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He was a Michigan
wasr't. Now, after t
fobtball, the [ifth-y
finish what
"Marell Evans is what college football, should
be all about" -
It's a proclamation about as powerful as the
6 f'ot-3, 237-pou 4 lidebacker.
Yet,' in a college football world where head-
- lirisre littered with scandal and crime, his story
sdunds nothing like college football at all.
It's a s'tpry Qf a young-manwho has been given
nothing in-life, yet he's taken away from it more
tlan those who have it all: a'stdry of a Virginia boy
-whoE'back. in Ann Arbor to leave as a Michigan
Man.,
So when Zac Hayden Marell's high school
defensive coordinator, says Marell is what col-.
legefootball is all about, he's not just talking about
what Marell does on the field. He's talking about
the journey of a.22-year-old man who was willing
to do whateverit took to dtvirhafwas right.

Wolverine. Then he
wo years away from
ear senior is back to
t he started.
players I've ever coached," Hayden said.
Considering who he's coached, that's no small
statement. In Marell's senior year, Varina sent
nine players to Division-I schools. Former Michi-
gan running back Brandon Minor graduated from
Varina in 2006 - a year before Marell.
Since 1995, the Blue Devils have won eight
regional championships and "14 or 15 district
championships," according to Gary Chilcoat, the
Varina head coach for nine of those years.
But for Marell, his talent meant nothing if he
didn't have the guidance to help use it in the best
way possible. If he was going to make it to the next
level, he couldn't do it alone.
He lost his father to drugs when he was six. No
one'in his family had graduated high school, let
alone college. He needed people at school to push
him, tolet him know that he could do it.
That's exactly what Hayden and Chilcoat did.
Hayden, who was still only a few years out of
college during Marell's tenure at Varina, was
- more than just a coach.
"Man, we were real close," Hayden said. "The
direction I try to give Marell, and I try to do this
for everybody I coach and I learned this from

-k
* - BY KEViN R AFT ERY
FootballSaturday October 1 2011

w

At Varina High School in. Richmond, VA, it
didn't take long for HAyden to notice that Marell
Evans was a special football player.'
"He was one of the belt high school football

--
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MARELL-EVANS

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