SEC clears path for Smith’s transfer from Alabama to Georgia

Banned: World-record signing Paul Pogba will not be available for Manchester United’s first game of the Premier League season as he is serving a ban carried over from his time at Juventus. England’s Football Association said that Pogba collected a one-match ban after being booked twice in the Coppa Italia at the end of last season.

Transfered: The Southeastern Conference on Friday cleared the path for former Alabama defensive back Maurice Smith to transfer as a graduate student to Georgia. The SEC granted two exceptions to conference bylaws as requested by Georgia. Smith won’t have to sit out a year and will be eligible in the 2016 season. He also was given an exception to the SEC rule which says transfers have at least two years of eligibility remaining.

Cleared: A Florida athletics booster serving as a hearing officer for the university has cleared standout receiver Antonio Callaway of sexual assault. Jake Schickel delivered his decision in writing saying his impression from last week’s code of conduct hearing was that Callaway “was honest, sincere, and presented himself well.”

Died: Preliminary autopsy results show an enlarged heart in the Chadron State football player who died following the team’s practice Thursday.

The Dawes County Attorney’s office said the enlarged heart likely contributed to the death of 20-year-old defensive lineman Eric Goll of Haines City, Florida.

Honored: Syracuse will honor the late Dwayne “Pearl” Washington when the Orange resumes its basketball rivalry with Georgetown at the Carrier Dome in December. The tribute to Pearl will include a “31” logo affixed to one of the Jim Boeheim Court sidelines, at the same distance from where Washington made his memorable half-court shot to defeat Boston College in 1984.

Granted: A federal judge has granted the NCAA’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two former North Carolina athletes; women’s basketball player Rashanda McCants and ex-football player Devon Ramsay, seeking to hold college sports’ governing body responsible for the school’s long-running academic fraud scandal.

Awarded: Defending champion Serena Williams got one of seven wilds cards for the Western & Southern Open. Williams decided to play in Cincinnati after being upset at the Olympics on Tuesday. She has reached the finals in Cincinnati each of the last three years, winning the last two.