After former Michigan Wolverines football running back Chris Evans’ career got off to an impressive start in Ann Arbor (614 yards as a freshman in 2016 and 685 as a sophomore in 2017), the back half of his collegiate tenure did not go as planned.

An injury-plagued 2018 campaign only saw him rack up 423 yards, while an off-the-field issue earned him a suspension for the entire 2019 season. Evans came back as a fifth-year senior in 2020, but only compiled 73 yards and a touchdown while U-M suffered through its horrendous 2-4 campaign.

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The Indianapolis native received one last opportunity to showcase his skill set to NFL clubs during January’s Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Ala., however, an experience he was grateful for.

“Being at the Senior Bowl and all of us getting the same amount of reps in practice helped show a different side of me, talking with NFL teams,” Evans told the media this afternoon on a Zoom presser while previewing Friday’s Pro Day at U-M.

“I went against some of the top linebackers and top guys in college football. Talking to teams and meeting people was a big part of the experience, and I was appreciative for being selected.

“[Senior Bowl Director] Jim Nagy and his staff thought I’d be a good fit for the event and I went down there and showed what I could do. I tweaked my hamstring the Thursday before the game and decided not to participate in the game itself to not jeopardize it any further.”

Evans’ 2019 suspension was unsurprisingly a topic that came up in Mobile, with the veteran rusher revealing he explained to all 32 teams what occurred. He also noted he turned the adversity into a positive, telling pro organizations what he all learned from his off-the-field situation and how “it can all end in the snap of things.”

Despite returning from the year-long suspension, Evans’ fifth-year senior season did not go according to plan in 2020. He only received 16 carries on the year, with his 73 total rushing yards checking in fifth on the team.

Granted, U-M’s horrendous offense as a whole, a subpar offensive line and poor coaching undoubtedly deserves at least some of the blame as well.

“Anything that occurred after I came back from my suspension was seen as a blessing,” he exclaimed when asked what he expected his original role to be in 2020 before the season began.

“Whether I got one carry or 1,000,000 carries, I was going to take advantage of every chance I got. As soon as I got back, I just trusted the process. After sitting out the spring following the suspension, the season got canceled and then came back again, so I felt good [physically by that point] and was ready for whatever came next.”

With his Wolverine tenure now in the books, Evans will next turn his attention to the NFL. He is seen as a fringe draft prospect, appearing in the late rounds of some mock drafts but not in others.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh has conducted his Maize and Blue squads much like an NFL organization in regards to how they operate and function, an element that has given some Michigan players a leg up in past drafts in the eyes of pro teams.

“The playbook we used early in my career with the west coast style, with [then-offensive coordinators] Coach Pep [Hamilton] and [Tim] Drevno, and [former passing game coordinator Jedd] Fisch [has paid dividends],” Evans explained.

“We ran the same stuff with the same names at the Senior Bowl. The high-tempo practices and having NFL coaches around helped a lot too. Michigan has prepared me well for what’s next.”

Notes

• Evans was asked to reflect this afternoon on some of the highs and lows he experienced during his five years at Michigan, with his selections for each not coming as a surprise.

“Some of the highs here were when we had good team success, with the highest being in 2016,” he recalled. “That was a great team and we played in some really big games that year.

“The lows were the 2019 year I sat out — it was the lowest point in my life. Another high was coming back to school and graduating.”

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