Notre Dame receiver Shaquelle Evans played in the first five games as a freshman in 2009, making seven catches for 61 yards, including four grabs for 34 yards against Washington.
But Evans did not play the next week against USC, his hometown school, and did not play at all in the final seven games except for a few snaps at the end of a 40-14 blowout win over Washington State in San Antonio.
Charlie Weis maintained that Evans was not in any type of doghouse, but it seemed obvious that there had to be some reason why the freshman went from solid contributor to bench-warmer so suddenly.
After practice on Wednesday, Evans said he did not know why.
“That’s why I was very, very upset about that. I didn’t know what I was doing so wrong for me not to play the last six, seven games of the season,” he said. “I really don’t know.”
Evans did ask the staff, but that did not solve the problem.
“I asked and they said I didn’t practice well one week, so I was like, ‘OK, I’ll pick it up.’ I picked it up and I still didn’t play,” he said. “So I don’t really know what else I could have done that made them not want to play me.”
Evans admitted that he was thinking about transferring.
“I was thinking about leaving, but I didn’t want to seem like a quitter because I’ve never quit on anything in my life,” he said. “That’s what drove me to stay here.”
He is happy now and expects to play a major role in Brian Kelly’s offense.
“I see myself fitting in well in this offense. It’s an offense for receivers,” he said. “The pace of it is kind of hard, but everybody’s picking it up.”
Evans has also appreciated the changes that Kelly has made to the team’s culture.
“He’s emphasized that we need to be more together. Basically, he needs the team to be more like a family. He said that’s how they were at Cincinnati and that’s how they won,” he said. “Teams that are together win together. That’s what the biggest change is here.”
