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7:57 p.m.: It's not unusual for a football player to not know when to walk away. Plenty hold on too long.

Jacob Hickman is choosing to get out early.

"I've decided that I'm not going to be playing ball anymore,'' he said. "Just hanging it up.''

Even with an invitation to the NFL Combine, the former Nebraska center is leaving the sport, concentrating on his final semester of school and preparing for wherever his degree in construction management takes him.

"I just look forward to whatever comes my way from here on,'' he said. "I've got a couple things in mind.''

Hickman obviously would have gotten a chance in the NFL. Scott Wright of NFL Draft Countdown lists him as the No. 13 center, and others have him as high as No. 10.

But it also was hard at times to watch Hickman limp through last season, bothered by ankle injuries and a late-season bruised hip that was about as big and ugly as anything you'd want to see.

So one of the good guys in the NU program, and a captain last season, is through after starting 37 games and playing in 44 for the Huskers.

"It's been a good time,'' Hickman said. "It did kind of set up to where I got a good experience out of it and I did not feel like I had anything else to prove to myself or anyone else. I got that out of my system.''

http://www.omaha.com/article/2010020...ED03/100209682