Page 27 - Florida Sentinel 3-10-17

Sports
HBCU Benedict College Team Headed To St. Petersburg
Jacquizz Rodgers Expected To Re-Sign With Bucs
JACQUIZZ RODGERS
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are expected to re-sign free- agent running back Jacquizz Rodgers.
Rodgers is a minimum- salary-benefit player.
Rodgers signed with the Bucs in Week 2 last season, seeing action in 10 games with five starts. He had his first ca- reer 100-yard rushing per- formance while subbing for an injured Doug Martin in a Week 5 victory over Carolina on Monday Night Football.
Rodgers missed four games after suffering a foot in- jury in Week 8.
Doug Martin Is Question Mark
DOUG MARTIN
The Bucs' running back sit- uation has been complicated by the uncertainty surround- ing Martin, who left the team with one game remaining last year to begin serving a four- game suspension for a per- formance-enhancing drug violation and to enter a drug treatment program.
Martin returned to Tampa two weeks ago to meet with the team, a meeting both coach Dirk Koetter and general manager Jason Licht de- scribed as positive when they met with reporters at the NFL scouting combine last week.
Martin will remain in Cali- fornia to continue preparing for the offseason program, which begins in April. Koetter and Licht both emphasized that they do not have to make an immediate decision on Martin.
Adrian Peterson Among Free Agents Connected To Seahawks
BY TED TAYLOR
The Lady Tigers will play at Eckerd University Friday.
The Lady Tigers of Bene- dict College outlasted Central State 77-72, on Saturday evening in Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, to win the Southern Intercolle- giate Athletic Conference (SIAC) tournament. The Lady Tigers are guided by for- mer player, James Rice, who is in his fifth year as head coach.
The team was led by the junior-senior quartet of senior forward, Destiny Betts, and senior guard Ziarra Harris, junior guard, LeAnna Mor- rison, and junior forward,
MiKeisha Moore. Moore
led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Morrison and Harris, with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Betts had 10 points and 12 re- bounds, and was named tour- nament Most Valuable Player.
The South Region will be hosted by Eckerd University in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Lady Tigers open on Fri- day, March 10, 2017, against sixth-seeded Valdosta State, champions of the Gulf South Conference.
The winner advances to play either second-seeded West Florida or seventh- seeded Nova Southeastern, on Saturday, March 11, 2017. The championship game is on Monday, March 13, 2017, in the evening.
In an interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press about his son's options in free agency, Adrian Peterson's dad, Nel- son, said that the Seattle Sea- hawks have emerged as one of the leading contenders to land the running back.
The Seahawks have just under $26 million in cap space, which ranks 20th in the NFL. They need to address the offen- sive line and add depth on the defensive line.
Seattle very well could look to extend Kam Chancellor and Justin Britt this offsea-
ADRIAN PETERSON
son as well. They spent three draft picks on running backs last spring and also have Thomas Rawls on the roster.
San Francisco 49ers Expected To Pursue Pierre Garcon
Buccaneers To Make 'Strong Push' For DeSean Jackson
DESEAN JACKSON
New 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan continues to eye the best talent he coached in Washington.
Kirk Cousins is the crown jewel of that pipeline, but another Redskins stand- out, Pierre Garcon, could also be on his way to San Francisco.
The 30-year-old should earn upwards of $10 million per season.
Garcon caught 79 balls for 1,041 yards and three touchdowns a season ago in Washington. It was his sec- ond 1,000-yard season since 2013, when Garcon had a career-best 113 catches for 1,346 yards.
While San Francisco might not be the most appetizing
PIERRE GARCON
destination at the moment, neither will Washington in a few weeks.
Aside from the growing uncertainty within their or- ganization, the Redskins are primed to lose some of their most important role players from 2016, including De- Sean Jackson, Garcon and, potentially, Cousins.
Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston made it clear last month that he would love to see free-agent deep threat DeSean Jackson in a Bucs uniform.
He might just get his wish.
The 30-year-old Jackson can still play, leading the NFL last season in yards per catch
(17.9) while racking up his fifth career 1,000-yard cam- paign. He operated as a criti- cal piece in Washington's high-octane offense and would instantly upgrade an already-juicy Bucs attack likely to part ways with 34- year-old receiver Vincent Jackson.
Charles Johnson Re-Signs, Wants Julius Peppers To Return To Carolina
CHARLES JOHNSON
After defensive end Charles Johnson on Tues- day re-signed a two-year deal worth $9.5 million with the Carolina Panthers, he's ready to help recruit free-agent de- fensive end Julius Peppers.
Johnson, 30, would like himself and Peppers, 37, to retire with the team that drafted them.
Peppers, who spent the past three seasons playing
JULIUS PEPPERS
outside linebacker with the Packers, spent his first eight NFL seasons playing end at Carolina after being made the second pick of the 2002 draft. He still ranks first on the team's all-time sack list with 81.
Johnson made it clear Carolina is where he wants to retire and said it would be fit- ting if Peppers did the same thing in his home state.
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