O’Brien doesn’t plan to leave Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Bill O’Brien is staying at Penn State.

O’Brien’s agent, Joseph Linta, said Thursday night that the Nittany Lions’ head coach garnered interest from several NFL teams for vacant jobs at the next level.

But Linta said the “heartstrings” of O’Brien’s experience from Penn State’s 8-4 season in his first year outweighed the potentially big raise he could have received as an NFL head coach. He said O’Brien made the decision to stay at Penn State and not move forward with potential NFL opportunities Thursday.

O’Brien has been lauded for guiding Penn State to a successful season following strict NCAA sanctions on Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

 

49ers’ kicker Akers gets death threats

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers placekicker David Akers says he received death threats on Twitter and has closed the account.

Akers says the threats came last week. Once he saw them, he reported it to team and NFL security personnel.

He also reveals Thursday that he underwent double hernia surgery last February following his All-Pro season. Akers went to see the same doctor in Philadelphia this season to have injections.

Unlike 2011, when he made 44 of 52 field goals, Akers has been in a slump this season. He is 29 for 42 on field goals.

 

Andruw Jones’ wife files for divorce

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — The wife of former Atlanta Braves star Andruw Jones has filed for divorce about a week after she accused him of grabbing her neck and saying he wanted to kill her.

A divorce complaint filed Monday by Nicole Jones in a suburban Atlanta court says their 10-year marriage is “irretrievably broken.”

According to a Gwinnett County police report, the pair had a fight around 1:30 a.m. Christmas Day after Nicole Jones asked her husband to help prepare their home for the morning. She told police Andruw Jones dragged her down a staircase, grabbed her neck and said he wanted to kill her.

 

Autopsy: practice player ruled sober

DALLAS (AP) — An autopsy has found that Dallas Cowboys practice squad player Jerry Brown Jr. was sober when he was killed in a crash that led to an intoxication manslaughter charge against the teammate at the wheel.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office reported Thursday that Brown died of head and neck trauma when their vehicle overturned. He had a dislocated neck, a severely bruised spine and a blood alcohol content of 0.056 percent. That’s well below the Texas drunken driving standard of 0.08 percent.

Police have said Cowboys nose guard Josh Brent, who was driving, had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit when after the Dec. 8 crash in Irving, a Dallas suburb. He remains free on $100,000 bond.

Police say neither man was wearing a seatbelt.