Sports
Tuesday,August 31,1999__■ , - - _ ■Page 9
Crouch is
not leaving,
Solich says
By Samuel McKewon
Senior staff writer
In a strange final twist to the tight
race for starting quarterback at
Nebraska, the No. 1 guy became the No.
2 story.
While Bobby Neweombe was
named die starter for the Comhuskers’
first game against Iowa on Saturday,
media attention turned to the backup,
Eric Crouch, as rumors swirled that he
had left the team - and then was talked
into coming back by NU Head Coach
Frank Solich.
Crouch visited his old high school,
Millard North, Monday, as did Solich,
Millard North FootbalL Coach Fred
Petito said. But whether or not their
paths crossed, Petito said he was unsure.
Crouch was at NU’s practice
Monday, and while Solich said he “left
campus for a period of time” for “busi
ness I needed to conduct,” he would not
say where he went or whomhe talked to.
Petito said Crouch did not talk of
leaving Nebraska, although Crouch said
he was disappointed about losing the
starting job. Petito saidhe wasn’t sure if
Crouch and Solich even spoke Monday.
“Nah, Eric leaving the team is just a
rumor,” Petito said. “It’ll sell a few
papers, probably.”
Solich said that all situations con
cerning NU players are a team matter.
“I had many discussions with play
ers throughout the course of last week
and throughout the course of this week
end,” Solich said when asked about
Crouch leaving the team. “So to pick out
any one guy that I spoke to about any
one particular thing, I’m not going to do
that”
Crouch didn’t speak with reporters
after practice, though he will speak
today at Nebraska’s first regular-season
press conference.
The decision was told to both quar
terbacks Saturday after NU’s team
photo day. Solich said that Crouch was
disappointed about not winning the
starting nod.
“Certainly he took it hard,” Solich
said. “He’s a tremendous competitor; I
would expect he not take it easy. He’s
done everything he can to put himself in
. .^ —» ■ tT TrnSJ——aMBHMKI
Mike Warren/DN
JUNIOR BOBBY NEWCOMBE takes a knee during Nebraska's practice Monday. Newcombe was named the start
ing quarterback Saturday by NU Head Coach Frank Solich, but the decision was not announced until Monday.
position to lead this football team - and
that has to be a very, very tough thing
when you are not announced as the guy.”
In addition, Solich said, No. 3 quar
terback Jay Runty is looking at transfer
ring to another school. Runty had seen
backup duty last season behind
Newcombe, Crouch and Monte
Christo. Solich said senior Jeff Perino
will move into the slot
“I’d like to speak to Jay one more
time before it happens,” Solich said.
Meanwhile, about four feet away
from Solich, Newcombe stayed calm
through a barrage of questions that dealt
less with him starting and more about a
situation he “didn’t know much about.”
When asked if Crouch left the team
Monday, Newcombe said, “I have no
obligation to talk about that - - -
“I could put myself in his shoes, and
I’d be disappointed, too,” Newcombe
said “But also I understand this is a team
concept, and no one individual
is bigger than the program.
“Eric’s a big factor in us
being successful this season,
and he will play in every single
football game.”
Solich said Crouch will play
in both halves against Iowa. And
it’s possible, Newcombe said,
that both could be in the same
backfield at the same time.
“We have a few wrinkles
Matt Haney/DN
mat we migni tnrow in, iNewcomoe
said, “but at this point, we’re just trying
to execute our offense.”
Other Huskers did not see the quar
terback situation as a major setback.
DeAngelo Evans, who was officially
named the starting I-back Monday, saw
Crouch improving out of the tight race.
“I think Eric’s a great guy,” Evans
said, “and definitely a good quarter
back. He’s just in a tough situation. I
think it’s something he’ll grow from”
In the end, Solich said, he did not
anticipate a team morale dip coming
from Monday's odd set of circum
stances. Once again, the coach pleached
perspective, phis a bit of humor.
“It appears that there’s some feeling,
maybe, I was going to be stan&ng out
here by myself today looking for play
ers,” Solich said. “This team’s ready to
play some football.”
Evans na back position
_ X
Despite being sidelined for the
majority of last season with a knee
strain, I-backDe Angelo Evans has
officially regained his starting posi
tion, Nebraska Coach Frank Solich
announced Monday.
Evans, who suffered the injury dur
ing practice last fall, saw action in just
three games before having arthroscop
ic left knee surgery following the sea
son.
After missing most of spring ball,
Evans was listed as a co-No. 11-back
along with Dan Alexander and Cornell
Buckhalter on the post-spring depth
chart.
“Coming here, you understand that
there’s a lot of great athletes,” said
Evans, a junior “Itfs going to be a fight.
You rise to the occasion or you don’t.”
Behind Evans, Sblich said, junior
Alexander is listed as the Comhuskers ’
No. 2 I-back, followed by junior
Buckhalter.
Alexander took70 carries for 369
yards and four touchdowns in nine
games for Nebraska hist season. The 6
foot, 240-pounder started against Iowa
State and Kansas State.
“Dan Alexander Will play a great
deal,” Solich said. “He has eamedthat
right”
Buckhalter started seven games at
I-back for NU last fall and took 142
carries for a team-high 799 yards and
eight touchdowns.
u-;-**,-,-—
For a team, a lot is put on who's patting,
_ 6m? it’s going to tafe all qfjus to get it
done."
DeAngelo Evans
NU starting I-back
But no matter who the starter is,
Evans said, all three backs will con
tribute.
“For a team, a lot is put on who’s
starting,” Evans sad, “but it’s going to
take all of us to get it done.”
The Huskers Will take the field at
Iowa on Saturday in the 11 a.m. season
opener.
“We’re just ready, as a team, to go
out and play,” Evans said. “I think we
need a game to kind of gauge where
we’re at We’re about as prepared as we
can be.”
Kansas and Texas lost their sea
son openers on Saturday, giving the
Big 12 Conference an 0-2 start to
open the season. The Jayhawks fell to
Notre Dame 48-13 in South Bend,
Ind., and Texas faltered late in the
game to lose 23-20 to N.C. State.
Despite the loss, Kansas Coach
Terry Allen was optimistic about his
team’s performance in the Eddie
Robinson Classic.
“We really think it was excellent
for our program,” Allen said. “We
have a nice situation in that we have
two weeks before our next game, and
we came out of it relatively injury
free.”
■
Baylor Head Coach Kevin Steele
said he has started up a walk-on pro
gram patterned after Nebraska’s -
and it seems to be up and running
quickly.
“We have 137 players at this point
on the roster,” Steele said. “Eighty
five of them are on scholarship, so
that gives us 52 walk-ons. I believe
that is extremely good since Baylor is
a private university, and that makes it
hard to accommodate walk-ons.”
■
Texas dropped out of the latest
AP Top-25 college football poll after
its loss to N.C. State on Saturday.
Still, Texas Coach Mack Brown said
he wasn’t disappointed with his
team’s effort. ~
“I thought it was a great effort by
our defense, and the offense played
well for three quartos,” Brown said.
Every other ranked Big 12 team
moved up a spot in the poll following
the opening weekend. Nebraska
jumped to No. 5, Texas A&M moved
to No. 6, Colorado to No. 14 and
Kansas State No. 19.
N.C. State entered the rankings at
No. 24 after its upset of the
Longhorns in Austin, Texas.
■
Iowa State will be the next Big 12
team to compete when it plays host to
NCAA Division-I AA Indiana State
Sept. 2. Coach Dan McCamey said
he is anxious for game day to come.
“We are anxious to play a game,”
McCamey said. “We are expecting a
real good challenge and a good
crowd, too. We have tremendous
respect for Indiana State, and if there
is anybody on this team ignorant
enough to overlook a team, I don’t
want him on this team.”
Nebraska’s soccer and volleyball
teams mark a good example of two
squads opening up a season headed in
different directions. The NU soccer
team is 2-0 after weekend wins over
Texas Tech and Baylor. The volley
ball team is 0-2 after losing to Pacific
and Penn State in the State Farm
Classic this weekend in Lincoln. The
04 start is the first evdr in school his
tory.
■
The wife of Kansas State
Assistant Coach anddDefensive
Coordinator Phil Bennett died
Saturday morning after being shuck
by lightning on Aug. 11. Nancy
Bennett was buried in Manhattan,
Kan., on Monday.
Notebook compiled by staff
writer Joshua Camenzind