STORRS – Getting used to playing quarterback at the college level, with an entirely new team in an entirely different part of the country, has been a challenge for UConn’s Nick Evers. It hasn’t helped, either, that just about every other week he’s had to deal with a new medical setback.
Evers suffered head injuries in the season-opener against Maryland – a game coach Jim Mora called “an abomination” on Tuesday – and in Week 5 against Buffalo, causing him to miss the miracle win over Temple.
Using the bye week as time to ramp up for Saturday’s game against Wake Forest, one of the most anticipated on the Huskies’ schedule, Evers was also working through a toe sprain that started bugging him during the Buffalo game. Early last week, he was in the weight room doing his first set of trap bar deadlifts and “dropped the bar weird,” causing the 225-pound weight to land right on his injured toe.
“They had to remove the toenail that day,” Mora said Tuesday. “So he went through the whole week of practice without a toenail and he played that game with these big old hunky lineman shoes on to try to protect his toe.”
The injury certainly quelled some of Evers’ dual-threat ability (he ran six times for three yards) and his mobility outside the pocket as he tried to complete passes on the move.
“He’s fine now, he looked great today in practice,” Mora said. “There was just a different energy to him and it was a real positive thing. That’s what he’s capable of, and that’s what he’s going to become around here.”
Mora has harped on the need for Evers to see consistent time on the field in order to develop and acknowledged Tuesday that at some point, as Evers continues to start, he will have to stop saying that. But, for now, the “give him time” answer is still applicable.
“As he gets more comfortable with his own game, then he can become a little bit more of a forceful leader verbally. Out there today, he was a different kid out there on the field today at practice than he’s been,” Mora said. “I think that’s just the function of him having some confidence building from the fourth quarter (against Wake Forest). I want to see him just continue to be consistent and take care of the football.”
Dom Amore: A ‘no call’ spoils UConn’s day, but shouldn’t flush Huskies season
It was a rough first half for the QB on Saturday as he completed 11 of his 16 passes for 96 yards and an interception. He showed positive signs in the second half, when he was 4-for-8 with 41 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter and 11-for-19, 127 yards and another TD in the fourth.
“The best development is actually going through game reps and everything like that, and as time goes on, I see myself progressing and getting better and better. So (I’m) just trying to keep on stacking plays,” Evers said. “The more I play, the more confident I feel seeing coverages, going through progressions. One thing I just need to continue to work on all season is just being more consistent on everything, but other than that I see myself improving throughout my entire game.”
Evers has been told by Mora and quarterbacks coach Brad Robbins to “pamper” his body and spends extra time in the treatment room to make sure he can feel as close to 100% as possible.
“It put me to the test early on in the season, I had to battle through a few injuries and everything and I think it made me and the entire team stronger, just all the adversity that we all face,” he said. “I’m just excited to go into this week against Rice and go out there with my boys, with my brothers.”
Huskies lose starting lineman
Ben Murawski, a St. Thomas More alum and a starter at guard, will miss the remainder of the season after suffering what Mora called “a knee cap issue” in Saturday’s game. Murawski will have to have surgery once the swelling goes down. After he went out on Saturday, Kyle Jeurgens stepped into his role and suffered a scratched cornea, making the Huskies turn to third-stringer Brady Wayburn.
Mora said Jeurgens has recovered from the eye injury and he, along with Wayburn and Tank Green, will step into Murawski’s place.
Mora wants Huskies to be above officiating fray
Mora also addressed the controversial non-call on a potential pass interference against Wake Forest on UConn’s final drive Saturday, noting that the loss to Duke also came down to a non-call that went against the Huskies.
“I look back at our last two losses– and I’m not talking about Maryland, that one I think was an abomination– but you look at the last two ACC games and they really came down to the end of the game, one on the road and one at home, against two really good teams,” Mora said. “I want to get to a point as a football team where we can play a Duke or a Wake, and it doesn’t come down to relying on an ACC official to make a call against a team in their conference.”
“I don’ t think those officials do that on purpose. I don’t think they consciously go, ‘Oh, it’s an ACC team vs. an independent, I’m (not) going to throw the flag. But you know, it’s happened twice now. So that as a coach and as competitor, you go, I don’t think it’s happening, but it’s happened twice. But I want to get to a point as a team where that doesn’t even matter. … We’re in those games, but we’ve got to find a way to win them without relying on an official.”
