Sports briefly: Gophers' Antoine Winfield Jr. makes All-America team

Gophers sophomore safety Antoine Winfield Jr., earned first-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation on Thursday, one of several awards for Winfield this season, including Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year.

The Gophers have not had a Walter Camp All-America, the oldest such award, since 2005. They haven't sported an All-America from any outlet since 2014, though Winfield was a freshman All-America in 2016.

Also, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck is a finalist for the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year award. The award, handed out Jan. 15, will honor the country's top college football coach both on and off the field. The National Sports Media Association votes on it.

Fleck is one of 10 finalists, along with Ohio State's Ryan Day, SMU's Sonny Dykes, Penn State's James Franklin, Navy's Ken Niumatalolo, Memphis' Mike Norvell, LSU's Ed Orgeron, Baylor's Matt Rhule, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and Utah's Kyle Whittingham.

The Gophers coach is also a finalist for the George Munger and Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Awards as well as the Bobby Dodd Trophy. He has already won the Big Ten coaches' Coach of the Year title and is the American Football Coaches Association Region 3 Coach of the Year.

MEGAN RYAN

Gophers' O'Brien gets standing O

O'Brien, who has overcome four bouts of cancer to play college football, made his Gophers debut this season. His family and coach Fleck and Fleck's wife, Heather, were in attendance.

O'Brien has not been cleared to fly since having surgery recently so he made the 16-four trip to the ceremony by car.

... LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was named the Associated Press college football player of the year in a landslide vote.

Burrow, who has led the top-ranked Tigers to an unbeaten season and their first College Football Playoff appearance, received 51 of 54 first-place votes and a total of 159 points.

Ohio State defensive end Chase Young was second with three first-place votes and 69 points. Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields was third with 43.

Adam Scott and Marc Leishman helped the Internationals maintain their three-point lead at the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, splitting four matches and tying another for a 6½-3½ lead.

In alternate shot foursomes, Scott and Louis Oosthuizen beat Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar 3 and 2 while Leishman and Abraham Ancer defeated Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed, also 3 and 2.

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele beat Joaquin Niemann and Adam Hadwin 1 up and Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas topped Hideki Matsuyama and Byeong Hun An by the same score. Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland halved their match with Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im.

The Internationals went into the day with a 4-1 lead after Thursday's fourballs.

The Justice Department charged 10 former NFL players, including former Pro Bowler Clinton Portis, with defrauding a health care program for retired players of nearly $4 million. The government also intends to charge former NFL wide receivers Joe Horn and Reche Caldwell with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The players allegedly submitted false claims to the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan for reimbursement for medical equipment — such as hyperbaric chambers, cryotherapy machines and ultrasound machines — costing between $40,000 and $50,000.

College basketball: Luka Garza had 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Hawkeyes beat Iowa State 84-68. Iowa (8-3) stopped an eight-game losing streak at Hilton Coliseum.