Michael Vick has agreed to become the head coach at Norfolk State in a return to football for the former NFL star quarterback, who has never coached at any level.

Vick, 44, announced on his Facebook page on Tuesday night that he has accepted the job. Norfolk State did not immediately confirm the hiring of Vick, who grew up in nearby Newport News.

He starred in college at Virginia Tech and was a four-time Pro Bowler in 13 seasons for Atlanta, Philadelphia, the New York Jets and Pittsburgh. He helped launch an era of quarterbacks who were threats both running and throwing the ball.

Vick served 18 months in federal prison in the prime of his career after pleading guilty to his role in a dogfighting ring. After his release in 2009, he returned to the NFL and won AP Comeback Player of the Year with the Eagles in 2010.

He retired in 2017 and has advocated against animal cruelty while also working as an NFL analyst for Fox Sports.

Norfolk State fired coach Dawson Odums after a 4-8 season. The historically Black school plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Wake Forest has hired Washington State’s Jake Dickert to become its next football coach.

The school announced the move Wednesday, two days after Dave Clawson resigned unexpectedly after 11 seasons..

Dickert, 41, had been the defensive coordinator when he took over during the 2021 season as the Cougars’ interim coach after Washington State fired Nick Rolovich for refusing a state mandate that all employees get vaccinated against COVID-19. Dickert led the team to a 3-3 finish to earn the permanent job, then went 20-17 in the three seasons since.

Washington State, 8-4 this season, has spent nine weeks in the AP Top 25 poll over the past two seasons, peaking at No. 13 during a five-week run amid a 4-0 start in 2023.

Dickert arrived at Washington State after a three-year run at Wyoming,

The Demon Deacons have suffered through consecutive 4-8 seasons in Clawson’s otherwise successful run, a product of a changing landscape in college sports that hindered Wake Forest’s successful formula of retaining and developing players to compete with schools featuring four- and five-star prospects.

Wake Forest had an 11-win season that included a trip to the ACC title game in 2021, as well as brief stints in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 in 2021 and 2022 amid a run of seven straight bowl appearances.

Backup Billy Atkins threw for 181 yards and a touchdown in his first start since 2022, leading James Madison to the program’s first bowl win after topping Western Kentucky 27-17 on Wednesday night in the Boca Raton Bowl.

JMU was without starting quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who suffered an injury against Marshall on Nov. 30, and the Dukes turned to Atkins, who had just three pass attempts in the last two years.

Atkins went 4 for 5 on a fourth-quarter drive, ending in a 21-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Thompson for a 24-17 lead with 9:20 left.

George Pettaway finished with 100 yards rushing for James Madison (9-4).

Caden Veltkamp led Western Kentucky (8-6) with 302 yards passing and two TDs.

Former Washington State quarterback John Mateer has announced that he is heading to Oklahoma.

The move comes two weeks after Oklahoma hired ex-Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle for the same position with the Sooners.

Mateer passed for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns with seven interceptions and ran for 826 yards and 15 scores for WSU this season.

Mateer is in line to replace Jackson Arnold, who has transferred to Auburn.

Colorado has landed ex-Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter out of the transfer portal to possibly step in and replace Shedeur Sanders next season.

Salter figures to compete with five-star high school recruit Julian “JuJu” Lewis for the starting job.

Salter is coming off a regular season for the Flames (8-3) in which he ran for 579 yards and seven TDs while throwing for 1,886 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Alabama All-America safety Malachi Moore will miss the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide’s bowl game against Michigan with an injury that had plagued him much of the season.

Coach Kalen DeBoer said Moore was scheduled to have surgery and would miss the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31 in Tampa. DeBoer didn’t disclose the nature of the injury.

Moore, a fifth-year senior, was a second-team AP All-American after making 70 tackles with two interceptions and a team-leading eight pass breakups.

NFL

The Tennessee Titans (3-11) are keeping second-year quarterback Will Levis on the bench and again starting backup Mason Rudolph when they visit Indianapolis.

Levis has 17 of the Titans’ league-worst 29 turnovers despite missing three games and much of a fourth after spraining his right, throwing shoulder.

Levis has 12 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions in 11 starts this season, throwing for 1,916 yards. Rudolph, who will make his fourth start this season, has 1,015 yards passing with six TDs and five interceptions. His latest came as he tried to rally Tennessee in last week’s loss to Cincinnati.

After sitting out a game with a heel injury, Drew Lock is expected back at quarterback when the New York Giants (2-12) try to snap a franchise-record-tying nine-game losing streak as they take on the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday.

New York has been going back and forth at quarterback between Lock and Tommy DeVito since benching and then releasing Daniel Jones coming off a bye week.

The Falcons placed kicker Younghoe Koo on injured reserve and signed kicker Riley Patterson from Cleveland’s practice squad.

Koo battled a right hip injury earlier in the season, but the Falcons did not say if that was the injury that will force him to miss the remainder of the regular season.

Patterson has made 59 of 67 field goals in his career.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

NO. 6 ALABAMA 97, NORTH DAKOTA 90: Grant Nelson had 23 points and 10 rebounds in his return to his home state and the visiting Crimson Tide overcame Treysen Eaglestaff’s big night to hold off the Fighting Hawks.

Mark Sears had 23 points for Alabama (9-2), which shot 59% and committed just one turnover in the second half.

Alabama coach Nate Oats scheduled the game as a favor to Nelson, who grew up 90 minutes away in Devils Lake and is in his second season with the Crimson Tide after transferring from North Dakota State.

Eaglestaff finished with career highs of 40 points and eight 3-pointers for North Dakota (4-9).

NO. 11 UCONN 94, XAVIER 89 (OT): Karaban had seven of his 20 points in overtime to lead the Huskies at home over the Musketeers in the Big East opener for both.

Solo Ball led UConn (9-3) with 22 points and Tarris Reed Jr. had 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Dante Maddox Jr. of Xavier (8-4) tied the game in regulation with a pair of foul shots with 9.4 seconds remaining.

OBITUARY

Fred Lorenzen, a NASCAR Hall of Famer and the 1965 Daytona 500 champion, died Wednesday. He was 89. A cause of death wasn’t given.

One of NASCAR’s first superstars, Lorenzen was known as the “Golden Boy” for his rugged, movie-star looks. He won 26 career Cup races and made starts in 12 seasons from 1956 to 1972.

In 1964, Lorenzen entered 16 of the scheduled 62 races and won eight, including five consecutive starts. During that stretch, Lorenzen led 1,679 of the possible 1,953 laps, one of the more dominant stretches in NASCAR history.

He was the first driver in NASCAR to earn more than $100,000 in a single season, which he did in 1963.