The White team upset the Cardinal team 35-28 on the strength of backup quarterback Owens Daniels’ three-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. It was the White team’s only score of the day, but the Cardinal team played without the majority of its top players after Lee Evans suffered a knee injury late in the first quarter.
The injury occurred as Evans landed after making a leaping grab at midfield on a 36-yard Brooks Bollinger pass. Evans was moved off the field with assistance and put no weight on the leg. After receiving some treatment on the sidelines, he was taken to the locker room.
Heading into Saturday’s scrimmage, Alvarez cited injuries as his biggest concern.
“My whole thing coming in, if I said it once, I said it five times before this game: ‘If we can just get out of here without an injury,'” Alvarez said after the game. “That’s the kind of thing you worry about in spring practice.”
Shortly after the injury, most of UW’s other key offensive players left the game as coaches decided to guard against further injuries.
Following the game, a visibly upset Barry Alvarez announced the team doctors’ initial prognosis of Evans’ injury.
“Unfortunately, Lee (Evans) has some ligament damage,” Alvarez reported. “They’ll continue to test it, but it appears as though he’ll have surgery on [the knee]. We don’t know when or the extent of it, but it certainly appears that there will be some surgery.”
Alvarez’s comments were not a sign of encouragement for UW faithful. The suggestion of surgery from the usually tight-lipped head coach was read by many as an indication of the severity of the knee injury.
Prior to the injury, the Badger offense was regarded by many as the best in the Big Ten. Evans, the teams’ top wide receiver, had chosen to return and play his senior season after earning second-team All-American honors by catching 75 passes for 1,545 yards.
Evans elected not to enter the NFL draft — which began Saturday — after his junior year but was projected by ESPN’s Mel Kiper as a top-five pick in 2003.
The injury to the only proven veteran in the receiving core will force other receivers into the spotlight. Six-foot-7 Darrin Charles, who had 14 receptions last season, may have the difficult task of becoming “the go-to guy” if Evans is unable to get back to 100 percent by the fall season.
Other coaches were even more straightforward about Evans’ knee injury than Alvarez. Offensive coordinator Brian White acknowledged that surgery was going to take place without a doubt, but also commented strongly that Lee Evans would be back next fall.
“Whenever someone, particularly of Lee’s caliber, gets hurt, it really rips your heart out. You get the emptiest feeling in your stomach. It deadens everything,” White said. “I do know this about Lee Evans: He’ll be back. He is going to help us win a Big Ten Championship because that is who he is . . . He is the most competitive athlete I’ve ever been around. He lives to compete, and he will compete.
“He is going to impact our team; he will catch the winning pass that puts us in the Rose Bowl. Put that in your book. He’ll be there.”
As of Sunday, trainers planned to reevaluate Evans’ knee Monday, with a more detailed prognosis expected.
A worst-case scenario would be a torn ACL. Traditionally, a torn ACL is a six- to nine-month injury, but recently recovery times have been improving. During the past college basketball season, Illinois’ Lucas Johnson returned to play in just three months, but this type of recovery time is virtually unheard of.
One Badger familiar with the injury and what Evans is going through is linebacker Broderick Williams. Williams was slated to be the top running back for Wisconsin during last year’s spring practice before tearing his ACL.
Williams returned to the Badgers midway through the 2001 season, but struggled for a time to become completely comfortable with his knee.
“[I became comfortable] the last couple of games of the season,” Williams said. “That is when I started getting in sync, and that is when I started getting my rhythm.”
Williams acknowledged that the rehab from an injury of that magnitude is long and hard, but it is possible if you work hard enough.
“The rehab process takes a lot of work,” said Williams. “It takes patience; you just have to keep working. It takes the desire to come back and do well.”
While the injury has put a damper on what had been a very good spring practice session according to Alvarez, the general sentiment is that if anyone can get back from an injury in a hurry, it is Evans.
Receivers coach Glen Mason may have summed up the team’s opinion of Evans’ ability to recover quickly when answering the question of whether or not it was too early to count Evans out for next year.
“Lee Evans, are you going to count him out? I’m not.”
