Sports briefs

Utes' Phillips named to Groza watch list

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah senior placekicker Joe Phillips is one of 30 players named to the Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award watch list, released Friday by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The award honors the best placekicker in college football.

Phillips, a semifinalist for the award last season, was the most accurate placekicker in the Mountain West Conference in 2009, when he made 90.9-percent of his field goal attempts (20-of-22). An honorable mention All-MWC pick, his 20 field goals rank as the second-best single-season mark in Utah history. Phillips led all MWC kickers in scoring, averaging 8.2 points per game, and his 1.67 made field goals per game ranked ninth in the nation. Originally a walk-on, he earned a scholarship for the 2010 season.

Blaze WR Boone earns All-Arena honors

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Blaze wide receiver Aaron Boone has earned All-Arena honors from the Arena Football League for his performance this season.

Boone, a 6-foot-3, 213-pound performer who played his prep ball at Millard High, earned second team All-Arena honors after ending the 2010 season with 146 catches for 1,448 yards and 46 touchdowns. Boone finished third in the league in total scoring (282), fourth for receptions per game (9.1), fifth for scoring per game (17.6) and eighth in the league for total receiving yards.

Cancer claims former college, NFL star

HOUSTON — Johnny Bailey, a record-breaking running back in the small college ranks and former NFL Pro Bowl kick returner, has died from pancreatic cancer. He was 43.

Texas A&M-Kingsville announced his death Friday. Bailey played for the Division II school from 1986-89, when it was known as Texas A&I University and became the second college player to run for more than 6,000 yards in a career. "He was quite a top guy," said Fred Nuesch, who was the Texas A&I sports information director during Bailey's college career. "He was a nice young man and he represented us well whenever he went to different places (to accept his awards)."

In college, Bailey rushed for 6,320 yards and At the time, only he and Tony Dorsett at the University of Pittsburgh had run for more than 6,000 yards in a career. He was a three-time NCAA Division II player of the year. and runner-up for the award as a freshman, when he ran for 2,011 yards. That made him at the time only the third college running back to top 2,000 yards in a season.