Samardzija will just pitch -- for $10m

Jeff Samardzija decided to give up football and stay with baseball. The former Notre Dame receiver, projected as a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, agreed yesterday to a $10 million, five-year contract to pitch for the Chicago Cubs. "Baseball is my first love. I played it my whole life," Samardzija said. A 21-year-old righthander, Samardzija was the Cubs' fifth-round pick in last year's amateur draft and had a 2.70 ERA in seven starts for their Single A teams at Boise and Peoria. He returned to Notre Dame, catching 78 passes for 1,017 yards as a senior. His deal includes a $2.5 million signing bonus, and the Cubs hold options for a sixth and seventh season in 2012 and 2013. If the options are exercised, the deal would be worth $16.5 million over seven years. Samardzija said there would be no returning to football . . . David Wells is all but penciled in as the No. 5 starter for the San Diego Padres. The club and Gregg Clifton, agent for the former Red Sox lefthander, agreed in principle to a $3 million, one-year deal that gives the 43-year-old -- who had been contemplating retirement -- the chance to make another $4 million in incentives. General manager Kevin Towers said the sides need to finalize some contract language and Wells must pass a physical. He expects the deal to be finalized by Monday or Tuesday.

A judge in Greeley, Colo., ordered former Northern Colorado backup punter Mitch Cozad, accused of stabbing the starter, to stand trial on attempted first-degree murder charges. Cozad is accused of stabbing Rafael Mendoza, who suffered a 3- to 5-inch-deep knife wound in his kicking leg when he was ambushed Sept. 11 in a dimly lit parking lot at his apartment complex . . . David Bailiff was introduced as Rice's football coach eight days after Todd Graham bolted for Tulsa . . . Chris Hatcher was hired as football coach at Georgia Southern . . . Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn will sit out the Senior Bowl next Saturday in Mobile, Ala., with a minor knee injury . . . Luis Martinez, a basketball player at the University of Illinois-Chicago, has filed a lawsuit that names coach Jimmy Collins, as well as other school officials, alleging that assistant Lynn Mitchem sexually harassed him.

Defenseman Ed Jovanovski of the Phoenix Coyotes and center Andy McDonald of the Anaheim Ducks have been added to the Western Conference team for the NHL All-Star Game in Dallas Wednesday. Jovanovski replaces injured Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer, and McDonald takes the place of Detroit Red Wings winger Henrik Zetterberg . . . The Penguins couldn't strike a deal for a new arena in Pittsburgh during a late-night negotiating session Thursday with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and local leaders, but gubernatorial aide Chuck Ardo said, " We hope to be able to work out a deal in the near future."

Wladimir Klitschko (47-3) will defend his International Boxing Federation heavyweight title against American Ray Austin (24-7) March 10 in Mannheim, Germany . . . Boston University defender Zach Kirby was selected by the Los Angeles Galaxy in the sixth round of Major League Soccer's supplemental draft . . . One spectator was killed and at least 16 others injured Thursday night in a human stampede during a soccer match near the Bolivian capital of La Paz. The crush of bodies caused the suffocation of a 35-year-old woman . . . Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor indicated the team probably will release forward Eddie Griffin, whose five-game suspension for violating the NBA's drug policy concluded yesterday.