Nebraska's Buckhalter to back up I-back

Buckhalter, back from a one-game suspension for skipping practices, is now the No. 2 running back in the Cornhuskers' "I-back" formation after the departure of starter DeAngelo Evans, who abruptly quit the team just two games into the season.

This was not how Buckhalter, who led Nebraska in rushing a year ago, pictured moving back up the depth chart.

"I don't feel good about DeAngelo leaving the team (and) making my role on this team better," Buckhalter said. "I hope DeAngelo comes back and doesn't go out like the way it's going right now."

But Nebraska coach Frank Solich said it's unlikely Evans will return to the team, leaving the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers with new starter Dan Alexander and Buckhalter as the only experienced I-backs.

"It's something that can very easily happen," said Solich, who had to do the I-back shuffle last year when Evans and Alexander went down with injuries. Buckhalter ended up playing 12 games despite an injured hamstring, a hip pointer and torn bursa sacs in both elbows and finished with 799 rushing yards.

"What always looks like a deep position all of a sudden can turn into one that's not too deep," Solich said.

Solich suspended Buckhalter from last week's 45-0 shutout of California. Buckhalter, who said he was frustrated after getting just three carries as the Cornhuskers blew out Iowa 42-7 in the season opener, didn't come to practice until the following Thursday and Solich said he thought Buckhalter might have quit the team.

"I wasn't thinking about leaving. I was just under a lot of frustration. I thought I should have played a lot more in the Iowa game than I did," Buckhalter said. "I just took some wrong steps by not showing up and not communicating with anybody. Which was bad on my part because it caused a lot of confusion."

Solich and Buckhalter sorted out their issues and Buckhalter, a junior from Collins, Miss., will be back in the lineup on Saturday when Southern Mississippi visits Memorial Stadium. Buckhalter says Southern Miss was his second choice as a recruit.

"The night before we signed the letter of intent I wrote down some positive things about Nebraska and some positive things about USM - and some negative things also," he said. "I just prayed, whenever I woke up the next morning, the team that I felt I should play with and that was the decision that I made."

Southern Mississippi is the school where Buckhalter's brother, Chris, was a running back earlier this decade. Chris Buckhalter led the Golden Eagles in rushing in 1994 and 1995 and finished with 1,533 career rushing yards.

In August he was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of manslaughter in a 1997 slaying.

Correll Buckhalter wants to concentrate on football and not his brother's troubles. He says he's looking forward to playing against Southern Miss, the Conference USA champions in 1996 and 1997.

"They have a lot of great players down there. I think it's just the conference that they're in that doesn't let them get the recognition like other schools in the Big 12 or Big 10 or SEC," he said.

Buckhalter, who grew up about 30 miles northwest of the Hattiesburg, Miss., campus is glad it's a home game for the Cornhuskers for several reasons.

"If the game was played in Hattiesburg I don't think that I'd have enough tickets," he said. "I'm kind of happy that we're playing here in Lincoln and can show some of those guys the type of atmosphere that I play in here in Nebraska."

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