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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1999)
Solich: No. 1 l-back Evans quitting By Samuel McKewon Senior staff writer The Nebraska football team lost its No. 11-back when Head Coach Frank Solich reported Tuesday that De Angelo Evans had quit the team, thus ending his college football career. A junior from Wichita, Kan., Evans was supposed to release a statement regarding his departure. However, his mother, Eamestine Evans, said there would “be no statement at this time.” “The statement will come,” said Eamestine Evans, refusing to elaborate. “There may have been a change of heart. Not a change of plans.” She also said her son would not speak to the media Tuesday. Attempts by the Daily Nebraskan to contact DeAngelo Evans were not suceessful. Solich said at the press conference Tuesday that Evans had informed the coach of the decision over the weekend, saying he had not been happy with his number of carries in the 45-0 win over California. Evans carried six times for five yards against a stiff Cal rush defense. In general, it Evans 031116 down to the role he was play ing,” Solich said. “In the second ball game, he was really ready to go. It turned out to be a game that the I-back was virtually taken out of the offense. It was really very tough on him.” Earnestine Evans said she was' “very aware” of Solich’s statements on Tuesday. “Coach Solich has his opin ions,” she said, “I respect that.” DeAngelo Evans had recovered from a serious 1996 groin injury that kept him out for a year. Then, he suf fered a bruised tailbone in 1998, com pounded with a injured knee in the Holiday Bowl. This all came after Evans’ breakout freshman season for the Huskers, in which he rushed for 776 yards Solich had said that Evans’ ham string was hurting him during the first game against Iowa but “still played well.” “That’s very untrue,” Earnestine Evans said. “DeAngelo is perfectly fine, perfectly healthy. I saw his hamstring; it a If someone feels that way, everybody kind of/ felt that it d be better ojf for us!f 1 Willie Miller NU fullback might have been sore.” Evans’ departure was met with sur prise from the team, including now-No. 1 fullback Willie Miller. “We had to sit back and think about it for a few minutes,” Miller said. “If you’re starting guy and then all of the sudden you’re leaving the team, every body is kind of like, “What’s going on?’ “If someone feels that way, every body kind of felt that it’d be better off for us - for people who are ready and want to stay on the team.” Dan Alexander now moves into the No. 1 slot and Correll Buckhalter moves to No. 2. It has not been decided how the carries would be divvied up Saturday. “Here’s a chance for me to make the most of a situation that looks bleak right now,” Alexander said. “It’s never good to lose a good player. But as a team we can’t just lay down.” Matt Miller/DN HUSKER ROB ARTHUR watches his shot at the Fairway Club Invitational on Tbesday at Firstborn Golf Club. Arthur finished second for Nebraska with a 10-over par. NU takes 6th at invitational ■ Husker Coach Larry Romjue is satisfied with his young team’s season-opening finish. David Diehl StaffWriter The Nebraska men’s golf team worked its way to a sixth place finish Tuesday in its first tournament of the year at the 1999 Fairway Club Invitational at Firethom Golf Club. Nebraska freshman J.J. Sullivan ended the 54-hole tourney seven over par, good enough to finish in a tie for eighth place and to lead the Comhusker squad. “I was pretty pleased overall,” Sullivan said. ‘1 thought the course played tougher (Monday). It was windier and it was colder in the morning. (Tuesday) was pretty good scoring conditions.” Monday morning’s chilly and blustery condi tions were cause for just two sub-par opening rounds. Only two golfers, Ryan Vermeer and Andy Stewart, both from Kansas, finishedbelow par in the 11-team invitational. Crouch to start; Newcombe moves * By Samuel McKewon Senior staff writer Two are better than one. That was the philosophy behind naming Eric Crouch the No. 1 quarterback and moving the former starter, Bobby Newcombe, to wingback, Nebraska football Coach Frank Solich said at Tuesday’s weekly press conference. “It will give us a chance to get two great football players on the field at the same time get ting multiple snaps, CrOUCn Solich said of the decision made Monday afternoon. “It will pose numer ous problems, hopefully, for teams out there.” Newcombe, who is listed as a co-No. 1 Matt Haney/DN wingback with Sean Applegate, will also return punts. He is not currently listed as a kickoff returner. Solich said he and Quarterbacks Coach Turner Gill named Crouch the permanent starter for the Cornhuskers, beginning with Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. game with Southern Mississippi. If Crouch is hurt, Newcombe would likely return to starting quarterback and, therefore, Please see CHANGE on 10 _ . . hr-— Despite unwanted switch, Newcombe stays faithful Just about when you think you’ve figured Bobby Newcombe out, hell figured you. It was there again Tuesday as Newcombe strode up to the tiny little taWe where he’d uhi . mately field questions about how he was no longer the starting quarterback. pir. Dressed, as usual, better than everybody efae ~ in the room (save Coach Frank Solicn, whose shoes steal the show week-in, week-out), Newcombe set die tone, as usual, for the ques tions to come, He picked up the mini-mic. “Wingback Bobby Newcombe,” he said. He had the stage, just like that Funny, how the guy who you figure will leave, stays. How the guy you thought had the impenetrable ego ends up tdring one for theteam while others fall off the boat. Hurt’s Newcombe, slightly an enigma, agd always, it seems, (me step ahead of wheriTyou thought he’d be. And we all knew where we thought he’d be if a decision like this ever got handed (town: back in Albuquerque, N.M., waiting to transfer, fed up with a system dun didn’t treat him right. That’s what a tot ofpeople wanted to believe, especially when Newcombe went home last season for a week or so and didn’t join the team at the Holiday Bowl. But there was Newcombe, still alive on Tuesday, still in Nebraska and still playing foot ball. How mfoy fans ever thought this guy could take a demotion, which, no matterwhat folks say, is what Tuesday^ press conference was all about. Quarterback is the position. The man. The guy. The big Swiss cheese. Newcombe will miss directing the team, for sure. Bin unlike some other folks who have either quit or threatened to quit or just gone AWOL from practice, Newcombe hasn’t wavered. And for that, he deserves credit, phis an apology from a gqod deal oftheHusker nation. “I gave my word to come here; I signed my letter of intent,”Newcombe said. “I don’t give my word, don't' sjgn my name cm something and not follow through with it.” fth rare to hear principles like that at a press conference. Easily, Newcombe could have claimed his current situation wasn’t what he Please see MCKEWON on 11