Associated Press
NEW YORK ó Carolina was awarded three compensatory picks for the April draft after losing Julius Peppers to free agency to Chicago before last season.
A total of 23 teams were allotted selections, beginning with a third-rounder (97th overall) to Carolina, which also has the top overall choice after going 2-14 in 2010. Peppers had an All-Pro season with Chicago, and Carolina also lost quarterback A.J Feeley to St. Louis.
HOUSTON ó Troubled Green Bay defensive lineman Johnny Jolly has been arrested on another drug charge.
Houston police spokesman Victor Senties said Jolly was pulled over about 12:45 a.m. Friday. Senties said officers discovered a bottle containing 600 grams of codeine under the passengerís seat and another bottle with an unidentified substance in the driverís side door.
Jolly was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
Senties said Jolly gave the arresting officers a state identification card instead of a driverís license. After a check, police discovered Jollyís license had been suspended in 2007 and was ineligible for renewal.
Jolly was suspended by the NFL without pay for all of last season for violating the leagueís substance abuse policy. The ban stemmed from a separate drug arrest. In July 2008, Jolly was arrested in Houston for possession of at least 200 grams of codeine, a second-degree felony.
MIAMI ó Former NFL lineman Barret Robbins has been sentenced to five years in Florida prison for a drug-related probation violation.
GOLF
ORLANDO, Fla. ó Martin Laird’s fortunes rose and fell Saturday at Bay Hill. The only thing that never changed was his name atop the leaderboard in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Laird finally regained control with a two-shot swing on the par-5 16th and finished with a 2-under 70 for a two-shot lead over Spencer Levin going into the final round with high stakes.
Six players were separated by five shots, a group that does not include Tiger Woods. He traded an eagle and birdies with bogeys and a double bogey on his back nine that sent him to a 74, leaving him 10 shots behind.
BASKETBALL
LOS ANGELES ó Southern California forward Nikola Vucevic is skipping his final year of eligibility to enter the NBA draft. He has signed with an agent, ending the possibility of a return to the Trojans. The 6-foot-10, 260-pounder averaged 17.1 points and 10.3 rebounds this season.
TENNIS
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. ó Facing match point and feeling lousy, Andy Roddick bent over behind the baseline with his hands on his thighs, looking like someone desperately needing to take a seat in the shade.
That’s where he was headed one point later. An ailing Roddick lost his opening match Saturday at the Sony Ericsson Open to Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Two-time champion Roddick requested three visits from a trainer in the second set and said he had trouble breathing because of chest congestion. He has struggled to shake a bronchial infection he contracted last month and plans to see a doctor when he returns home to Austin, Texas.
Roddick began limping at the end of the match and said he also had an injury, but he declined to elaborate.
“I have to get some stuff looked at,” he said.
STABBING UPDATE
VERNON, Conn. ó The man who fatally stabbed University of Connecticut football player Jasper Howard during an on-campus fight in 2009 tearfully apologized to Howard’s family Friday as he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
John Lomax III, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with his hands and feet shackled, sobbed loudly as he told Howard’s family that he regretted what he did.