’Cat QB Newton
will miss spring LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky coach Joker Phillips says quarterback Morgan Newton will miss spring practice after having surgery on his right shoulder.
Newton started the first eight games before freshman Maxwell Smith took over for three before also hurting his right shoulder. Wide receiver Matt Roark started at quarterback in the Nov. 26 finale, when the Wildcats beat Tennessee 10-7 to finish 5-7 and snap a school-record five-year bowl streak.
Phillip said Wednesday that linebacker Ridge Wilson, who also had left shoulder surgery in the offseason, would be available in noncontact drills in the spring, while cornerback Dale Trimble has left the team.
The coach also says he’s working to fill one spot on the staff after co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Steve Brown’s contract was not renewed. Grizzlies offer deal
for Cunningham MEMPHIS (AP) — The Memphis Grizzlies have tendered an offer sheet to restricted free agent forward Dante Cunningham.
The team made the announcement Tuesday. The Charlotte Bobcats will have three days to match the offer.
The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Cunningham averaged 9.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 22 games for the Bobcats last season after a Feb. 24 trade from Portland. He shot 51 percent from the field and averaged 24 minutes with Charlotte.
Overall, the 24-year-old Cunningham averaged 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds on 46 percent shooting in 78 games last season. He made 18 starts.
The Trail Blazers selected Cunningham out of Villanova in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2009 draft. UTM alum Roberts
now SLU head coach HAMMOND, La. (AP) — Southeastern Louisiana University says its next football coach will be UT Martin alumnus Ron Roberts, who guided Delta State University to four Gulf South Conference championships and four appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
In five years under Roberts, the Statesmen are 47-16, with two of those losses in the 2010 NCAA Division II national championship and the 2011 semifinals. The Statesmen were 11-3 in 2011, when Roberts was named the AFCA Division II Region Coach of the Year, and 11-4 in 2010.
Roberts transferred to UTM, where he was on the 1988 Gulf South Conference championship team.
Published in The Messenger 12.22.11 | 
