Washington to Eastern Kentucky

Former NCSU tailback to transfer to Division I-AA school

Bobby Washington's last carry as an N.C. State tailback came on Sept. 17 in the Wolfpack's 54-10 rout of Eastern Kentucky.

The former high-school All-America and rising junior likely will get plenty more carries in EKU games.

Washington said in a phone interview Monday that he has decided to transfer to the Division I-AA school.

EKU spokesman Simon Gray confirmed Washington was on campus and enrolled at the Richmond, Ky., school. Not all the paperwork needed to make the transfer official has been completed, Gray said.

Buried behind four other State running backs, Washington returned to his Miami home at the end of the fall semester seeking a transfer. In December, Washington's father, Joseph Mortimer, said his son was considering transferring to Michigan State, Arizona State or another I-A school. Under NCAA rules, however, Washington would have had to sit out a year before playing.

By transferring to a I-AA school, he can play this fall. "That was a big part of it," he said. "They wanted me, and I decided to go."

By the end of the 2005 season, Washington was practicing with the N.C. State defense and played briefly at safety. He said he decided he would have a bigger opportunity to continue playing at tailback somewhere else.

The 34 yards he gained rushing against EKU set his rushing highwater mark for the season.

"When we played them this year, it was the first time I got a good look at them," Washington said. "I guess they saw me and liked what they saw."

MORE FOOTBALL

BRIEFLY: Longtime Wisconsin assistant coach John Palermo has accepted a job as defensive line coach at Miami. ... Billy Napier has been named Clemson tight ends coach. ... Ex-Auburn and NFL player James Willis was named linebackers coach at his alma mater. ... Oklahoma has hired Northwestern offensive line coach James Patton to serve in the same position with the Sooners.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BASKETBALL

EAST CAROLINA DUO SUSPENDED: East Carolina junior guard Japhet McNeil and sophomore forward Jonathan Hart have been suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team, coach Ricky Stokes said on Monday.

Neither will play in Saturday's game at Alabama-Birmingham.

McNeil leads Conference USA in assists with 6.65 per game. Hart averages 4.2 points.

BRIEFLY: Campbell's Eric Smith was named Atlantic Sun men's player of the week. Smith scored a career-high 31 points Thursday in a 95-90 loss at Florida Atlantic.

TRACK AND FIELD

EAGLES SOAR TO RECORD: The N.C. Central men's 4x200-meter relay team set a meet record at the HBCU Invitational over the weekend in Landover, Md. The foursome of Maurice Gailey, Dorian Turner, Jason Jowers and Chris Davis won in 1 minute, 27.99 seconds, edging runner-up St. Augustine's (1:28.08).

BRIEFLY: North Carolina's Laura Gerraughty, who set a women's shot put meet and Armory facility record (60 feet, 7 1/4 inches) at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York, was selected ACC co-performer of the week.

HONORS

BRIEFLY: N.C. State's Matt Mangini was named Collegiate Baseball's national player of the week with 11 hits in 13 at-bats (.846 average) in the Pack's three-game sweep over Delaware State. ... UNC's Vincent Ramirez and State's Jainor Palma were named co-ACC wrestlers of the week.

FROM COLLEGE NEWS RELEASES