Brian ONeill likened to a Steady Eddie because of his rele

The?University of Minnesota football team will play in the National Funding Holiday Bowl, reversing a threat to boycott the game because of the suspension of 10 of its players accused of sexual assault.The players made the announcement at a news conference on Saturday, after a group of seniors from the team met with the universitys board of regents, president Eric Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle late into Friday night.As a team, we understand that what has occurred these last few days and playing football for the University of Minnesota is larger than just us, Golden Gophers receiver Drew Wolitarsky said.The school declined the players request to reinstate the suspended players, something the team said it sought before agreeing to return to practice. The team will now go ahead with its Dec. 27 bowl game against Washington State in San Diego after getting assurances that those accused will get a fair hearing next month.Wolitarsky, reading from a statement, said after many hours of team discussion and speaking with Kaler, It became clear that our original request of having the 10 suspensions overturned was not going to happen.Many of the players who made the initial stand on Thursday had not read the universitys 82-page report detailing a womans specific allegations. The university kept the details private under federal law, but players saw it after KSTP-TV published it on Friday. The details fractured the groups resolve, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak publicly for the group.Kaler and Coyle made clear to the players, and to the community through statements on Friday, that they had no intention of changing their decision, after an internal investigation determined the suspended players violated school conduct codes in an encounter involving a woman and several players at an off-campus dorm on Sept. 2.Im very pleased that the football team has realized the opportunity to represent the university and come out strong in support of the victims of sexual violence, Kaler said Saturday.Theyve come out strongly in support of the victims of sexual violence. I have promised a very fair hearing to the students involved and charged, and I intend to have that be true. We will judge them very fairly.Three players spoke anonymously to ESPNs Brett McMurphy on Saturday after the boycott was lifted. The players, who did not want to be identified because they wanted the statement to be the teams message, said they were literally up for the past 35 hours without sleeping, trying to reach a decision.The anonymous players also said the team never considered actually going to the Holiday Bowl and then refusing to play, because this is bigger than football. The team called Holiday Bowl officials on Friday night, and the bowl told the Golden Gophers they needed a decision by 5 p.m. local time Saturday, the anonymous players told McMurphy.The Holiday Bowl is one of the most lucrative and well-known of the second-tier bowl games. The payout to each of the competing schools was $2.8 million last year. Not including the New Years Six bowls that are tied to the College Football Playoff, the Holiday Bowls distribution was the fifth largest of the other 34 postseason games.Bowl revenue is pooled and shared by conferences. For the Big Ten, which distributed more than $30 million to each of its 14 members last season, Holiday Bowl revenue is a small piece of a large pie.Four Minnesota players were initially suspended for three games earlier this season while the police investigated allegations by a woman, who said several players pressured her into having sex with them after a season-opening win over Oregon State. No arrests or charges were made, and the players, who maintained the sex was consensual, were reinstated after a judge lifted a restraining order.The university said it holds its students to higher standards than those applied by the law, and its announcement of the suspensions on Tuesday caught the team off guard. University investigators wrote they generally found the womans account more credible than those of the accused students. The investigators concluded several students failed to provide full and truthful information.The entire team gathered at the practice facility on Thursday night and issued a statement saying they would boycott all football activities until Kaler and Coyle apologized for their lack of communication and reinstated the suspended players. But on Friday, after hours of sometimes contentious meetings with lawyers and university leadership, the players softened their stance.Theres always room to try to communicate more clearly, and I think the players now understand that process more fully, Kaler said.The players also asked the university to show support for the team and the character shown by the great majority of our players and help them use our status as public figures to bring more exposure to the issue of sexual harassment and violence against women.Players said on Saturday they were most disappointed with the lack of communication and due process and they took the issue of sexual assault seriously.As football players, we know that we represent this university and this state and that we are held to a higher standard, Wolitarsky said. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our coaching staff and so many others for their support during this difficult time, and we hope that our fans and community understand why we took the actions that we did.Dean Johnson, chairman of the universitys Board of Regents, said he supports the decision to end the boycott and to keep the 10 players under suspension.He added that the situation has shown that while the university does not tolerate sexual violence, more must be done to ensure the campus is safe for all students. That change, he said, could come in stronger policies, enforcement or more educational opportunities and sensitivity training.Its not been a good thing for the University of Minnesota, with donors, with ticket holders, with the administration, the regents -- its not been a proud week, Johnson said.ESPNs Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Orbelin Pineda Jersey . 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Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. Rafael Marquez Jersey . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. PITTSBURGH -- There was a time when Ejuan Price wondered if his college career would ever end.Now that its fast approaching after six seasons, three different head coaches, a position change, one college degree earned and another on the way, the Pittsburgh defensive end almost doesnt want to cross the finish line.Almost.I look at it like, a lot of unfortunate things that happened to me were kind of like a blessing in disguise, Price said. I feel me being here right now is where Im supposed to be.Thats understandable. The Panthers are competitive, his NFL draft stock is rising and the 23-year-old is seventh in the country in tackles for loss and 12th in sacks.But he isnt the only late bloomer making an impact across the Atlantic Coast Conference.Well-traveled Syracuse wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo has turned out to be a perfect fit in head coach Dino Babers uptempo offense. The Maryland graduate transfer leads the ACC and ranks in the top 10 nationally in receiving yards (1,246), receiving yards per game (124.6) and receptions per game (7.9). Hes also second in the league with eight TD receptions and his 79 catches are tied for fifth in the country and he most among Power 5 receivers.Amba has been outstanding, Babers said. Hes been a pleasant surprise. Obviously, we had no idea hed be able to do the things that hes done.North Carolina senior receiver Bug Howard is suddenly in a much larger role since top deep threat Mack Hollins was lost for the season with a broken collarbone. Howard has had some good moments as part of four-receiver sets in 2015 and caught the winning touchdown with 2 seconds left to cap a wild comeback win against Price and Pitt in September.Howard -- now wearing Hollins No. 13 in his teammates honor -- was just getting started. He had 10 catches for 156 yards at Miami in the game Hollins was injured, had seven catches for 109 yards with a score against Virginia then had six catches for 120 yards and another TD against Georgia Tech. His streak of 100-yard receiving games ended at three in last weeks loss at Duke, though he still had a TD catch there, too.The 6-foot-5 target whose pet peeve is being mistaken for a player on the Tar Heel basketball team is finally living up to his massive potential. He already has a career-best 45 receptions with at least three games left to play. The NFL isnt out of reach either. The way Howard boxed out Pitts Ryan Lewis for the clinching score on Sept. 24 showcased the kind of ball skills that would translate well at the next level.Its a destinationn that might be in reach for Price too, one he doubted would materialize at times during his star-crossed career at Pitt.dddddddddddd Hes been around so long he originally signed at Ohio State when Jim Tressel was the Buckeyes coach before flipping to the hometown Panthers when Tressel stepped down that spring.Price is one of the emotional leaders for the surprising Panthers (6-4, 3-3 ACC) heading into their game against Duke on Saturday.Price made an immediate splash with the Panthers, collecting four sacks as a true freshman for Todd Graham in 2011. Then Graham left and a pectoral injury in 2012 forced Price to take a medical redshirt. New coach Paul Chryst moved Price to defensive end in 2013, intrigued by the explosiveness in Prices 6-foot, 255-pound frame. The experiment lasted all of six games before a back issue shelved Price yet again and he didnt play a snap in 2014 after tearing a left pectoral muscle during the offseason that required surgery.He tried to keep his spirits up during the long layoff, it wasnt easy when he was unsure about the payoff at the end.Its easy to be motivated for a couple days, Price said. But do it over and over and over and over, youve got to find a reason to stick with it.So the player teammate Brian ONeill likened to a Steady Eddie because of his relentlessness learned to train his mind as well as his body. Price knew he could be a force if he stuck with it. The reprieve came last fall. Finally healthy and emboldened by new coach Pat Narduzzi -- the programs third coach in four years -- to get to the quarterback, Price picked up 11.5 sacks while earning first-team All-ACC honors even though he hardly fits the mold of prototypical defensive end.He can bull rush you, ONeill said. Hes so low. You see how low he can get, how he gets leverage. Thats how he uses his height to his advantage.In February the NCAA granted Price a rare sixth year of eligibility. He picked up his degree in communications last spring and is currently working on one in administration of justice, fitting for a player whose long journey appears headed for a happy ending.All the blemishes in my past that got kind of looked down upon, Price said, Im thanking god for putting me in that position.---AP Sports Writers John Kekis in Syracuse, New York and Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina contributed to this report.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '