Comeback signals are mixed for QB Crouch

[Husker_Power]

BY DIRK CHATELAIN

 

LINCOLN — He's almost as fast as the option specialist who won a Heisman Trophy seven years ago. So if someone calls Eric Crouch looking for a quarterback, he's willing to listen.

 

"It's hard to give up football, it is," Crouch said Friday. "I feel like I'm just getting to that point in my career when I'm understanding the game much more from a passing perspective."

 

Crouch, 29, hasn't played a down in almost a year, but he's not sure he's ready to call it quits. He's heard other players say an athlete knows when he can't do it anymore. Crouch doesn't feel that way.

 

"I guess you shouldn't be done until you're done," he said.

 

It's a decision Crouch has faced often since he left Nebraska in 2002: pursue a dream of playing quarterback professionally, or move on to the post-athletic phase of life.

 

For now, Crouch waits. He spends time with his family in Omaha. He operates Crouch Recreation, which sells playground equipment. He works out and keeps the phone handy.

 

Crouch, who will sign autographs on behalf of Alltel at Oak View Mall today from noon to 2 p.m., says he could play five more years. But he's torn. He doesn't want to sit on the sideline when he could be growing a life and a business back in Omaha.

 

"Believe me, I don't even get bored right now, and I'm not even playing," Crouch said. "I've got enough to do running a business and I've got two kids and a wife and two dogs. Believe me, all that, I've got plenty of things to do."

 

Football opportunity seemed ripe a few months ago when Crouch was selected as the face of an All American Football League franchise in Houston.

 

For six months, he stormed the country to promote the new league. Crouch thought it was a fantastic idea: spring football in college towns, young talent that could develop and join the NFL.

 

But Crouch's Team Texas sold only 250 season tickets, and the league folded in March before a game was ever played.

 

Disappointing, Crouch said, but not surprising. He said Marcus Katz, the money behind the league, got some bad advice.

 

"I think he was told he was going to sell out all these college stadiums the first year," Crouch said.

 

It was unfortunate, Crouch said, because he had spent a lot of time with Team Texas coach John Jenkins, a run-and-shoot guru.

 

Crouch said his understanding of the passing game clicked while he was playing for the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts in 2006-07.

 

"I always knew I could throw, but there's more than just being able to hose the ball."

 

Injuries derailed him in Canada. Crouch broke his collarbone early in the 2006 season when a linebacker drove him into the ground. He missed the rest of the season.

 

"Unbelievable. I've been hit a million times and never broken a bone."

 

During the 2007 preseason, he blew up the bursa sac in his knee. He was released this past September.

 

Knowing he can still perform — and perhaps play the position better than he ever has — prompted Crouch to send letters this spring to NFL and CFL teams, inquiring about a potential need for him.

 

"I didn't get a lot of feedback."

 

If this summer passes and Crouch doesn't get a call, it'd be pretty hard to go back, he said. Those CFL paychecks seem even less enticing as he gets older.

 

"Getting out now, I can still walk. I don't have a broken neck. Those are things you risk. I'm going to go risk that for $50,000?"

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Time to call it quits Crouch...........................

[Blackshirtsguru]

He should have called it quits right after he was told he wasn't going to be a QB in the NFL. I lost a lot of respect for the guy after he quit on the Rams!

[BIGREDIOWAN]

He should have called it quits right after he was told he wasn't going to be a QB in the NFL. I lost a lot of respect for the guy after he quit on the Rams!

I agree considering I'm a Rams fan. The guy should've just been a receiver and accepted that because he had the skills to be a better receiver than a QB in the NFL. What a waste of talent...............

[BigBL87]

He needs to get it through his head that he is simply not a pro QB. Even if he came back now, I think he could do darn well as a receiver. But, I don't see him doing that.

[huskernumerouno]

Eric should focus on his family and business, Football is or should be done for him.

[hack]

yah, but who could turn their back on a past like this...

 

(turn down the music... it's rap)

 

6DYJi78w0G

[HUSKER 37]

yah, but who could turn their back on a past like this...

 

(turn down the music... it's rap)

 

6DYJi78w0G

 

Music?

 

6DYJi78w0Gs

(I think you forgot the s at the end of your youtube code)

 

You're right..those Square dance callers in the background is mighty distractin'