“It was like the day that I heard coach Rhule got the job,” Newby said. “He called my cell phone. I didn’t know him. He says, ‘This is Evan Cooper from Nebraska. I want to talk about Eric Fields.’”
The hire of Cooper as the Nebraska secondary coach and Rhule’s most trusted talent evaluator was not announced until Dec. 1. But there he was, on the phone with Newby.
“If we ever offer a guy that no one’s heard of,” Rhule said, “it’s because of Evan. Because he stays up at night and texts me at 3 in the morning, watching this guy, watching that guy.”
Cooper told Newby that Fields’ play and athleticism rated as more striking than any film of a linebacker that the new Nebraska assistant had watched.
“I started smiling,” Newby said, “because I know what Eric is all about. And then (Cooper) said, ‘What’s going on? Why has he not been taken?’ I was like, ‘Good question.’”