By Todd Wills
By now you’ve heard it all about Cody Evans, from the voices of Tiger Football, Rusty Hitt and Chuck Williams, to coach Phil Castles to the Corsicana fan that sits next to you at Tiger Stadium.
I know I’ve written so much and spoken so much about Evans that we could fill up next year’s Golden Circle Football preview or a 24-hour radio broadcast.
What you should really know about this year’s Del Thrash Player of the Year is what his opponents think about him.
Take Midway coach Kent Bachtel, who just retired after building a formidable program south of Waco. Here was Bachtel’s reaction when I told him Evans was the Golden Circle’s Player of the Year.
“You guys picked the right guy,” Bachtel said. “He was just a hard-nosed, tough runner. He had great speed. He’s so solid.”
Evans was a rock for the Corsicana Tigers the last two seasons. He was the heart. The Soul. The best player in the area this season.
Evans brought back memories of the Ketric System when he put up Tiger playoff records of 267 yards and 44 carries in the Tigers’ bi-district playoff win over West Mesquite.
And get this, he deserves a pat on the back from Ketric Sanford, the great Tigers running back of 1993-95. Evans kept Kerens’ Pat Faulk from winning three straight Golden Circle Player of the Year awards. So it’s Faulk (2007-08) and Sanford (1994-95) as the two back-to-back winners of Player of the Year.
With Evans, if there was a clever nickname for what he did as a Tiger, it would be “Evans on Every Play.”
The kid simply didn’t know when to quit. He pushed his teammates. He pushed his coaches.
It makes you want to know what makes this 5-10, 185-pound runner go.
“I’ve always played hard,” Evans said. “It goes back to PeeWee football. We had a hitting drill every day before practice. That’s where I learned it.”
Evans was there for the Tigers whenever they needed him. He was the quiet type, so the coaches at first told him if he wanted to help on defense to come tell them. He kept quiet, so it changed to where offensive coordinator Matt Langley had to go ask Evans if he was ready to give to the Tigers’ defense too.
His high school career will be remembered for never quitting during a difficult time for Tiger football.
“You’ll be tired, but you have to get back in there and get ready,” Evans said.
He admits that he set a goal of winning this year’s MVP, and Evans paid attention from time to time to what Faulk was doing for Kerens, and Lance McClain for Hubbard and Jake Jones for Hubbard.
Evans’ 1,666 yards for the season and the playoffs were the most in the Golden Circle.
“It means a lot to me to get it,” Evans said.
Just about every week Rusty brings up the two onside kicks Evans recovered in the playoff win over West Mesquite. For all of Evans’ big runs, his big plays on special teams, his big hits on defense, it is those two recoveries that will stick out the most when summing up his Tiger career.
We can only hope that some college somewhere will see fit to find a place for a warrior like Evans.
Just think back to those onside kicks. When the Tigers needed a play, Cody was there.
“I knew our program needed a playoff win,” Evans said. “Whatever it takes.
“It makes me feel good to hear that coach (Bachtel) respects the way I play and how we play. That’s Corsicana football. It’s how it used to be and how it needs to be now.”
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