LOS ANGELES — UCLA linebacker Patrick Larimore — the team's leading tackler last season — is giving up football because of concussions.

Larimore suffered a concussion last week during preseason practice, before the Bruins were in full pads. He also had a concussion during spring practice.

UCLA coach Jim Mora said Larimore consulted doctors and then informed coaches he was taking a medical retirement.

Larimore, a 6-foot-2, 250-pound senior, made 81 tackles last season. He was voted most valuable player of the Bruins' defense in 2011.

Former Seahawks coach Mora said he understood Larimore's decision.

Mora told the Los Angeles Times: "Football is wonderful and it has provided me with my life's work, but at the end of the day these kids have to go on and live the rest of their lives.

"It takes guts, especially at that age, to make the decision, 'I can't do it anymore and if I do my long-term health could be sacrificed.' "

North Carolina has

transcript issue

RALEIGH, N.C. — A 2001 academic transcript published by The News & Observer of Raleigh that North Carolina officials insisted was fake might be the real thing, and it might belong to one of the most popular athletes in the university's history — Julius Peppers.

North Carolina officials said the transcript appears to be of a "former student" but declined to elaborate because of privacy laws.

If the transcript is authentic, the university could be in far deeper trouble with regard to an ongoing academic scandal. At issue is whether individuals in the university set up a series of bogus, no-show classes that were predominantly taken by athletes. Should Peppers be entangled in the practice, it would suggest trumped-up classes for athletes might have been going on much longer than university officials have confirmed.

Peppers, a defensive standout for the NFL Chicago Bears, was a star football player at North Carolina from 1999 to 2001, and also saw significant playing time as a member of the basketball team for two seasons.

Note

• Four days after USA Today revealed his confidential vote in the coaches' poll because the newspaper said he volunteered false or misleading information about his vote in public, USC coach Lane Kiffin relinquished his participation as a voter.

Kiffin had told media, "I would not vote USC number one."

But he did vote USC No. 1, as USA Today revealed to "protect the poll's integrity."

Compiled from The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C.