On the job for nearly a month, new Portland State football coach Jerry Glanville has been busy assembling his staff. Kevin Strasser was named wide receivers coach on Friday and is the latest hire by Glanville, joining offensive coordinator Mouse Davis, offensive line coach Brian Smith, running backs coach Franke Geske, defensive line coach Josh Fetter, and wide receivers coach Jim Craft. Davis, the former Vikings coach from 1975-80, was probably Glanville's most significant hire. Davis, 74, and Glanville worked together on June Jones' staff at Hawaii for the last two seasons.

Alabama's football team had its first spring practice Saturday, running drills in a two-hour workout that head coach Nick Saban called a "good start." Footballs and numerous other things flew about the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility where the Tide had the first of 15 offseason practices which will culminate with the annual A-Day game at Bryant-Denny Stadium on April 21.

Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner, who has had brain surgery twice in the last 15 months, will skip spring practice for health reasons. AD Rick Greenspan said in a statement Sunday night Hoeppner had indicated a desire to regain his strength and energy after a rigorous recruiting campaign. Assistant head coach Bill Lynch will be in a charge of the team when it begins practice on Tuesday.

If only Phil Savage could have squirreled away JaMarcus Russell when he met him seven years ago, the Browns GM would have the best arm many NFL talent evaluators have seen in a long time. That's what Savage was left thinking Wednesday, when the league's nomadic flock of scouts, coaches and general managers spent 30 minutes shaking their heads over Russell's workout at LSU's pro day session. While it wasn't perfect ? some grumbled about Russell not doing the full array of drills ? there was one common thread shared: that Russell has one of the best arms most can remember among NFL draft prospects.

Brady Quinn finally gave NFL scouts, coaches, general managers and owners an up-close look at what he can do on the field. Quinn, whose only workout at the NFL combine was benchpressing 225 pounds 24 times, took part in a half-hour workout Sunday at Notre Dame's pro day. He threw a variety of passes, with representatives from every NFL team watching. "We threw everything people wanted to see," Irish coach Charlie Weis said. "We put him through every throw that any NFL organization would want to see -- from moving in the pocket, to moving from the pocket, to three-step, to five-step to seven-step. I think now they have enough information to make a critical evaluation, if they didn't have enough on tape already."