The Pro Bowl right guard has been fantastic for the Saints, and while I was mistaken in that he was a multi-time Pro Bowler (this year was his first time voted, although I could have sworn he got in last year, but whatever), the Saints uncovered a gem in this 4th round draft pick. And because I get such the proverbial hard-on for local products that end up successful on the big stage, I figured I would share this story with you by Jeff McLane about Evans in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer.
Growing up in North Philadelphia, the New Orleans Saints guard had "four moms" - his mother, Katreen Hopkins, and his three older sisters, Carmela, Geana, and Cheryl. They are the reason he is playing in tonight's NFC championship game against Minnesota, the 26-year-old Evans said.Really? The Eagles passed on Jahri Evans to draft Max Jean-Gilles? Are you shitting me? So this is what hell is like I guess......but I digress.....to show you the kind of impact he had on the game, here is Jahri Evans making Benny Sapp shit his pants on the key block that sprung Reggie Bush for the Saints first touchdown (the replay does not show it so as you watch it live, pay attention to Evans, who is #73 and starts out in his usual spot at right guard).
"My mother was strict, but not overly strict," said Jahri (pronounced Jah-ree). "Because having three older sisters was kind of like having four moms at the same time. They were a lot older than me. My younger sister is 20 years older.
"But they were very influential on my life. Growing up in the neighborhood, it was kind of hard with only women around you. But I think, looking back, that it helped me out a lot."
Evans, who is now 6-foot-4 and 318 pounds, grew up in Nicetown and went to Frankford High School. The sense of purpose developed at home served him well. He will start his 68th consecutive game tonight and was named to his first Pro Bowl. The journey, however, has been anything but smooth.
Forget for a second that he was raised in a neighborhood that even its residents would have difficulty describing as "nice."
"It was pretty rough," said Evans, who relocated his mother to Glenside after his second season in the pros. "Growing up there, you're used to it. It's your environment. But at a certain point in time you've got to go, 'I'm going this way even though my friends are going that way.' "
There were other roadblocks.
The summer before his senior year at Frankford, Evans broke a kneecap in two places in a pickup basketball game, wiping out his final scholastic season. Whatever nibbles he had drawn from Division I programs disappeared.
He ended up at Division II Bloomsburg. The Huskies weren't exactly known for producing NFL talent, but off he went. Then, after a redshirt freshman year, Evans suffered a broken ankle during his sophomore season.
Still, he kept his eyes on the prize.
"I never looked at it as if, 'I don't have a chance,' " Evans said Friday. "Even playing at Division II, even going through the injuries, there was never a moment where I thought, 'Man, I don't think I'm going to make it.'
"I knew that if there was going to be that chance, I didn't want it to slip past. I didn't want it to be my fault for not making it."
Starts at home
How does a player make the jump from low-level college football to the pros? It doesn't happen often.
"I would have said you were dreaming," said Tom Mullineaux, Evans' coach at Frankford. "But he always did well in high school and he always had that stick-to-itiveness that not many people have. He's just that type of person."
Evans credits his family. That upbringing helped most, perhaps, after his knee injury. He was always a good student, but with football on the shelf he delved into the books - with some prodding.
"His mother pushed him," Mullineaux said. "I just remember her being one of the more involved parents. I don't think she took a lot of nonsense. There were never any teachers in school that ever had a problem with Jahri, and that's not the way it always is, unfortunately."
Still, Mullineaux could see how much Evans wanted to play his senior season. He attended every practice and game.
"You could see something," Mullineaux said. "You just wanted to get this kid into college, maybe play some football, and graduate, and get a job. You wanted him to be a productive person in society."
Bloomsburg was recruiting other players when Mullineaux brought up Evans. There were no athletic scholarships left, but Evans' grades and SAT score earned him an academic free ride.
After the ankle injury and slow start, Evans eventually became the best lineman at his level. Following his junior and senior seasons, he was a finalist for the Gene Upshaw Award, given to the Division II offensive or defensive lineman of the year. The pros were a possibility, but a team had to be willing to take a chance.
On the bayou
Evans was among a handful of Division II players invited to the NFL's scouting combine in Indianapolis before the 2006 draft. He worked out for several teams, including the Eagles.
In the fourth round, the Eagles wanted a certain guard, but it wasn't the Philly native. So they swapped picks with the Saints, threw in defensive tackle Hollis Thomas, and moved up and took Max Jean-Gilles with the 99th selection. Nine picks later, New Orleans grabbed a project in Evans.
"A whole bunch of GMs are kicking themselves now," Saints fullback Heath Evans said.
Jahri Evans started his first game as a rookie. It wasn't supposed to be that way. He was supposed to bide his time behind Jermane Mayberry, the former Eagles Pro Bowler who had left Philadelphia two years earlier. But Mayberry, a Division II standout at Texas A&I, hurt his shoulder in training camp and soon retired.
"He helped me out a lot," Evans said. "He told me when I got the job, 'Hey, man, don't let nobody take this spot from you. It's yours now.' "
If his rookie season was occasionally rocky, Evans was much more consistent the following season. By his third season, those around the team thought that he had played at an all-pro level, although the recognition wasn't there.
"Call it arrogant, call it whatever, but guys say, 'OK, this is a D-II guy, why was he there?' " Heath Evans said.
But you can ignore the obvious for only so long. This season, the Saints had the NFL's top-ranked offense. Quarterback Drew Brees was sacked just 20 times, and New Orleans' three-pronged ground game counterbalanced an explosive passing attack.
"It may be a year later than he deserves to go to the Pro Bowl," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "A lot of times a player will get that on the back end. He'll play in that game a year longer than he should."
Evans said he used the slight as motivation. But when hasn't he had something to spur him on?
"I've had some adversity and some ups and downs, but I fought through it," Evans said. "I knew that if I kept a positive mind-set and just kept going, that, hopefully, things would work out. . . . And they have."
Best of luck in the Super Bowl, Jahri! Make Bloomsburg proud!
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