Colorado University Athletics
Photo by: Gary Breedlove
Brooks: Diminutive Evans Plays Large As Change-Of-Pace Tailback
September 27, 2016 | Football, B.G. Brooks
Sophomore Averaging A Position-Best 4.62 Yards Per Carry
BOULDER – When Chidobe Awuzie flashes back to his Pop Warner football days in San Jose, Calif., one of the enduring memories is of fullback Kyle Evans as Awuzie's lead blocker.
Read that again, ponder it for a moment, then flash forward to the current Colorado Buffaloes roster, which includes both Awuzie and Evans.
In Pop Warner ball, Awuzie played tailback, receiver and in the secondary – the latter area eventually becoming his on-field home at CU. As for Evans he didn't, ah, grow into the role of a college fullback. Fact is, he didn't grow much at all – at least not in stature.
"My dad's growth spurt stopped in the eighth grade and I've pretty much been the same size since the ninth grade," Evans told me Tuesday morning. "But I was always a small, muscular dude, even in Pop Warner. I came into high school (Archbishop Mitty) at about 150, so I've packed on a little bit of weight.
"But I always focused on making up for (size) in other ways, whether it was speed, catching, whatever. It never really got to me on the football field. I'm pretty OK with my body at this point in time."
And that's beyond OK for these Buffs. Size matters sometimes, but heart matters always. Evans might be in a low percentile with the former but he's off the charts in the latter. Watch him compete and you're watching a collective snapshot of this entire CU team.
Like Evans, the Buffs are steeped in confidence, selflessness and resolve. It's one reason – maybe the reason among a variety of intangibles – that they're a surprising 3-1 as October's first weekend looms. That's incorrect: Evans isn't surprised at the three-win September or the 41-38 win last weekend at Oregon that got CU halfway to bowl eligibility.
"We had it in us the whole time," he said. "We're a really close team. I've been here three years and the camaraderie on this team – I've never really seen it before. We just all seem to get along, position groups and all together.
"Sometimes it can be cliquey between position groups. But honestly, people (on this team) who are linemen, receivers, running backs – a mix of people are able to get along. It's great to see. We push each other as well. Over the summer I was hanging out with the D-linemen, the receivers and we were all pushing each other. Through the process I've seen us all grow a lot."
We'll refrain from any cheap growth/non-growth lines here and simply note that Evans is listed at 5-6, 175 and looks like a Pop Warner stand-in in those rare occasions when CU's offense huddles. But he fits in just fine, thank you, and his teammates respect him for his work ethic, grit, and productivity.
AWUZIE, A SENIOR, CALLS EVANSÂ "a big competitor" and acknowledges his toughness from their Pop Warner days. "When he came out here I was really excited for him, and then to see him earn a scholarship and for him to keep grinding . . . I always see him doing extra work off the field, so he really deserves the scholarship and the playing time."
Evans is one of only two tailbacks that position coach Darian Hagan – himself stretching to about 5-9 – can say he ever looked down at. "The other was 'Speedy'," Hagan recalled with a laugh, referring to 5-6 Rodney Stewart, the Buffs' last 1,000-yard rusher (1,318 in 2010).
Continued Hagan: "And those two guys are eerily similar. Kyle is more compact but just as shifty as Rodney. They're both the same person, they don't get rattled, nothing bothers them. You know you can depend on them, count on them to do the right thing at all times. It's been a blessing to have them here."
It's also been somewhat of a surprise to most people (except Evans) to see him now perched on the stat sheet as the Buffs' second-leading rusher in total yardage but No. 1 in yards per carry. Through four games he's carried 37 times for 171 yards – 42.8 per game and 4.62 per carry.
In the Buffs' last two games he's carried 14 times for 78 yards, including 10 rushes for a career-best 61 yards at Oregon. He's scored two touchdowns, one each in the blowout opening wins against CSU and Idaho State.
The three-point win at Oregon totally trumped his not reaching the end zone last weekend, with the victory showing him that "our team is growing up," he said. "In past years we'd be close like that and we wouldn't finish the games. This year we're starting to finish games and getting better each week – especially coming off a loss it showed a lot of maturity in the entire team. And we're not going to be complacent with one (big) win."
Only Phillip Lindsay is ahead of Evans in total yardage, averaging 62.0 yards a game (54 carries, 248 yards). At 4.59 yards a carry, Lindsay is just a fraction behind Evans. They've been the two top contributing tailbacks in a CU ground game that's averaging 211.5 yards a game (No. 4 in the Pac-12).
Lindsay has been as close to an every-down back as the Buffs have, with Evans offering another different look, staying consistent, and "balancing the offense from a run perspective," according to Hagan.
It's no slight on his work ethic and talent, but Awuzie said his former Pop Warner teammate's slight stature makes him that much more effective: "Since he's so short it's hard to see him over the linemen. So he has the knack of getting loose, and if you don't wrap up he's just going to pop off. I really love Kyle and what he's been doing. I've been pulling for him since day one; he's a San Jose kid like me so hopefully he keeps it going."
EVANS CAME TO CU AS A WALK-ONÂ but in this preseason camp earned a scholarship that was announced in a post-practice huddle. He was called in front of his teammates by coach Mike MacIntyre and told to read a letter.
Caught completely unaware, Evans believed he might be in trouble and mentally labored to remember something he might have done wrong. Not able to do that, he scanned a couple of paragraphs down, saw "scholarship" and let out a sigh as he read the rest of the letter.
He smiled broadly and his teammates mobbed him. The next practice he went back to doing what he does best – grinding with a purpose and making believers out of non-believers.
"Kyle has always gone hard and never complained about not having a scholarship," Lindsay said. "Kyle has been by my side through a lot along with Chido and a couple of the other guys on the team. But Kyle, as a running back, has always been by my side . . . I'm proud of him and hopefully he can continue to help us out and give us that spark."
In addition to his rushing role, Evans has caught a couple of passes for 29 yards and has earned one special teams point for an assisted tackle. Hagan isn't surprised: "He can do it all. He's on about every special team and he gives you 100 percent all the time – and our team is the same way; guys just keep battling, battling, battling. It's a joy to be around them, it's awesome."
Physically, the Buffs' tailbacks are not a large group. They're the Smurfs + One. The only 6-footer in the bunch is freshman Beau Bisharat (6-2, 215). Lindsay is 5-8, Donovan Lee is 5-9, Michael Adkins II is 5-10. Someone in August camp referred to them as the "Little Man's Group," and Hagan says he likes that enough to have T-shirts made.
"We might be undersized but we pack a lot of power," Evans said. "Even in the weight room all of us are among the heaviest lifters on the team. We might be the littlest group possibly but we make up for it in a lot of other ways. We bring a lot of different aspects to the game. Each running back has a different skill set and brings something new to the table.
"I think we're all looking to prove something. I think we all have aspirations we want to achieve individually and as a team . . . we're all trying to achieve those goals. I've achieved a couple of mine so far but there's other people achieving theirs as well as we speak. We're just basically trying to get better, build (the program) up and reach those goals."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Â
Read that again, ponder it for a moment, then flash forward to the current Colorado Buffaloes roster, which includes both Awuzie and Evans.
In Pop Warner ball, Awuzie played tailback, receiver and in the secondary – the latter area eventually becoming his on-field home at CU. As for Evans he didn't, ah, grow into the role of a college fullback. Fact is, he didn't grow much at all – at least not in stature.
"My dad's growth spurt stopped in the eighth grade and I've pretty much been the same size since the ninth grade," Evans told me Tuesday morning. "But I was always a small, muscular dude, even in Pop Warner. I came into high school (Archbishop Mitty) at about 150, so I've packed on a little bit of weight.
"But I always focused on making up for (size) in other ways, whether it was speed, catching, whatever. It never really got to me on the football field. I'm pretty OK with my body at this point in time."
And that's beyond OK for these Buffs. Size matters sometimes, but heart matters always. Evans might be in a low percentile with the former but he's off the charts in the latter. Watch him compete and you're watching a collective snapshot of this entire CU team.
Like Evans, the Buffs are steeped in confidence, selflessness and resolve. It's one reason – maybe the reason among a variety of intangibles – that they're a surprising 3-1 as October's first weekend looms. That's incorrect: Evans isn't surprised at the three-win September or the 41-38 win last weekend at Oregon that got CU halfway to bowl eligibility.
"We had it in us the whole time," he said. "We're a really close team. I've been here three years and the camaraderie on this team – I've never really seen it before. We just all seem to get along, position groups and all together.
"Sometimes it can be cliquey between position groups. But honestly, people (on this team) who are linemen, receivers, running backs – a mix of people are able to get along. It's great to see. We push each other as well. Over the summer I was hanging out with the D-linemen, the receivers and we were all pushing each other. Through the process I've seen us all grow a lot."
We'll refrain from any cheap growth/non-growth lines here and simply note that Evans is listed at 5-6, 175 and looks like a Pop Warner stand-in in those rare occasions when CU's offense huddles. But he fits in just fine, thank you, and his teammates respect him for his work ethic, grit, and productivity.
AWUZIE, A SENIOR, CALLS EVANSÂ "a big competitor" and acknowledges his toughness from their Pop Warner days. "When he came out here I was really excited for him, and then to see him earn a scholarship and for him to keep grinding . . . I always see him doing extra work off the field, so he really deserves the scholarship and the playing time."
Evans is one of only two tailbacks that position coach Darian Hagan – himself stretching to about 5-9 – can say he ever looked down at. "The other was 'Speedy'," Hagan recalled with a laugh, referring to 5-6 Rodney Stewart, the Buffs' last 1,000-yard rusher (1,318 in 2010).
Continued Hagan: "And those two guys are eerily similar. Kyle is more compact but just as shifty as Rodney. They're both the same person, they don't get rattled, nothing bothers them. You know you can depend on them, count on them to do the right thing at all times. It's been a blessing to have them here."
It's also been somewhat of a surprise to most people (except Evans) to see him now perched on the stat sheet as the Buffs' second-leading rusher in total yardage but No. 1 in yards per carry. Through four games he's carried 37 times for 171 yards – 42.8 per game and 4.62 per carry.
In the Buffs' last two games he's carried 14 times for 78 yards, including 10 rushes for a career-best 61 yards at Oregon. He's scored two touchdowns, one each in the blowout opening wins against CSU and Idaho State.
The three-point win at Oregon totally trumped his not reaching the end zone last weekend, with the victory showing him that "our team is growing up," he said. "In past years we'd be close like that and we wouldn't finish the games. This year we're starting to finish games and getting better each week – especially coming off a loss it showed a lot of maturity in the entire team. And we're not going to be complacent with one (big) win."
Only Phillip Lindsay is ahead of Evans in total yardage, averaging 62.0 yards a game (54 carries, 248 yards). At 4.59 yards a carry, Lindsay is just a fraction behind Evans. They've been the two top contributing tailbacks in a CU ground game that's averaging 211.5 yards a game (No. 4 in the Pac-12).
Lindsay has been as close to an every-down back as the Buffs have, with Evans offering another different look, staying consistent, and "balancing the offense from a run perspective," according to Hagan.
It's no slight on his work ethic and talent, but Awuzie said his former Pop Warner teammate's slight stature makes him that much more effective: "Since he's so short it's hard to see him over the linemen. So he has the knack of getting loose, and if you don't wrap up he's just going to pop off. I really love Kyle and what he's been doing. I've been pulling for him since day one; he's a San Jose kid like me so hopefully he keeps it going."
EVANS CAME TO CU AS A WALK-ONÂ but in this preseason camp earned a scholarship that was announced in a post-practice huddle. He was called in front of his teammates by coach Mike MacIntyre and told to read a letter.
Caught completely unaware, Evans believed he might be in trouble and mentally labored to remember something he might have done wrong. Not able to do that, he scanned a couple of paragraphs down, saw "scholarship" and let out a sigh as he read the rest of the letter.
He smiled broadly and his teammates mobbed him. The next practice he went back to doing what he does best – grinding with a purpose and making believers out of non-believers.
"Kyle has always gone hard and never complained about not having a scholarship," Lindsay said. "Kyle has been by my side through a lot along with Chido and a couple of the other guys on the team. But Kyle, as a running back, has always been by my side . . . I'm proud of him and hopefully he can continue to help us out and give us that spark."
In addition to his rushing role, Evans has caught a couple of passes for 29 yards and has earned one special teams point for an assisted tackle. Hagan isn't surprised: "He can do it all. He's on about every special team and he gives you 100 percent all the time – and our team is the same way; guys just keep battling, battling, battling. It's a joy to be around them, it's awesome."
Physically, the Buffs' tailbacks are not a large group. They're the Smurfs + One. The only 6-footer in the bunch is freshman Beau Bisharat (6-2, 215). Lindsay is 5-8, Donovan Lee is 5-9, Michael Adkins II is 5-10. Someone in August camp referred to them as the "Little Man's Group," and Hagan says he likes that enough to have T-shirts made.
"We might be undersized but we pack a lot of power," Evans said. "Even in the weight room all of us are among the heaviest lifters on the team. We might be the littlest group possibly but we make up for it in a lot of other ways. We bring a lot of different aspects to the game. Each running back has a different skill set and brings something new to the table.
"I think we're all looking to prove something. I think we all have aspirations we want to achieve individually and as a team . . . we're all trying to achieve those goals. I've achieved a couple of mine so far but there's other people achieving theirs as well as we speak. We're just basically trying to get better, build (the program) up and reach those goals."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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