the end of the senior’s college career.
• David Nalbandian pulled out of the Copa Telemex clay court tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina, because of a leg injury he suffered during the second round.
• American soccer forward Charlie Davies said he’s a month from resuming training following a car accident, while defender Oguchi Onyewu returned to training with the U.S. national team for the first time since knee surgery Oct. 21.
