Linebacker

Penn State's Mike Hull knows the drill, and knows about the expectations. When you are the next promising and talented linebacker on a team known as "Linebacker U.," you can't do anything but embrace the tradition. The 6-foot, 226-pound Hull will be a redshirt junior in the fall. He is expected to take over one of the outside linebacker posts manned last year by all-Big Ten players Michael Mauti and Gerald Hodges, who followed current NFL stars NaVorro Bowman and Sean Lee, who followed . . . well, you get the idea.

NORTHERN IOWA receiver Terrell Sinkfield participated in a pro day Monday at the University of Minnesota. Sinkfield proved he can run fast. The question is, how fast? FoxSportsNorth.com reported that Sinkfield ran the 40-yard dash, his second attempt, in 4.19 seconds, and it was so fast, he was asked to run a third time. Sinkfield reportedly stumbled on the third attempt but still ran a 4.44. "I knew it was good when I finished," Sinkfield told the website, referring to his faster time.

Sharif Finch, a senior linebacker at Henrico High School in Richmond, Va., gave a verbal commitment Friday to play at Temple. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder is expected to sign a binding national letter of intent on Wednesday. Finch said he chose the Owls over scholarship offers from Western Michigan, East Carolina, James Madison, Old Dominion, Richmond, Hampton, Norfolk State, Elon and William and Mary. Finch said he also received some interest from Penn State and Miami. The Queens, N.Y., native told TimesDispatch.com that he likes Temple's urban campus.

NEW ORLEANS - Smiling, even laughing, at questions about a report linking him to a company that purports to make performance-enhancers, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said Wednesday he "never, ever took" the stuff. Lewis described himself as "agitated," not angry, that the Sports Illustrated story has become part of the Super Bowl-week prelude to Baltimore's game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The magazine said Lewis sought help from a company that says its deer-antler spray and pills contain a banned product connected to human growth hormone.

NEW ORLEANS - Of all the topics Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis might have been prepared to talk about at Super Bowl media day, deer-antler spray probably was not among them. He declined to directly address a Sports Illustrated report that he sought help from a company that makes the unorthodox product to speed up his recovery from a torn right triceps. Lewis was the NFL's leading tackler in the playoffs after missing 10 regular-season games with the injury. The company says its deer-antler substance contains a byproduct of human growth hormone.

Sources have confirmed a CoachingSearch.com report that former Boston College assistant Mike Siravo will become Temple's next linebackers coach. The Rhode Island native will return to North Broad Street, where he served as the Owls linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator in 2006. At that time, new Temple head coach Matt Rhule was the Owls quarterbacks coach. Siravo, who played at Boston College, served as B.C.'s defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator for six years.

The Eagles interviewed Cleveland Browns linebackers coach Billy Davis for their defensive coordinator opening on Sunday, an NFL source said. The team had requested permission to meet with Davis last week but waited until Sunday to sit down with the 47-year old coach, according to the source. Davis has experience as an NFL defensive coordinator. Before he took the linebackers job in Cleveland in 2011, he was the Arizona Cardinals' coordinator from 2009-10. He also ran San Francisco's defense from 2005-06.

NEW ORLEANS - It was probably Frank Gore who first made the mistake of misidentifying NaVorro Bowman as Patrick Willis. The San Francisco 49ers had just drafted Bowman out of Penn State and spring practices had begun. The jury is often out on draftees that early in the process, especially for linebackers selected in the hit-or-miss third round. But Gore, the 49ers' Pro Bowl running back, said he realized almost instantly what kind of talent Bowman had, so much so that he mistook him for the all-pro linebacker who had been chasing him in practice for several years already.

Linebacker Jonathan Walton, who had committed to Penn State last month after an official visit, has backed off his commitment, according to a report by South Carolina's GoUpstate.com. The 6-foot, 230-pound Walton, of Daphne, Ala., made an official visit last weekend to Tennessee and has visits scheduled to Southern California and Auburn in the next two weekends. He also has traveled to Minnesota. "I feel indecisive," Walton told GoUpstate.com. "I'm just weighing them out right now. Penn State is still in the mix. I just want to make my choice and stick with it. I'll waiting until signing day [Feb.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS linebacker Jovan Belcher had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he shot his girlfriend nine times and then killed himself in front of his coach and general manager, an autopsy released Monday showed. The Jackson County (Mo.) Medical Examiner report on Belcher, 25, raised new questions about whether police should have done more before the Dec. 1 murder-suicide. Officers found Belcher sleeping in his idling car about 5 hours earlier but let him go inside a nearby apartment to sleep it off. At the time of the autopsy, Belcher's BAC was 0.17, more than twice the limit of 0.08 percent for Missouri drivers, and it was likely higher when he shot girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, 22, at the couple's Kansas City home.