By: Joey Mullins
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--Today, we continue our series named the S-Club Profile, focusing on former student-athletes and giving updates on what they have been up to since finishing their Samford careers. In today's sixth edition, we will highlight Chris Evans, who starred as a running back for the Samford football team from 2007 to 2010.
 
Evans played his high school football at Alexandria High School in Alexandria, Alabama, but he originally signed with UAB out of high school. After redshirting with the Blazers in 2006, Evans transferred to Samford when the Blazers' offensive coordinator, Pat Sullivan was hired as Samford's head coach.
 
Evans said Sullivan had a lot to do with him deciding to become a Samford Bulldog.
 
"At the time, it was more the relationship I had built with him at UAB," Evans said. "I was going to look at transferring that semester anyway, and I just felt, when I met with him after the season that it would be a good opportunity. He talked about that vision that he had for Samford. He actually went beyond what he thought in 2007. It was that relationship, the academics that Samford has, and then also having the opportunity to come in and play and start as a freshman was big for me too."
 
 
Evans came to Samford and made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2007. That season, he rushed for 1,033 yards and was named to the Ohio Valley Conference's All-Freshman team. Following that season, Samford made the move to its current home, the Southern Conference.
 
Evans said he looked at the move as a positive for the athletics department and for Samford University.
 
"It was actually really good for the program," Evans said. "I think it gave Samford some exposure that we needed, and it's kind of vaulted us into the next few years of getting better and better recruits and athletes, and I think that is evident now as you can see the number of people that we've had that have gone on to play professionally. I think it increased our recruiting and put us up there with some of the top tier programs in the FCS."

As a sophomore in 2008, Evans had a break-out season. He rushed for a school-record 1,284 yards, a record that still stands today. He earned first team All-SoCon honors after the season. Evans said he liked being one of the focal points of the offense during that time.
 
"It was something I was used to, coming from high school in the Wing-T offense and being a heavy run team, so I welcomed the challenge in college as well," Evans said. "I think we had some good success with it. Looking at it now, it's funny, some of the guys and I talk about it now it's the complete opposite, you throw 40 or 50 times a game, in comparison to when we played, we kind of just lined up and ran the ball at you."
 
Evans continued to put up impressive numbers as a junior and senior. He rushed for 1,152 yard as a junior, earning first-team All-SoCon honors again. As a senior, he rushed for 1,106 yards, making him the only player in Samford history to rush for at least 1,000 yards for four-straight seasons. He was again named to the All-SoCon team following his senior season.
 
For his career, Evans rushed for an impressive 4,575 yards. His career total is still the most of any collegiate running back in the history of the state of Alabama. The player that is third on that list is the legendary Bo Jackson from Auburn. Evans said having a player like Jackson so high on the list made it even more special for him.
 
"It was something that I didn't even know about until, one day at practice Coach Sullivan came up to me and said, hey, you're a certain amount of yards away," Evans said. "Once I got the news from Coach Sullivan that I was close, it was definitely something that I wanted, just because, growing up, Bo Jackson was someone that I really looked up to. I didn't get to see him play as a kid, because I was really young, but, Walmart had this tape bin of old game films from when he played at Auburn and I would watch those, and I became a fan of his."
 
Evans earned his undergraduate degree from Samford in sports medicine in 2011. After his playing career ended, Evans came back to Samford to attend the McWhorter School of Pharmacy. Evans said being a student-athlete helped him during his time in pharmacy school.
 
"I found when I first got to pharmacy school, that I actually had a lot of free time," Evans said. "I actually had more time than I had ever had to focus on school. So, I did well in pharmacy school, just because I had that preparation of always being able to time manage and do those kind of things as well as perform on the field."
 
Evans graduated from pharmacy school at Samford in 2016. He now serves as the pharmacy manager at the Walmart in Anniston, Alabama. He says graduating from Samford went a long way to preparing him for his current position.
 
"It almost over prepared me, because of the time management you have to have as a student-athlete," Evans said. "Especially taking some of the harder classes that Samford has, and managing coming to meetings and getting workouts in."
 
Evans said, looking back on his time at Samford, he has a lot of great memories from his time at the school, especially from being on the football team.
 
"I have so many, just through the relationships we have with the guys," Evans said. "A lot of them, being in weddings and seeing them get married, and being a part of their lives moving forward, just kind of goes back to what Coach Sullivan said when he first got there to Samford. The quote he always said was it's not all about the wins and losses, but it's about the relationships that last."
 
Sullivan stepped down as Samford's head coach following the 2014 season. Evans was selected by Sullivan to serve on the search committee that eventually hired current head coach Chris Hatcher. Evans served on the committee with Sullivan and another former Samford player, Gary Cooney. Evans said it was a tremendous honor to serve on the committee.
 
"With the caliber of people that were on that committee, that they asked me and thought enough of me to do it, that's really something that I welcomed," Evans said. "I just tried to always bring my A game. Any time they needed insight on something from a player's perspective, because I was the closest to coming off the field at that time, they wanted my input on what I thought would be best going forward. It was definitely something I'll always remember."
 
For more information on the S-Club, contact Hal Langston at hlangst1@samford.edu. For giving opportunities, please contact Maggie Rountree at mrountr1@samford.edu.