Power Five conference commissioners want to change NCAA rules to give college athletes more time away from team activities, including no longer counting travel as an off day, a mandatory seven-day break after the season and an additional 14 off days from athletic activity during the academic year.The agreement in concept was announced Thursday by the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference. The leagues said they believed they had found the right balance to help tens of thousands of athletes with a proposal they are calling Flex 21. The extra 21 days off would be in addition to the current mandatory off days, and could be tailored to fit each teams schedule with input from coaches and athletes.Formal proposals still need to be submitted, but the conferences could vote to turn them into NCAA rules at the next convention in January.College sports leaders have been looking into changes to ease the time demands on athletes for several years. At the last NCAA convention, the issue was delayed so more research could be done, including a survey of athletes from all sports. Conference officials seem eager to provide more benefits to athletes at a time when college sports is under legal and public pressure to make changes, including a push to pay athletes. Led by the College Athletes Players Association, members of the Northwestern football team made an attempt to unionize that ultimately failed.NCAA members schools and conferences have in recent years agreed to raise the value of athletic scholarships to cover the federally determined true cost of attendance that goes beyond tuition, books, room and board, and fees. They have also guaranteed four-year scholarships for many athletes and given athletes more say in making rules.We heard from our students that they would like more certainty in their schedules in order to engage in other activities, the commissioners said in a joint statement. We recognize there will need to be a level of flexibility and reasonableness in carrying out these changes, especially with regard to travel, but students deserve time off and we want athletic departments to work in a sensible and appropriate way to provide it. We want administrators to have some degree of flexibility in implementing these rules, but they must be mindful that rest is important to a students health, in addition to their athletic and academic performance.Currently, athletes are generally limited during the school year to 20 countable hours toward their sports per week, with one day off. Countable hours mostly cover practices, competition and conditioning, but does not count travel to and from events. The commissioners proposed expanding the definition of required athletic activities to include but not be limited to activities such as media requirements and mandatory community service.The proposal also includes a mandatory free-time block of eight hours overnight.The 14 extra off days will be on top of the current required two calendar days off per week outside the season. The additional 14 days can be used during the season if agreed to by coaches and athletes.We believe we have found the right balance between helping students participate in sports while also providing them with more down time, the commissioners said. Different sports have different demands and we think the concepts weve agreed to will help tens of thousands of students achieve more balance as they pursue their academic and athletic commitments.---Online:Joint statement from the conferences: http://www.theacc.com/news/commissioners...orts-07-07-2016 Nick Foles Womens Jersey . 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BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Former?Penn State?assistant coach Jerry Sandusky proclaimed his innocence and railed against what he said were ineffective lawyers during an appeals hearing Friday that seeks a reversal of his 2012 conviction.I believe there are two sides to this story, the 72-year-old Sandusky said during testimony that lasted just less than an hour. My side still hasnt been told.It was the first time Sandusky has taken the stand, as he declined to testify during his 2012 trial at the same Centre County Courthouse where he was convicted on 45 of 48 counts of child sex abuse. He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in Greene State Prison, where he has been largely segregated from the prisons general population out of concerns for his safety.At issue now is whether Sanduskys former lawyers provided inadequate counsel and whether Sandusky is entitled to a new trial. Sanduskys current defense attorney, Al Lindsay, argued that the preliminary hearing should not have been waived -- even if, in exchange, the prosecution agreed not to oppose setting Sanduskys bail at a manageable $250,000.Lindsay also said Sanduskys past counsel was negligent in advising him not to testify, giving Sandusky just 15 minutes to prepare for his infamous 2011 NBC interview with Bob Costas and not filing appropriate motions for pursuing possible arguments.I didnt understand enough of what was happening, what was transpiring, what was going on, Sandusky testified Friday.Lindsay said Fridays testimony was important because it gave Sandusky the opportunity to declare his innocence.Thats the first time that Mr. Sandusky has been able to say in all of these things that have occurred that, I did not do these things, Lindsay said. ... Hows that going to help him now? I think its just important to Jerry that people know, Im not admitting any of this. Its important to Jerry.State prosecutor Jennifer Peterson argued that Sandusky was well-aware what was at stake then and cannot change his mind after the fact. He did not testify because of the threat of his adopted son testifying against him, she said. Sandusky was also eager to get his story out to the media, she insisted, and he regretted speaking to NBC only when it backfired.In that 2011 interview, Sandusky paused more than 15 seconds to answer whether he is attracted to young boys and, at one point, said, I enjoy young people.The pregnant pause that will haunt us forever when he was asked if he was seexually attracted to boys, Sanduskys former lawyer Joe Amendola testified Friday.dddddddddddd I wanted to jump out of my chair. ... Never in the world did I anticipate that response.The courtroom remained less than half-full before the lunch break. A cluster of Sandusky supporters sat together, including his wife and former Penn State assistant coach Dick Anderson, who offered Sandusky a thumbs-up on his way inside the courtroom as Sandusky smiled in their direction.The hearing started just after 9:30 a.m., with Sandusky first taking the stand. It was his most significant -- and longest -- public comments since the NBC interview.Sandusky became most irate when recalling how the defenses forensic psychologist, Elliot Atkins, painted him as unable to form adult relationships because of histrionic personality disorder.I assumed Dr. Atkins would be supporting me, would be giving documentation that I wasnt a pedophile, that I wasnt a preferential sex abuser, Sandusky said, his voice rising almost to the level of yelling, that I wasnt the monster I was made out to be.Sandusky, who spent decades at Penn State under coach Joe Paterno before his retirement in 1999, was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys. Eight testified against him, and at least 30 were involved in a civil settlement with Penn State.Within the first few minutes of taking the stand, Sandusky was asked whether he committed any sex acts against children: Absolutely not. He also denied ever having oral or anal sex with anyone. That idea is totally foreign to me, he said.Sanduskys hearing will continue on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23 in the Centre County Courthouse. Lindsay told ESPN that its a real possibility that Sandusky testifies then.Sandusky previously lost direct appeals to the states Supreme and Superior courts. The Friday hearing falls under the states Post-Conviction Relief Act and is confined to newly discovered evidence, constitutional violations and ineffective lawyering.If we dont get what we want here, were going to go Superior Court and then the State Supreme Court, and then you eventually wind up in federal court, Lindsay said. The rules are different in federal court, and they may be more favorable. But we really want to get a new trial here. We think were entitled to it.The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '