After a year-long suspension due to an academic issue kept Michigan Wolverines fifth-year senior running back Chris Evans out all of 2019, he's back — focused and ready to play one more season with the Maize and Blue.
The year off had his challenges for Evans, who worked three jobs, delivering food and washing dishes, laying carpet and dry wall and being the special teams coordinator at local Ann Arbor Huron High School.
Once Evans, who has rushed 304 times for 1,722 yards with 14 touchdowns in his Michigan career, got word he was reinstated, he immediately put in his two weeks' notice and started working out with Wolverines' head strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert and "hit the ground running."
RELATED: INSIDE THE FORT: Latest On Fall Football, Practice Standouts & More
"I’m happy to be back," Evans told reporters Friday on a Zoom press conference. "It was a tough year off, just mentally and just everything.
"It was tough not knowing if you’re ever going to be able to play football again at Michigan. That was kinda like the big question as I got closer to the end of the school year and like November.
"I pretty much went the whole year without 100 percent knowing if I was coming back or not. It wasn’t my choice, it was Coach [Jim] Harbaugh and the school’s if they were going to let me back in and back on scholarship.
"I was just sticking to what I knew and was just grinding the whole time."
Though he wasn't quite sure if he would ever strap on a winged helmet again, Evans didn't think long about transferring or going straight to the NFL Draft.
"I didn’t 100 percent know I was coming back to Michigan, so that went through my head once or twice before, but Michigan is ‘Those who stay will be champions.’ I just stuck to that, and that’s what I did," he said.
"Life is all about patience. You gotta be patient; things will come to you. Just working it out, grinding and if you just keep working hard and trust in the process, everything will come together."
The 5-11, 216-pounder is gearing up for one final ride, whenever that may be. The next season will be his first playing under second-year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who implemented a spread offense, similar to the one Evans was a part of in high school.
"I would say it fits me a little better," Evans said. "But, whatever offense and whatever plays that we run, no matter what they are, if they fit me or not, I kinda gotta make it work. That’s what I’ve been doing at the beginning of my career here.
"The approach is pretty much the same mentally. We don’t really get into the big tight end, fullback sets. It’s a little more spread out. It’s a little bit less moving parts.
"It don’t change anything for me mentally. I’m just taking it day by day."
He doesn't have any statistical goals or thresholds he's trying to hit this upcoming season, but he's always had a chip on his shoulder, and that hasn't changed. Evans has more to prove.
"[I want to] just prove I’m a different player than what I was back in ‘18," Evans said. "That’s probably one of my biggest goals, nothing statistically or nothing like that. Just kinda finding my role and trusting in the coaches, trusting in my teammates, because all the other accolades will come on their own."
NOTES
• When Evans was on the team last in 2018, he knew redshirt sophomore back Hassan Haskins as a linebacker. Haskins, who rushed for 622 yards and four touchdowns in 2019, is now in the same position room as Evans, who has seen a lot of growth out of the former defender.
"Hassan has evolved really well," Evans said. "Hassan is getting better every day. He’s working harder in practice. This COVID stuff kinda gets you off course, but you just gotta stay locked in, and that’s what he’s been doing. Everybody’s been doing that."
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
