Spencer Evans' health and confidence back to normal

Last week seemingly every time Spencer Evans was noticed on Purdue's campus he faced the same question over and over.

"Are you OK?"

The senior kicker said friends, classmates and professors throughout the week kept asking him how he was feeling following the game against Boston College, after an announced crowd of 47,119 and a national television audience alike saw just how physically ill he was.

"It honestly made me a little uncomfortable because a lot more people than I ever realized were aware I was really sick," Evans said. "I'm not usually comfortable getting sympathy from other people. However, I will say that at the same time, I found out that I have a support system on this campus that I didn't realize was this big either."

In the days leading up to the 30-13 victory over Boston College on Sept. 22, Evans was dealing with a stomach flu that wasn't going away and on Saturday, Evans was committed to playing through despite knowing it probably wasn't the best idea.

"I've been close to that sick maybe one other time in my life when I was 13 or 14 years old but never that way on the field," Evans said. "So, I think I threw up on the field in pre-game about four or five times while people weren't looking. It was bad."

At the point of pre-game vomiting, Evans knew he had a problem that Saturday. He said he experienced all of the symptoms of being dehydrated and his opening kickoff felt off.

"You're light-headed and your coordination is off and then we kick off and I didn't get much on it and I'm thinking, ‘This isn't good,’” Evans said.

Evans, who is 9-of-12 on field goals this season and has had 63 percent of his kickoffs go for touchbacks, said a significant factor in his mind was the fear of his losing his starting job by pulling himself out of action with an illness.

"I'm thinking J.D. (Dellinger) and I had been through this pretty big battle for the kicker job this August and I worked my butt off to be the guy this season," Evans said. "The last thing I wanted to do was be the drama guy that doesn't feel good and isn't going to play."

After he missed the extra point following Rondale Moore's 70-yard touchdown reception to put Purdue up 13-7, Evans said he immediately ran over to the sideline to attempt to vomit again. At that point, the training staff told Evans his afternoon was over and wanted to take him into the locker room to make sure he didn't need an IV immediately.

And the illness didn't leave Evans' system until this past Wednesday, leaving his status for the road trip to Nebraska in serious doubt. The Baylor transfer said it wasn't until two days before the team plane left for Lincoln that classmates and teammates said, "That some normal color returned to my skin and my face.”

Adding to Evans' health status was Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm saying the coaching staff would "turn up the pressure" on the kickers that week in practice.

"Tuesday is a big day in practice for the kickers and I was still puking but I thought, ‘Well, I've put my coach in a position to have to talk a kicker controversy and you never want that so I needed to try to do something," Evans said.

Evans kicked three touchbacks Saturday at Nebraska, including the opening kickoff, which he said was big for his confidence, and nailed 31- and 25-yard field goals in the first half. All signs point to him retaining the placekicker and kickoff duties for the near future.

"I'd say my confidence was low before the Nebraska game but I knew it would be a hostile environment but I came away from this past game feeling much better in more ways than one," Evans said.

The Arlington, Texas, native says he'll return to his home state this weekend to see his kicking instructor, Scott Blanton, as a face-to-face checkup. Blanton was a former kicker for the Washington Redskins from 1996–1998 and now trains kickers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

"I sent him a little bit of film because I didn't have a great game against Eastern Michigan (missing a field goal and extra point) and ended up talking more about the mental part of the game," Evans said. "Whenever I go home to train with him, he gives me a little bit of a different perspective. It's a little bit less of an intense situation."

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