Rix regained the job three weeks ago, after McPherson was suspended indefinitely from the team. Normally, the replacement quarterback would have been Adrian McPherson, a sophomore who replaced Rix as the starter after eight games this season. The backup will be Matt Henshaw and the third-stringer will be Anquan Boldin, a wide receiver who played quarterback in high school. With Rix gone, Bowden said the starting quarterback for Florida State (9-4) would be Fabian Walker, a sophomore, who has thrown only 8 passes for 74 yards all season. I talked to the university about my circumstances, but the decision had already been made.'' I'm in good academic standing and am on track to graduate on time. Rix also said in the statement: ''I apologize to my teammates, coaches and the fans. In a statement from Rix released by the university, he said he had been bothered by a personal family issue. Unlike Rix, who is on an athletic scholarship, Sanders had played major league baseball the previous summer with the Yankees and was paying his own way at the university.īowden and other university officials said they could not give additional details of Rix's situation because of student confidentiality laws. Sanders, a celebrated cornerback at Florida State and then in the National Football League, played in the 1989 Sugar Bowl even though he had not taken any final examinations. Such a decision is automatic at Florida's 11 public universities, notably Florida State and the University of Florida, under what has become known as the Deion Sanders rule. Bowden then told reporters that Rix had been declared academically ineligible for the bowl game, saying, ''It was an academic decision.'' After practice, Coach Bobby Bowden explained the situation to his players. Rix, a sophomore from Santa Margarita, Calif., did not take part in practice yesterday. 1 in New Orleans, because he overslept and missed an early-morning final examination in a religion course. The university declared Rix ineligible for the Sugar Bowl against Georgia on Jan.
Chris Rix, the Florida State quarterback who lost and regained his job this season, lost it again yesterday.