Eagles' Toal may miss season

Injured linebacker could redshirt

Don't count on Brian Toal playing linebacker for Boston College this season.

"I won't play him unless he's 100 percent," coach Jeff Jagodzinski said on Saturday. "And he's not there. We want him to get completely healthy."

"Completely healthy" is the operative phrase. Toal, a 6-foot, 232-pound senior, hasn't been completely healthy since his freshman season, as he has endured a series of shoulder and neck injuries. The most serious was a torn labrum in his right shoulder, which was surgically repaired in March. Toal also had his appendix removed last winter.

Originally, the timetable for his recovery was the end of the summer, but when doctors operated on Toal's shoulder, they found more damage than they had expected.

Toal also concedes he might be better off being redshirted, spending his time in the weight room and working to get healthy.

''We're deep at linebacker," Jagodzinski said.

With Toal sidelined, the Eagles will rely on seniors Jolonn Dunbar and Tyronne Pruitt, junior Robert Francois, and sophomore Mark Herzlich.

Whenever he recovers, Toal will have options. He can decide to skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft next spring or he can finish his college career in 2008 and use that as a springboard to the pros.

MORE FOOTBALL

BOISE STATE'S JOHNSON GETS MARRIED: Before Boise State running back Ian Johnson married the girl he proposed to on national television, the couple prayed to end prejudice.

Johnson and Chrissy Popadics, the cheerleader he proposed to after scoring the winning points in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma, were married Saturday in a traditional ceremony at Cathedral of the Rockies First United Methodist Church in Boise, Idaho.

Johnson, who is black, has said he received phone calls and about 30 letters, including personal threats from people who objected to his plans to marry his white fiancee. Johnson has not described the threats, and it is unclear where they came from.

The ceremony began with the prayer and ended with the couple jumping over a broom -- an African tradition signifying the couple jumping into a new life together.

As they drove away in a stretch limousine, Johnson kissed his new wife and said, "Let's play ball," the Idaho Statesman reported.

Johnson ran for a 2-point conversion on a "Statue of Liberty" to give the underdog Broncos a 43-42 overtime win over Oklahoma on Jan. 1 in Glendale, Ariz. Boise State finished the season 13-0 and No. 5 in the AP Top 25.

N.C. CENTRAL OPENS CAMP TODAY: The N.C. Central football team, led by new head coach Mose Rison, reports to camp today to prepare for its first season of NCAA Division I competition.

Rison is expecting 90 student-athletes to report today, which will be a day of settling in to the residence hall and attending the first team meeting.

The Eagles are coming off their best season in school history. In 2006, NCCU repeated as CIAA champions and posted a perfect regular season for the first time in the school's 83-year gridiron history.

NCCU's season begins Aug. 25 with a game at Albany State in Albany, Ga.

MEN'S SOCCER

DUKE ADDS PLAYER: The Duke men's soccer team formally announced on Saturday the addition of graduate student Joshua Medcalf.

Medcalf comes to Duke after playing three seasons at Vanderbilt from 2003-05. The Commodores' men's soccer program was cut due to Title IX regulations at the conclusion of the 2005 season. Medcalf will join former Vanderbilt teammate and current Blue Devils senior midfielder Joe Germanese on the squad.

"Josh is a quality late addition to our incoming group of freshmen," Duke men's soccer coach John Rennie said. "He had a great three years at Vanderbilt as a striker, and with his experience will be an asset immediately."