Rashaan Evans (Alabama) celebrates with fans after being selected as the number twenty-two overall pick to the Tennessee Titans in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium. Photo | USA Today

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Rashaan Evans’ ascension to the NFL culminated with a quick phone call inside of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The former Alabama linebacker didn’t recognize the number, but with the Tennessee Titans trading up for the No. 22 pick in the NFL Draft, the Nashville area code was a dead giveaway. “When I looked down, I thought, ‘Wow, I didn’t think the Tennessee Titans would trade up to get me,” Evans told BamaInsider.com. “I was really expecting to go to the Cowboys or the Patriots. It was those two teams that me and my agent were talking to. It was definitely a shock that the Titans traded up to get me. That made me feel amazing, it just let me know that they really wanted me.” On the other end of the line was Jon Robinson, the general manager of the Titans. Robinson didn’t waste much time with small talk, asking Evans how he was before notifying him that he was now a member of the team. That brevity was more than welcomed by the linebacker who has spent the past two years dreaming of this moment. “To be honest, it really hasn’t hit me,” Evans said. “I’ve been ready to go to the NFL since my junior year. Me getting drafted now is not really a shock. The only shock is really just Tennessee picking me up. I’ve been ready for the NFL for a while.” Donning a crimson blazer, a smiling Evans then made his way toward the stage, embracing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with an ear-to-ear grin. There were no tears on draft day. Evans and his family shed those long before during his slow and arduous journey to where he is today — a process his father Alan has now dubbed “From the mud to the mountaintop.”

‘Oh my goodness, we have something here’

Tim Carter lost the game but found himself a pass-rusher. Heading into the first round of the Alabama Class 6A playoffs, the former Auburn High School football coach needed a way to get into the backfield against Fairhope and 6-foot-6 offensive tackle Robert Leff.

Naturally, he turned to his backup quarterback. Looking at the 6-foot-3, 234-pound linebacker today, it’s hard to imagine Rashaan lining up behind center. However, early on in his high school career, the versatile athlete served as a utility man of sorts for Auburn High. He was the Tigers’ backup quarterback, but Carter also deployed him at wide receiver as well as cornerback on occasion. Although, until that November night in Fairhope, the young athlete had yet to find his true calling. Due to an injury on the defensive line, Carter lined up Rashaan at rush end for the first time in his career. The sophomore’s first assignment: get past Leff, a future tackle at Auburn University. “I can’t remember, but he had at least two sacks. He may have had three,” Carter said. “We were like ‘Oh my goodness, we have something here.’ The next year he automatically became our rush defensive end. It was hard to stop him, he just eliminated the passing game.” Fairhope went on to beat Auburn 43-42 that night, but Carter and his coaches knew they left the game with a nice consolation prize. Rashaan’s quarterbacking days were over. “Rashaan was so aggressive. When those coaches found out how he could tackle the way he did, they started eying him for the defensive side,” Alan said. “They found out the kind of player he could be on defense, and it just overshadowed what he could do on offense.” The following year Rashaan was given the starting job at rush end beginning what would go on to be a stellar college career. The move paid off as Rashaan soon became one of the most feared defenders in the state, racking up 77 tackles including 43 tackles for loss with 17.5 sacks during his senior season en route to being ranked the No. 1 outside linebacker and No. 14 player overall in the 2014 class.

The hard way out

This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go. To this day, an internet search of Rashaan Evans will pull up what would have been his bio on Auburn University’s official website. Alan played running back for the Tigers with Bo Jackson in the 1980s, and the hometown community was expecting Rashaan to follow in his father’s footsteps on the defensive side of the ball.

Instead, the five-star pulled a red Alabama cap over his head, dropping a storm of hate and adversity on his shoulders. The Evans family plays down the worst of ugliness, choosing to move on and turn the page from what was a dark chapter in their life. The Alabama-Auburn rivalry is celebrated by the fervor it stirs in its fans. What’s often overlooked is how that heated passion sours into rage and revenge. "Free bar equipment to first come first serve!!!,” stated a Craiglist ad encouraging people to break into the Evans’ place of business. “We are tearing down old EndZone club… if no one’s there just come in and grab what you want hate to see it go to waste.” The threat resulted in a couple of break-ins and led Evans to report a burglary as someone broke into the business and took a cash register, CD player, speakers and lights. Now in his 18th year as owner of The EndZone, Alan seems to have made peace with the past incidents. He is understanding of the community’s frustration at the time and has long since come to a state of forgiveness. “It didn’t come from close friends. Most of the stuff we heard and experienced was from people we didn’t know,” Alan said. “Like I said, we understand why everybody was upset. Everyone was so invested in Rashaan going to Auburn and had very high expectations of him at Auburn. We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we made this decision.”

Crimson Tide and green grass

Rashaan describes choosing Alabama as a business decision. The Crimson Tide had previously sent linebackers C.J. Mosley, Nico Johnson, Courtney Upshaw, Donta Hightower and Rolando McClain to the NFL and had just added former five-star Auburn High teammate Reuben Foster the year before. However, that business investment had a slow return. Rashaan soon realized the NFL pipeline he dreamed of loses a bit of its luster while watching from the sideline as other players get the chance to audition for the next level. Buried behind a stacked linebacking unit, the bulk of Rashaan’s first two years at Alabama were spent on special teams. His sophomore season ended on a high note as he recorded three tackles and two sacks in Alabama’s 45-40 national championship victory over Clemson. However, those three stops were part of just 25 he recorded over his first two years with the Crimson Tide. That led to some inevitable second-guessing. “After his freshman and sophomore year there were some conversations about him possibly looking somewhere else,” Alan said. “I told him, ‘We came here for one reason, and that reason was to play at the University of Alabama, win championships and do the things that Coach Saban asked him to do." Despite Alan’s advice, he knew what his son was feeling. He, too, was overshadowed on the depth chart during his time at Auburn, playing behind one of the greatest players in college football history in Jackson. Ultimately, Alan decided to finish his playing career at Tennessee-Chatanooga where he was never heard of again. He was determined that wouldn’t be his son’s story as well. “I would tell any player, transferring is like looking at the grass across the fence. It looks green, but when you go over there you find out it’s not as fertile as you thought it was,” Alan said. “I just told Rashaan, just because that grass is greener on the other side doesn’t mean it is fertile. Once we set down and talked to Rashaan about that, the talk about transferring wasn’t even a thought.”

Breakout and tough breaks

The phrase was simple even if the task wasn’t. With plans of transferring out the window, the Evans family came up with a motto to help their son cope with hard times.

“Work while you wait,” they told him whenever he came to a challenging moment. Rashaan’s junior season would require a bit more patience. After making the switch from outside to inside linebacker in the spring of 2016, Rashaan was projected to fight for a starting role in Alabama’s upcoming season. However, a groin injury suffered in fall camp resulted in him serving as a reserve player behind Shaun Dion Hamilton. Still, Rashaan saw more playing time, finishing with 53 tackles and four sacks over 14 games. The two most important of those came in the College Football Playoff as he earned his first two starts while filling in for Hamilton after he tore his ACL during the SEC Championship Game against Florida. Rashaan tallied a combined 18 tackles and 1.5 sacks during the games against Washington and Clemson. While the season came up one second short of a national championship, he set the stage for what was promised to be a breakout campaign. The following month, a confident Rashaan proclaimed “I’ll win the Butkus Award” on his Twitter account. Due to his recent performance, not many disagreed. A little more than six months later, the senior linebacker’s chances of achieving that goal took a sizable hit. Rashaan suffered another groin injury during Alabama’s season-opener against Florida State. This one was a bit more gruesome as the linebacker described it on social media, stating muscle was ripped from the bone. The injury forced Rashaan to miss the following two weeks and limited him greatly in the weeks to come. “It was frustrating, but as athletes, those types of injuries are going to happen,” Rashaan said. “It’s not about how you feel, it’s about what needs to be done for you to get better. As athletes, we have to overcome different adversities.” Rashaan was able to bounce back. He tallied two sacks against Arkansas, starting a string of four straight games with a sack. He also finished with eight or more tackles in five of his six final college games, including a combined 17 in the College Football Playoff as he helped Alabama to a 17th national title. Rashaan finished his senior season with a team-leading 13 tackles for a loss and was tied for the team lead with 74 total stops. He also finished second with six sacks and was tied for second with seven quarterback hurries. It wasn’t the Butkus Award-winning season he had hoped for, but Rashaan was honored as a First Team All-American by the AFCA and was voted as a permanent team captain by his fellow teammates. “It was just interesting thinking, what if I was healthy,” Evans said. “I would have been able to do more things that I wanted to do. But I’m satisfied with the way things happened in my life, and I’m prepared for the things that will come.”

Match made in heaven

Rashaan’s conversation with Robinson and the Tennessee Titans staff brought with it another reminder of good news. Shortly after notifying Rashaan that he was a member of the Titans, Robinson shared a quick story, explaining that coaches weren’t the only ones excited to see him in Nashville, Tenn. "We had minicamp practice today," Robinson told Evans, "and [Derrick] Henry walked by me and winked at me and said, 'We're getting Rashaan, right?’" Henry, a former Heisman-winning running back at Alabama, has remained friends with Rashaan since their playing days together from 2014-15. The two talk about two or three times a month to check up on each other and hang out every time the running back returns to Tuscaloosa. “We are really pretty close. I’m always asking him how he’s doing, and he’s always asking me about the season and how I’m doing,” Rashaan said. “Obviously we won’t have to call each other to find out about that from now on.” Rashaan said he had talked with Henry a few times about playing together and that the running back promised to vouch for him with Titans coaches. However, he never figured that recommendation would lead to him being drafted.

Following the pick, the two shared a moment as Henry called Rashaan for a FaceTime conversation to celebrate. “After the pick, he called me and told me he was happy they got me,” Evans said. “I found out later that he was one of the guys who was one of the reasons why they got me. Having a guy like him who is consistently hard-working and does all the right things, that’s a good guy to have in your corner.” Another advantage Rashaan will have is the guidance of first-year head coach Mike Vrabel, a former NFL linebacker himself. Vrabel spent 14 years in the NFL and won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. “It’s great having a head coach that has also played my position,” Evans said. “It’s nice to know that I’m going to learn things not only from my position coach but also from my head coach.” Rashaan isn’t sure when the realization of reaching his dream is going to hit him. Perhaps it will come when he first puts on his helmet and trots onto the field at Nissan Stadium. Maybe it will occur on a trip back home to Auburn as he looks back at where this journey began. Then again, it might be a while before everything sinks in. He might have finally reached the top of the mountain, but life has taught him to never stop climbing.

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