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Nebraska freshman cornerback Ciante Evans has gone from hoping to get a little playing time to on the cusp of his first start Saturday at Iowa State.
Evans saw mop-up duty in four games before Alfonzo Dennard went out with a concussion in the first quarter of last week's win over Missouri. Evans gave up no big plays, broke up a touchdown pass and stopped quarterback Blaine Gabbert during a goal-line stand.
''We didn't redshirt him because we thought he was a good football player,'' coach Bo Pelini said Tuesday. ''You don't really know until you're thrown into the fire like he was.''
Evans said he didn't expect much playing time this season, not with ninth-ranked Nebraska having NFL prospects in Dennard and Prince Amukamara manning the corners.
''I just wanted to get on the field,'' Evans said. ''That's the only thing I wanted to do, was try to play. I thought it was going to be very little because I knew the caliber of them. I was going to try to fall back and watch and learn.''
Defensive coordinator Carl Pelini had higher expectations for Evans. Though the Huskers are loaded at defensive back, Evans rose from the bottom of the depth chart to No. 3 cornerback, behind Amukamara and Dennard, in the three weeks of preseason camp.
''He's a real talent,'' Carl Pelini said, ''but at the same time he's got a good understanding of football. He was well-coached in high school. He played with good technique coming in and had a certain swagger and savvy about him.''
Evans was solid all afternoon against Missouri and finished with four tackles. He stood out in the third quarter as the Tigers drove from their 20 to inside the Nebraska 1.
Evans broke up what would have been a long touchdown pass to Wes Kemp. He and Jared Crick teamed up to keep Gabbert out of the end zone on a 17-yard scramble to the 1. Then, on third-and-goal from 1 foot, Evans and Cameron Meredith converged on Gabbert to make another stop.
''It was a wonderful experience,'' he said, recalling the rush of hearing 85,000 fans cheering the play. ''I was overwhelmed when I stopped him. I knew my defense had my back. It was crazy.''
The goal-line stop initiated by Evans was intriguing because the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder gave up 6 inches and 50 pounds to Gabbert.
''Well, he is a big guy,'' Evans said, ''but I had to do everything in my power for him to not be in the end zone.''
The native of Arlington, Texas, made an early verbal commitment to Nebraska in September 2009. He visited no other schools, even though he also had scholarship offers from Iowa, TCU, Utah, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and others.
Dennard took Evans under his wing right away. The two sit together in the film room and quiz each other on what to do in certain situations. Evans called Dennard his mentor.
Dennard didn't practice early in the week and is day-to-day. Bo Pelini said he must be careful with Dennard because of the seriousness of concussions.
Evans said he had mixed emotions when Dennard got hurt colliding with teammate Courtney Osborne as Osborne was trying to make a tackle.
''I was feeling bad because he's like a brother to me,'' Evans said. ''I was nervous, but I had to go out there and play and do what I was coached to do.''
According to Carl Pelini, he did it very well.
''He just loves playing football,'' he said. ''I was just impressed with the way he handled himself. He wasn't enamored or star-struck. He just played football, and that's not easy for a rookie to do.''
