It was supposed to go something like this, with Kevin Lawrence taking the handoff on the first offensive play of the last game of his college career.
But it wasn’t supposed to be a token start, a senior tribute handed out by a coach whose charity would last only through the first series. And there definitely wasn’t supposed to be a fumble.
Lawrence, who a year ago looked like the logical successor to Damien Anderson, was given the ball on the Illinois 10-yard line after the Fighting Illini turned it over on their first play. The tailback picked up five yards around the left end and quickly grabbed the next handoff as well. He then broke through an opening up the middle, dove for the endzone — and had the ball knocked from his hands by Illinois cornerback Eugene Wilson.
“I was kind of hoping that if I played well enough, it would dictate the pace of the game,” Lawrence said after Northwestern’s one-touchdown loss Saturday. “Had we scored, it would’ve actually changed the flow of the game.”
Instead, Lawrence spent the first quarter feeling sick. And he spent the rest of the game with his helmet on his head, toeing the sideline and waiting for the wave back onto the field that never came.
He was a spectator among the reserves, not counting a few special teams appearances. And touring the sidelines, he could have been a sad poster boy for a senior class awkwardly wedged between the success of the 2000 Alamo Bowl season and the future of Brett Basanez and Jason Wright.
A fifth-year senior, Lawrence spent his first four years at NU waiting out Anderson, the one-time Heisman hopeful and all-time school rushing leader. He then spent his last year watching Wright come into his own at Anderson’s old position.
What happened in between was a window of opportunity for Lawrence that turned out to be less than 45 minutes long.
Anderson dislocated his shoulder in the eighth game of the 2001 season against Indiana.
The injury that prematurely ended Anderson’s college career gave Lawrence the first start of his. He appeared primed to grab the opportunity and started against Iowa by collecting 51 yards on nine carries.
But in the third quarter, Lawrence took a hard hit and left the field with a lateral meniscus tear that had to be surgically repaired during the offseason. He sat out the last two games, while Wright was shifted from wide receiver to tailback.
And by the time Lawrence’s knee was back to its old form early this season, Wright, now a junior, had a stranglehold on the starting job.
With the program in transition — and Wright racking up 100-yard games — there wasn’t much for a recovering senior with a shaky knee to offer this year. Saturday’s fumble just seemed like a fitting end.
“I guess things do actually happen for a reason,” Lawrence said. “I definitely wanted to play this year, I definitely wanted to contribute. But not playing as much as I wanted to, I basically had to learn how to be a better teammate.”
Head coach Randy Walker, normally a no-tolerance fanatic about protecting the ball, could only shake his head for Lawrence after the game.
“Boy, I feel so badly for him,” said Walker, who picked up the tradition of starting all seniors while coaching at North Carolina. “I’ve always done it, and there’s no second-guessing about it. I’m going to do it again next year. I feel horrible for him, but he had a great career.”
After the game, Lawrence stood on the sideline while most of his teammates dashed for the locker room. He surveyed the stadium — on guard for any Illinois players disrespecting his Wildcats statue by the south endzone — and trudged off the field with the slowest postgame walk of his career.
“I was just taking it all in, my last college game, going on to something else,” he said. “You come in as a freshman not really knowing what to expect, and now you’re transitioning out.”
Emily Badger is a Medill senior. She can be reached at [email protected].
