| Mania Central |

| This Week |

| The Team |

| Join Husker Express |

| Husker Chat |

| Video Highlights |

| The Schedule |

| The Mall |

| The Tradition |

| The Big 12 |

Standout QB chooses NU

KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal Star

Bobby Newcombe and his father Bob were driving home to Albuquerque, N.M., from Ann Arbor, Mich., when Bobby asked to stop in Lincoln.

"I had been to the Nebraska football camp and was coming back from the football camp at Michigan and I wanted to tell Coach Tom Osborne I wanted to come to Nebraska," Bobby Newcombe told the Lincoln Journal Star Tuesday.

Newcombe was named the most valuable player at Nebraska's camp. "Nebraska and Coach Osborne had everything I wanted in a university."

Newcombe, a quarterback and defensive back, became the second 1997 football recruit to announce his intention to sign a national letter of intent next February. Although Newcombe's oral commitment is not binding (a signed letter is binding), the high school standout said there is no way he will change his mind.

"Nebraska is the place I've always thought about going since they started sending me letters a year ago," Newcombe said. "The style of offense we play at my school and the style they play is pretty similar. And when I got a chance to meet some of the players there in the weight room, and spend some time with Coach Osborne and Turner Gill, I knew I'd fit in."

Newcombe was named to the New Mexico all-state team as a quarterback and a defensive back. He was named the player of the year for Highland High School, which finished 10-3 last season.

Born in Sierra Leone, Africa, and raised in Albuquerque since he was in fourth grade, Newcombe was a leader on his football team the last two years.

"Because of Bobby's talents, some of our best plays were broken plays," Highland Coach Judge Chavez said. "He is particularly dangerous when he's trapped and we have 90 yards to go to score. He seems to be able to invent plays on the run and he can throw and scramble with the best. I really think he's a Tommie Frazier kind of guy, and I know you don't tell somebody from Nebraska that very lightly.

"I think if you ask anybody here in New Mexico, they'll tell you he is the best athlete in the state."

Newcombe was the state track champion in the 200 meters and finished second in the 400 and long jump. He had the state's best mark in the in the javelin and won the Phoenix Southwest Classic decathlon recently. Newcombe is also a three-year starter on his high school basketball team.

"Coach Osborne told me they recruited just one scholarship quarterback last year (Clint Finley) and they wanted to recruit me as a quarterback for next year," Newcombe said. "I know it's a long time until I get there. And I'm looking forward to a fun senior year of high school. But this is a chance that any kid would dream of taking."

Although he has yet to begin his senior year, Newcombe received scholarship offers from 14 NCAA Division I schools, including Michigan, Miami (Fla.), New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona and Texas.

Nebraska coaches cannot comment about any recruit until after they obtain a signed national letter of intent. The earliest a player may sign a letter of intent is Feb. 5. Earlier this week, Kyle Vonden Bosch of Larchwood, Iowa, a preseason All-America defensive end from West Lyon High School in Inwood, said he would accept a scholarship from Nebraska


| This Week | | The Team | | Join Husker Express | | Husker Chat | | Video Highlights |
| The Schedule | | The Mall | | The Tradition | | The Big 12 | | Mania Central |



Please feel free to leave a comment
Copyright 1996 , Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.
The Lincoln Journal Star is a Lee Enterprises newspaper.