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ULM’s Evans Arrives as One of Sun Belt’s Brightest Stars

ULM’s Evans Arrives as One of Sun Belt’s Brightest Stars

Football Jul 24
By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist

NEW ORLEANS – Whether he was playing video games in the players' lounge with teammate Donald Louis, Jr., strumming the washboard during Sunday night's Fais Do-Do or conducting interviews wearing a tailored blue suit and a broad smile, ULM quarterback Caleb Evans looked like someone who belonged at Sun Belt Conference Media Day.

"He's been a really good ambassador for us," ULM coach Matt Viator said. "He was in the initial signing class for us when we came in. He's done a great job. I couldn't ask for anything more."

ULM's starting quarterback the past two-and-a-half seasons, Evans has gained plenty of respect as one of the Sun Belt's elite playmakers. He was the second-team quarterback on the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference squad and is the most-seasoned signal caller in the league.  

"When I came in, everybody was talking about Monroe's quarterback," South Alabama coach Steve Campbell said. "Now, I know why. The kid is an outstanding football player."

ULM touts a proud legacy of legendary quarterbacks and Evans is the latest addition to an impressive list that includes John Holman, Bob Lane, Bubby Brister, Stan Humphries, Doug Pederson, Raymond Philyaw, Steven Jyles and Kolton Browning.  

While he's honored to be mentioned among those greats, Evans knows his own legacy will be tied closely to helping ULM get over the hump and reach a bowl game in 2019. 

"It is motivation," Evans said. "You mentioned those guys and ULM has had some prestigious quarterbacks come through. It's definitely an honor to be mentioned with them and I'm motivated to reach some of those records. Because I know if I reach some of those records, our team will more than likely have a better season. Those goals are reachable and would help the team, so that's what I'm trying to do."

Entering his senior season with 22-straight starts under his belt, Evans ranks third all-time in total offense with 7,945 career yards, behind only Browning (11,808) and Jyles (10,234).

For his career, Evans has completed 518-of-862 attempts for 6,571 yards, 37 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. 
        
"Quarterback, there's a lot of pressure on you," said Holman, the former ULM quarterback who attended Media Day to support the current Warhawks. "Being up there with the guys who have done so well, that puts more pressure on you. Can you handle it? But he's done well. He throws well, he runs well. He's got so much experience now; he should have a super year this year. I'm 100 percent behind him." 

Offensive coordinator Matt Kubik was at Stephen F. Austin recruiting Evans out of Bishop Dunne High School in Dallas when he joined Viator's ULM staff. Kubik's hire gave the Warhawks an inside track on a player who amassed 4,457 yards of total offense and 64 touchdowns as a senior.    

"We didn't recruit a lot of Dallas where I came from," Viator said. "We watched him on tape and you could see he was a dual-threat guy from the get go. He can really run too. He did some good things as a passer too, and we thought he could improve as a passer in college. But it's hard to coach that athleticism that he has." 
 
By no means is Evans resting on his laurels heading into his final season. Certainly not after ULM finished 6-6 last season, bowl eligible but left out of the postseason. Evans laments ULM's missed opportunities as much as any diehard fan. 

"It's a hurtful thing to think about all the games," Evans said. "Lafayette at the end, Georgia State. It seems like we were still asleep. Troy too, some people forget about that game. We came back after we were down so much.

"It's motivation and inspiration to come back this next year to do better than we did last year. Just finish." 

Evans passed for 2,869 yards and 16 TDs and ran for 632 yards and 10 more scores in 2018. Still, the offense sputtered at times in the red zone, as the Warhawks scored touchdowns on just 27 of 49 trips. His interception total doubled from six in 2017 to 12 in 2018.  

"He dropped off a little bit in some areas last year, and he went back to work in the offseason and you have to give him a lot of credit for that," Viator said. "He worked hard and had a great spring for us. Some of the things Coach Kubik wanted him to work on, he has." 

Further proof of his focus, Evans looked lean at Media Day and said he's dropped a few pounds in the offseason. 

"I was 218 at the beginning of last year," he said. "I felt a little chunky, so this year, I focused on staying at 210 in that range to help my endurance and have more stamina and quickness when I'm running the ball."
         
Evans goes into the year knowing some of his favorite targets are gone. Playmaker Marcus Green was the Sun Belt Conference's only NFL Draft pick and R.J. Turner opted to transfer to another program after spring ball.

"I'll definitely miss those guys, Marcus and R.J., from the experience and leadership aspect and for their ability too," Evans said. "But we've got some young guys that I'm definitely comfortable with like Zach Jackson, Jonathan Hodoh, Jahquan Bloomfield, Perry Carter, Brandius Batiste. Markis (McCray) too. He's an older guy. I'm confident in these guys to step up because I feel like they're hungry to show what they can do. We're going to get in rolling."

Having a new batch of pass catchers could make Evans even more dangerous. Opposing defenders won't know where he's going next.  

"People bring up Marcus leaving and I'm going to miss a guy taking it 80 yards off a little slant or something," Evans said. "I'll miss that for sure. But it does give us the aspect in our offense of getting more guys involved. Defenses can't scheme us as much at the beginning throwing to four or five different guys, which should help us." 

Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell believes Evans has the ability to make players around him better too. 

"When you look at who's the best player in the league, that's how I define it," Chadwell said. "If that guy wasn't on the team, how good would they be? I think Caleb is one of those special players. Unfortunately, he got the best of us the past couple of years.
 
"We've played them twice and he makes that team go. You can just tell, when he's going good, everybody is rallying around him." 

 
Caleb Evans w Whitney Haworrth - 2019 Sun Belt Football Media Day
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