Michigan found itself trailing Purdue 10-7 late in the third quarter on Saturday — until sophomore running back Chris Evans decided to take matters into his own hands.
Michigan’s other two running backs, fifth-year senior Ty Isaac and junior Karan Higdon, had been ineffective all day, and Evans himself hadn’t done anything of note either.
His 10-yard touchdown run with 2:42 left in the third quarter gave the Wolverines a 14-10 lead, though, and they never looked back from that point on.
Evans scored by taking a direct pitch from fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn, and proceeded to run through a massive hole on the right side of the offensive line formed by redshirt sophomores Jon Runyan and Nolan Ulizio.
“We had the play in the game plan earlier in the week,” Evans revealed. “We took it out, because it didn’t look good in practice, but we came back to it and it was successful.”
Evans also talked about what it was like when O’Korn came into the game for injured redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight.
“He came in and it was next man up,” the sophomore confirmed. “There was no letdown in the huddle. Everybody was for him and we came out with the win.
“He worked hard all season. He's earned everything coming his way.”
Evans was projected by many to be Michigan’s leading rusher coming into the year, but things haven’t worked out that way for him so far.
He saw his playing time diminish last week when he lost a fumble against Air Force, but that didn’t deter him.
“I’ve always had confidence,” he insisted. “I always have confidence in myself, no matter what any website says, or what’s going on. I had as much confidence in myself then as I do now.
“We’ve put in so much hard work this season, and I’d hate for it to end right now.”
Who says it has to?
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