Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL Shaw to have surgery

South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw will have surgery on his left foot today. Athletic spokesman Steve Fink said Thursday Shaw would have the operation. It was not yet known if Shaw’s surgerywould limit his time at spring practice. Coach Steve Spurrier has said he plans to have both Shaw, a senior next year, and Dylan Thompson ready to play for the Gamecocks. Thompson will be a junior next season. Shaw sprained his foot ina victory over Tennessee on Oct. 27 and dealt with the problem in victories over Arkansas and Wofford. However, he sat out the Gamecocks 27-17 victory over Clemson on Nov. 24 because of the injury. After more than a month of rest, Shaw returned as starter in the Outback Bowl against Michigan. Yet, the injury surfaced again on South Carolina’s final drive against the Wolverines and Spurrier replaced Shaw with Thompson. Thompson responded with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Bruce Ellington with 11 seconds left to lift the Gamecocks to a 33-28 victory. Shaw threw for 1,956 yards and 17 touchdowns this season with just 7 interceptions. He completed 67.5 percent of his throws.

Auburn has hired former quarterback Dameyune Craig as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach and Rich Bisaccia as special teams and running backs coach. Craig spent the past three seasons as Florida State’s quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator. He played quarterback for the Tigers from 1994-1997, and holds school marks for passing yards (3,227) and completions (216) in a season. Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn, who left Arkansas State to coach the Tigers, said Thursday that Craig is one of college football’s “top young coaches” and best recruiters. The Seminoles won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship this season and went 12-2. Bisaccia spent the past 11 seasons coaching in the NFL, working in San Diego the past two seasons after nine years at Tampa Bay. Bisaccia, who will be assistant head coach, spent the first 19 yearsof his career in the college ranks at Mississippi, Clemson, South Carolina and Wayne State.

Detroit Lions Coach Jim Schwartz and his assistants will direct the South squad in the Senior Bowl, and Oakland Raiders Coach Dennis Allen and his staff will run the North team. Schwartz coached the North to a 31-13 victory in 2010. Allen is making his first Senior Bowl appearance. The game is Jan. 26 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala.

Florida State says All-America defensive end Bjoern Werner will forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. Werner ranks seventh in the NCAA in sacks per game and second in total sacks. In 2012, he finished with 42 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 13 sacks and 8 pass breakups. Over his past two seasons, Werner recorded a sack or tackle for loss in 17 of Florida State’s 27 games, and he recorded a tackle in 34 consecutive games.

Michigan State running back Le’Veon Bell is headed to the NFL Draft after a junior season in which he carried the ball 382 times. Bell ran for 1,793 yards this season and also caught 32 passes as the focal point of the Spartans’ offense. The 6-2, 237-pound Bell ran for more than 200 yards three times this season, including a 266-yard effort in the regular-season finale at Minnesota that helped Michigan State become bowl eligible. Michigan State also confirmed that tight end Dion Sims will forgo his senior season to enter the draft. Sims caught 36 passes for 475 yards and 2 touchdowns this season despite missing three games.

BASEBALL Frasor signs with Texas

Setup reliever Jason Frasor signed a $1.5 million, one-year deal Thursday with the Texas Rangers. The 35-year-old right-hander spent most of his career with Toronto, setting a Blue Jays franchise record with 505 appearances since his major league debut in 2004. Frasor was 1-1 with a 4.12 ERA in 50 games last season, when he was on the disabled list more than six weeks because of right forearm tightness. He returned for the final month of the season after the only DL stint in his career. Frasor said he feels good, which he said was confirmed by the extensive physical he underwent Wednesdayincluding X-rays and a magnetic resonance imaging.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Sergio Romo is facing a misdemeanor summons in Las Vegas alleging he violated airport rules after being detained by authorities at McCarran International Airport on New Year’s Day. The federal Transportation Security Administration issued a statement Thursday saying Romo failed to provide proper identification at a document checkpoint and engaged in a dispute with TSA officers about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Officer Jose Hernandez says Las Vegas police issued the 29-year-old Romo a summons to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court. His court date wasn’t immediately available. TSA spokesman Nico Melendez in Los Angeles says the security of other travelers wasn’t compromised.

HOCKEY U.S. reaches final

Jake McCabe and John Gaudreau scored two goals each Thursday to lead the United States to the final of the world junior hockey championships with a 5-1 victory over Canada in Ufa, Russia. In the final, the Americans will face defending champion Sweden. The Swedes beat Russia 3-2 in a penalty shootout, with Sebastian Collberg scoring the winner. United States goalie John Gibson made 33 saves for the victory. The Americans finished third in their group at 2-2 in the preliminary round and routed the Czech Republic 7-0 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Canada didn’t lose a game in the preliminary round and had a quarterfinal bye.

BASKETBALL Sun get coach

Seton Hall women’s basketball Coach Anne Donovan is returning to the WNBA to coach the Connecticut Sun. Donovan, who won a WNBA championship with Seattle in 2004, said Thursday she plays to step down from her job at Seton Hall at the end of the season to take the job in Connecticut. Donovan, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995, also has coached Indiana, Charlotte and New York in the WNBA, compiling a 167-150 record in 10 seasons. She earned two Olympic gold medals as a player and coached the United States to agold medal in the 2008 Olympics. Donovan replaces Mike Thibault who was fired in November after leading Connecticut to eight playoff appearances, but no championships in 10 seasons. Seton Hall is 5-8 this season.

TENNIS Williams in semifinals

Serena Williams had a tough victory over the woman she’s predicting will one day top the rankings, setting up a semifinal match at the Brisbane (Australia) International against current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. The reigning Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic champion showed plenty of emotion on key points in a heavy-hitting duel with Fed Cup teammate SloaneStephens on Thursday before winning 6-4, 6-3. Williams converted both break points and fended off one break chance against her in each set, later saying Stephens had the potential to be “the best in the world one day.” Olympic and U.S. Open champion Andy Murray was pushed before winning his opening match 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 against Australian qualifier John Millman, who finished last year ranked No. 228. The third-ranked Murray, the defending Brisbane champion, will meet Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, a 7-5, 7-5 winner over former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, in the quarterfinals. In the other men’s second-round matches, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria upset No. 2-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 6-3, 6-4 and No. 7 Jurgen Melzer of Austria had a 6-5, 7-6 (4) victory over David Goffin of Belgium. The women’s semifinals are set for today, with Williams getting the least recovery time. Azarenka and Williams are the only two seeded players still in contention in Brisbane after No. 36-ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat No. 4 Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) in the first of the quarterfinals, her second victory over a top 10 player this week after defeating 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the first round. Pavlyuchenkova will play Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, the lucky loser from qualifying who got into the main draw when No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova withdrew because of a sore right collarbone. Tsurenko had a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.