The Patriots hosted three prospects at Gillette Stadium on Monday, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.

The trio included Louisiana Tech wide receiver Quinton Patton, UCLA defensive end Datone Jones and Florida State defensive end Cornellius “Tank” Carradine.

Each of the three are very intriguing prospects for the Patriots, given their needs heading into the 2013 season. Patton is especially interesting, considering their glaring need at wide receiver after the departures of Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd. Defensive end would also be an interesting area to address in this year’s draft as the Pats traded up to take defensive end Chandler Jones just last year.

The Patriots’ list of potential first rounders just continues to grow but, in just a little over a week, all the dust will be settled.

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The Patriots hosted Kansas State linebacker Arthur Brown on a draft visit on Monday, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.

Brown spent two fruitless years at Miami (Fla.) to start his college career before transferring to Kansas State and finishing out his final two years of eligibility with the Wildcats.

Brown was named the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year in 2011 after piling up 101 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss. He followed that up with another successful campaign in 2012, amassing 100 tackles, including seven for a loss in helping lead the Wildcats to the Big 12 title.

The Patriots are already stacked at linebacker with Jerod Mayo, Brandon Spikes and 2012 first-round pick Dont’a Hightower, but one of their biggest needs coming into the offseason was finding a solid coverage linebacker. Brown proved to be quick and agile in coverage, taking on both linebackers and slot receivers consistently during his two seasons in Manhattan, Kansas. He also intercepted 2012 first-round quarterback Robert Griffin III and expected top-10 pick Geno Smith during his college career.

Brown is on the fringe of the first round and may be a target for the Patriots when they pick at No. 29.

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Photo via Facebook/Arthur Brown

One prospect that is already in New England to visit with the team is Oklahoma wide receiver Kenny Stills, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.

Stills has been one of the Sooners’ most productive players over the past three season and quickly became quarterback Landry Jones‘ favorite target. He caught 204 passes and 24 touchdowns during his three seasons, including 82 grabs for 959 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2012.

He isn’t projected as a first-round pick along with the likes of West Virginia’s Tavon Austin or Tennessee’s Cordarrelle Patterson, but Stills would offer the Patriots a true skill receiver to help Tom Brady on the outside — a problem they thought now jettisoned receiver Brandon Lloyd might solve. Stills measured in at 6-feet tall and ran a blazing 4.38 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in February, making his athleticism a real point of intrigue.

The Patriots have already had a few visits with receivers like DeAndre Hopkins as is and they will have plenty more in the coming weeks — so don’t get too excited just yet — but Stills should be one guy to at least keep an eye on leading up to April 25.

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Photo via Facebook/Kenny Stills

The Patriots were present at Kansas’ pro day last week, and as it turns out they stuck around in Lawrence, KS, to privately work out a trio of Jayhawks on their own, according to NFL.com.

Quarterback Dayne Crist, defensive end Toben “Tobenchukwu” Opurum and safety Bradley McDougald were the three players that apparently piqued the Patriots’ interest.

Opurum is a quick, strong pass rusher, who hasn’t been given much attention as a prospect and might be available as a rookie free agent after the draft. McDougald, on the other hand, is quick and athletic but still has room to grow as a pure pass defender. He will probably come off the board late on the third day.

Crist is the most high profile of the three, although he didn’t have a great senior season at Kansas after transferring from Notre Dame. He completed less than 50 percent of his passes and threw just four touchdowns to nine interceptions before losing his starting job during his only season with the Jayhawks.

During his lone full season as a starter (2010) in South Bend, Ind., Crist led the Irish to an 8-5 record and a victory in the Sun Bowl over Miami. He completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and threw 15 touchdowns to just seven interceptions, establishing himself as the future at the quarterback position. But head coach Brian Kelly benched him early in Week 1 of 2011, forcing Crist to transfer ahead of the 2012 season.

Each of the three are lower level prospects, but the Patriots clearly trust Weis’ judgement.

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The Patriots already have a visit scheduled with South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore, who underwent multiple knee surgeries over the past few seasons. Now, troubled LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu is taking a trip to Gillette Stadium for a visit, too. That visit will take place April 5, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.

Mathieu sat out the entire 2012 college football season after being kicked off the LSU football team amid drug allegations. The 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist did impress scouts with his workouts and attitude at the combine, though.

Mathieu met with the Patriots at the combine and said they seemed “very interested” even after grilling him with extensive questions about his checkered past.

Bill Belichick has been known to take a flyer on risky prospects in the past. Just look to the drafting of Alfonzo Dennard, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez for further confirmation of that.

Mathieu, who is an undersized cornerback at just 5-foot-9, is expected to fall somewhere between the second and fourth rounds of the draft in April. So, the Patriots will have competition for his services, especially considering he’s also set to meet with the 49ers next month.

South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore was one of the most promising college prospects at the start of last season, but a second serious knee injury has raised some concerns over his future in the NFL. But those concerns aren’t stopping the Patriots from pursuing him.

Lattimore has scheduled visits with both the Patriots and St. Louis Rams, according to USA Today. No date has been released for the visit, but we are certain it will be at some point in the next few weeks.

So, the Patriots must be at least somewhat interested in the talented running back, even if he still has a long road back to full recovery. They also met with Lattimore at the NFL combine in Indianapolis back in February, meaning the interest might be more than mere curiosity.

With Stevan Ridley emerging as the No. 1 option out of the New England backfield and Shane Vereen blossoming into a versatile third-down back last season, there doesn’t seem to be much of a need at the position. Then again, when you can fleece arguably the best college tailback — when healthy, of course — since maybe Adrian Peterson for a mid- or late-round pick, it’s at least worth a long look.

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Chip Kelly

UCLA’s Jim Mora has been contacted by the San Diego Chargers about their head coaching vacancy, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Mora is coming off his first season as UCLA’s head coach. He guided the Bruins to a 9-5 record, which included a 49-26 loss to Baylor in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, and is currently in the middle of a five-year, $12 million contract.

He is reportedly likely to stay at UCLA, as the school is apparently boosting the pay for his assistant coaches and improving the team’s facilities. That doesn’t mean the Chargers aren’t at least considering the 51-year-old, though.

Mora has NFL experience, coaching the Falcons for three seasons from 2004 to 2006 and spending the 2009 season as head coach of the Seahawks. He owns a 31-33 career NFL head coaching record, with his best season coming in 2004, when he guided the Falcons to an 11-5 finish and an appearance in the NFC Championship Game.

Mora is also familiar with the Chargers organization, as he served as an assistant in San Diego from 1985 to 1991. The Chargers are currently looking to replace Norv Turner, who was fired this offseason after six seasons at the helm.

Let’s just hope T.J. Simers doesn’t show up to any news conferences if Mora does land in San Diego.

A committee of university presidents on Tuesday approved the BCS commissioners’ plan for a four-team playoff to start in the 2014 season.

The move completes a six-month process in which the commissioners have been working on a new way to determine a college football champion. Instead of simply matching the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country in a championship game after the regular season, the way the Bowl Championship Series has done since 1998, the new format will create a pair of national semifinals. No. 1 will play No. 4, No. 2 will play No. 3.

The winners will advance to the national championship game.

The teams will be selected by a committee, similar to the way the NCAA basketball tournament field is set.

The commissioners want to lock in this format for 12 years with a television partner. The current BCS deal with ESPN runs through the 2013 season. The new format will be presented to potential TV partners in the fall, starting with ESPN.

There are still some details to work out, but all the decision-makers are on board.

Lower divisions of college football already have a playoff, but the highest level has always used bowls and polls to determine its champion. Those days are coming to an end.

“By making this change we felt we could enhance the regular season but at the same time provide the fans with the kind of postseason that will contribute to the regular season,” Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said.

There are still some details to work out, but all the decision-makers are on board.

All that's left is for the presidents to sign off and major college football's champion will be decided by playoff come the 2014 season.

The commissioners have been working on reshaping college football's postseason since January. The meeting Wednesday was the sixth formal get-together of the year. They met for four hours and emerged together with a commitment to stand behind a plan.

In fact, all 11 commissioners stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who pinch-hit for under-the-weather BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock and read the BCS statement from a podium set up in a hotel conference room.

"We are excited to be on the threshold of creating a new postseason structure for college football that builds on the great popularity of our sport," Swarbrick read.

Though they were stingy about providing specifics of that plan.

They said they were reluctant to share too many details before they had a chance to discuss them with their bosses, the university presidents. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott did say the two semifinals would be worked into the existing major bowls and the site of the national championship game will be bid out similarly to the Super Bowl.

The BCS Presidential Oversight Committee meets Tuesday in Washington, and the commissioners and Swarbrick all stressed that ultimately the decision lies with their bosses. And that the presidents will have more than just one model to talk about.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 presidents have both expressed support for the so-called plus-one model, which gives the BCS a new look by selecting the championship game participants after the bowls are played instead of creating a pair of national semifinals, which is what the commissioners came away from the latest meeting in Chicago backing.

"I'm comfortable both of those will still be discussed at the president's meeting," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said.

He added: "I think we're very unified. There are issues that have yet to be finalized."

The details being debated have been whether to have semifinal sites rotate between the major bowls – Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Rose and possible others to be added such as the Cotton – or tie the site of the game to which teams were playing in them.

How the teams will be selected has also been up for intense discussion. They have talked about the use of a selection committee and giving some preference to teams that win their conferences.

"I am delighted," said Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive, who has supported a four-team playoff for years. "I am pleased with the progress we have made. There are some differences, but we will work them out. We're trying to do what is in the best interest of the game."

Bobby Petrino

It looks like Petrino will not return as the head coach at the University of Arkansas, according to ESPN.com's Chris Low.

After suffering from a number of cuts and bruises following a motorcycle crash last week, Petrino's otherwise sterling reputation recently came into question. Petrino was found to be having an affair with an employee in the athletics department, recently revealed to be former Arkansas volleyball player Jessica Dorrell.

The injuries of both body and reputation were plenty to crush the talented coach's spirit and had him looking extremely grim during a recent press conference.

The 51-year-old head coach was placed on paid leave late last week by Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long after not revealing that Dorrell was riding with him at the time of the crash and for not disclosing their relationship.

Assistant head coach Taver Johnson had taken over the program while Petrino was on leave.

Petrino is 34-17 in four seasons with the Razorbacks, leading them to the Sugar Bowl in 2010 and to an 11-2 record and top-five ranking in the 2011 season.

Matt Skura, a lineman for the Blue Devils, actually broke the story inadvertedly by tweeting, "Got to stretch next to Peyton Manning today and say hello." After a little investigating, the Raleigh NBC affiliate confirmed the news but Skura has since deleted his account.

While it might seem random for Manning to pick the Durham, N.C. school, Duke head coach David Cutcliffe was actually Peyton's offensive coordinator at Tennessee and the two remain close.

Manning has only recently been cleared for a return to football activities, but may be a long way from getting back to his All-Pro form. This, at least, seems to be a start.

Patriots offensive assistant coach George Godsey will follow O'Brien to Penn State to serve as the team's quarterbacks coach, according to ESPN.com.

Godsey, 33, joined the New England staff last February. He previously coached at the University of Central Florida — serving as a graduate assistant in 2004, the quarterbacks coach from 2005 to 2008 and the running backs coach in 2009 and 2010.

Godsey, a former quarterback at Georgia Tech, played for O'Brien during his senior season, when O'Brien was the school's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that the Patriots offensive coordinator has agreed to become the next head coach at Penn State.

O'Brien, who was in Pennsylvania to meet with university officials about the vacancy on Thursday, is expected to be announced as the school's new head coach on Saturday, according to Mortensen.

The 42-year-old coordinator has spent most of his coaching career in the college ranks. The Brown alum has spent time as an assistant at his alma mater, as well as Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke. He joined the Patriots in 2007 and was named offensive coordinator prior to this season.

O'Brien will have his work cut out for him in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions are in disarray following the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. That scandal led to the firing of longtime coach Joe Paterno who was replaced by Tom Bradley on an interim basis on Nov. 9.

According to NFL.com, O'Brien is interviewing with Penn State, and a deal is possible soon. Negotiations reportedly haven't begun, but the potential to strike a deal is "very real."

USA Today reports that the interview will take place Thursday.

O'Brien was linked to the job earlier this week, although a report then stated that he would not leave New England to become head coach of the Nittany Lions. It was also reported this week that the Jacksonville Jaguars sought and received permission from the Patriots to interview O'Brien for their head coaching position.

NFL.com reports that the Jags hoped to interview O'Brien this weekend while the Patriots enjoy a playoff bye, but that seems unlikely at this point.

The NFL.com report also notes that O'Brien's potential exit from New England could pave the way for former Patriots offensive coordinator and current Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to return.

San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman has also been linked to the Penn State job formerly held by Joe Paterno.

Former New York Jets and Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini is drawing interest from the university in its search to replace Joe Paterno as head coach, FOX-29 in Philadelphia reports. Paterno, the longtime head coach, was fired this fall amid the ongoing Jerry Sandusky scandal.

“I know they are very interested [in Mangini,] the former NFL coach who has been fired twice in the NFL,” FOX-29 contributor Mike Missanelli said.

“He’s the latest flavor of the month. They will not be able to get a big name given to sustain what is going on.”

Mangini last held a head-coaching position in Cleveland with the Browns in 2010. He was fired two years into a four-year contract after leading the Browns to just a 10-22 record in two seasons. He previously coached three seasons with the Jets from 2005 to 2008, where he had a 23-25 record with one playoff appearance.

The 40-year-old has been doing work for ESPN recently as a studio analyst.

Tom Bradley, who served as the interim coach upon Paterno’s dismissal on Nov. 9, is also a candidate for the job.

That sounds like it may have changed.

SportsByBrooks reports that the former Penn State head coach, who was fired amid the ongoing Jerry Sandusky scandal, has seemingly took a turn for the worst.

Brooks cited a “Penn State athletic department official” who told him that Paterno, 84, is seeing a rapid decline in his health.

“Joe is a lot closer to dying soon than the public is aware. It is very bad,” a Penn State source told Brooks.

Also, according to a source, Paterno’s family is fearful that this will be the legendary head coach’s last Christmas.

The reported news comes on the same day that Sandusky was arrested again on new sex abuse charges.

Yahoo Sports is reporting that the school paid scout Will Lyles $25,000 to retroactively submit scouting reports in an attempt to cover up the true nature of the work Lyles was doing for the school: influencing recruits in a manner impermissable according to NCAA rules.

Following up on a published report from earlier this year that drew the NCAA's attention, Yahoo tracked down Lyles to get his side of the story.

"I look back at it now and they paid for what they saw as my access and influence with recruits," he said, according to the report. "The service I provided went beyond what a scouting service should. … I made a mistake and I'm big enough of a man to admit I was wrong."

According to Lyles, days before the story first broke about his ties to the school, Oregon was "scrambling" to get paperwork from him so that it could justify paying him for his scouting services. Lyles sent the school old, out-of-date scouting reports to appease the university, but the paperwork was basically useless. The bulk of the players in the reports were from the 2009 recruiting class had already chosen colleges.

What the article insinuates is that the school was not paying Lyles for his scouting of players. They were paying him because he could influence top recruits to play for Oregon.

Lyles grew close to several talented high school prospects who ultimately chose to attend Oregon, including Heisman finalist LaMichael James and five-star recruit Lache Seastrunk.

James, who finished in third place in Heisman voting last season, was reportedly advised by Lyles to transfer high schools so that he could avoid a standardized test that would have kept him from graduating and then enrolling at Oregon.

Lyles also says that he advised Seastrunk on what steps to take to allow his grandmother, and not his mother, sign off on his National Letter of Intent (LOI). LOI's require a guardian's signature if the recruit is under 21, which Seastrunk was. Reportedly, his mother wanted her son to go to LSU instead of Oregon.

The evidence against the school includes records of phone and email conversations with members of the school including head coach Chip Kelly, a Manchester N.H., native and former University of New Hampshire assistant coach, and the school's compliance director Bill Clever. In one note, Kelly thanks Lyles for "orchestrating" a visit to an Oregon game with three recruits.

The NCAA could come down hard on the school if it decides that Lyles qualifies as a representative of the school's athletics interests or if it thinks that Lyles provided the dreaded "impermissible benefits" to any recruits.

As usual for when it is still involved in an investigation, the NCAA declined to comment for the story.

The contract, which will begin with the 2012-13 season, will be worth about $250 million per year, guaranteeing each of the 12 schools in the conference about $21 million, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been announced.

The contract is expected to be formally announced at a news conference in Phoenix on Wednesday.

The Pac-10 made less than $60 million in media rights this past season but became the latest conference to take advantage of the escalating market for college sports on television.

The ACC recently signed a deal for $155 million a year and the Big 12 reached a deal with Fox that made its total annual package worth about $130 million. The Pac-10, which will be renamed the Pac-12 in July with the additions of Utah and Colorado, topped those deals, as well as the $205 million the SEC gets and the $220 million paid to the Big Ten.

Rights to some football and men’s basketball games were not sold to Fox and ESPN, preserving some premium property the conference can use for a Pac-12 network to go along with Olympic and other non-revenue sports, a person close to the deal said.

Unlike the Big Ten Network, which Fox has a 49 percent ownership share in, the Pac-12 will own its entire network. That could add difficulties in terms of getting wide distributions on cable and satellite systems but allows the conference to have complete control of its content and keep all the profits if the network is as successful as the Big Ten.

The conference will also launch a digital network to show games online that aren’t on ESPN or Fox.

The deal with Fox and ESPN was first reported by Sports Business Daily, while The New York Times first reported details about the network.

This deal accomplishes all three goals Commissioner Larry Scott set out heading into negotiations: increasing revenue, getting more exposure and starting a Pac-12 network to provide an outlet to broadcast non-revenue sports and to help brand the conference.

Under this deal, Fox and ESPN will split the rights to college football games. ESPN will air its games on cable as well as ABC and Fox will show its games on its broadcast network, basic cable network FX and on the Fox Sports Net regional networks.

ESPN will air four prime-time games on both Thursday and Friday nights, as well as a late-night Saturday window for football. There will also be at least five Saturday night prime-time games on ABC or Fox.

Men’s basketball games will be split mostly between ESPN and Fox Sports Net, with ESPN showing games on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, as the conference becomes more flexible with scheduling. ESPN will also have the rights to the Pac-12 women’s basketball championship.

The two entities will alternate showing the Pac-12 football championship game and the men’s basketball tournament. Fox, which will air the inaugural football title game this season, will have the first football championship under this contract in 2012, with ESPN getting the men’s basketball tournament later that season, a person familiar with the deal said.

ESPN also gets the rights to some Olympic and other non-revenue sports.

Finalizing a media rights deal is the latest step in the transformation of the conference under Scott, who took over from Tom Hansen in July 2009.

Scott spearheaded last year’s expansion effort and then got the schools to agree to an equal revenue sharing plan and aggregate all of their media rights at the conference level.

That set the stage for the television negotiations, which began in earnest April 1. While Comcast/NBC was an aggressive bidder and Turner Sports also was interested, incumbents Fox and ESPN won out.

This deal means full revenue sharing will kick in as soon as this contract begins. As part of an agreement to give up their historically larger share of television revenues, Southern California and UCLA were each to receive a $2 million premium any year that the media rights did not reach $170 million.

Smith’s poor attitude and character questions have several teams taking him off their draft boards completely, according to Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net.

DraftInsider reported after the combine that Smith may drop out of the first round after he didn’t impress many teams in interviews. The cornerback also reportedly skipped workouts in the two weeks prior to the combine.

Smith has reportedly failed to take responsibility for any of his actions, instead making up excuses, which has only made matters worse for himself.

While Smith’s character may have dropped him off the map for many teams, his talent could still make him a high draft pick.

The newspaper, citing three unidentified sources, reports Columbus attorney Christopher Cicero sent the e-mails. Cicero lettered in football at Ohio State in 1983, when Tressel was an assistant coach, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

In a statement released Wednesday, Cicero says he voluntarily cooperated when an Ohio State attorney asked him to meet with university representatives and the NCAA about e-mails he exchanged with Tressel.

The university on Tuesday suspended Tressel for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined him $250,000 for failing to notify the school about the players' involvement.