Wednesday, September 16, 2020 — 19
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor

Majdi Issa is no stranger to 
mentorship. As the youngest 
of seven children and owner 
of Ahmo’s Gyro and Deli in 
downtown Ann Arbor, he has 
18 nieces and nephews and a 
restaurant staff looking up to 
him.
Born and raised in Ann 
Arbor, Issa has always been a 
passionate Michigan sports 
fan. So when his cousin put 
him in touch with Chris 
Evans in February 2019, he 
immediately recognized the 
Michigan 
running 
back’s 

name.
At the time, Evans had just 
lost his spot on the football 
team due to an academic 
suspension. The ban came at 
a critical time in his career, 
as he appeared set to take 
over lead back duties for the 
Wolverines 
after 
totaling 

2,114 scrimmage yards across 
his first three seasons.
Instead of gearing up for his 
senior season, Evans found 
himself in the market for a 
job. He eventually found 
three — one at Ahmo’s, 
another as an early-morning 
carpenter and a third as a 
high school special teams 
coordinator for Ann Arbor 
Huron. As Evans grappled 
with the realities of his 
suspension, Issa offered him 
work as a delivery driver and 
dishwasher at Ahmo’s.
“He just wanted to get every-
thing back on track,” Issa told 
The Daily. “He was always on 
time and worked hard. Very 
positive, always optimistic 
and always had a smile on his 
face.”
Even when Michigan coach 
Jim 
Harbaugh 
announced 

Evans would be reinstated 
for the 2020 season last 
November, Evans continued 
working at Ahmo’s until the 
onset 
of 
the 
COVID-19 

pandemic. In total, he spent 
just over a year at the restau-

rant. 
Evans 
developed 
a 

relationship with Issa that 
ran 
deeper 
than 
his 

day-to-day duties, and even-
tually, beyond the walls of 
the deli itself.
“He was also helping every-
one manage and overlooked 
everything,” Issa said. “I put 
a lot of trust in him and he 
delivered. … Even other than 
working here, he would do 
some side work with me as 
well. He was always hustling, 
just trying to stay afloat.
“I tried to help him in the 
right direction when it came 
to schooling, helping him 
structure his classes and his 
homework and how to take 
priority. He came a long 
way.”
***
As winter turned to spring, 
Evans held out hope that he’d 
be eligible to play during the 
2019 
season. 
He 
wasn’t 

enrolled at Michigan, let 
alone on a football scholar-
ship, yet his appeal remained 
under review as the Wolver-
ines began spring practices. 
But in June, a report surfaced 
that 
Evans’s 
suspension 

would 
last 
through 
the 

football season.
“Mentally, it was tough not 
knowing if you were ever 
going to be able to play 
football again at Michigan,” 
Evans said in a Zoom call 
with reporters Friday. “That 
was the big question as I got 
closer to the end of the 
school year in November. … I 
went the whole year without 
100 percent knowing if I was 
coming back or not. It wasn’t 
my choice. It was coach 
Harbaugh’s and the school’s 
to let me back in and if I was 
going to be on scholarship. I 
just stuck to what I knew and 
grinded all the time.”
During his suspension, Evans 
began working out at Huron’s 
field to stay in shape. There, 
he crossed paths with Antai-
wn 
Mack, 
the 
school’s 

first-year 
head 
football 

coach. They swapped cell 
phone numbers, and when 
they 
reconnected 
a 
few 

months later, Mack agreed to 
bring Evans on board as his 
special teams coordinator.
“He felt he could contribute 
at a high level because he 
learned a lot of special teams 
at Michigan,” Mack told The 
Daily. “One of the things that 
stood out to me was, no 
matter what type of player 
you were, Chris Evans always 
wanted to coach guys up. 
Guys 
that 
were 
average 

players, not so good, he 
always worked on developing 

kids and developing relation-
ships with the kids.
“He was able to do whatever 
I needed him to do. He was 
always 
willing 
to 
learn, 

always worked hard, always 
coached the kids with high 
energy.”
During the fall — more than 
six months after the begin-
ning of his suspension — 
Evans worked as a carpenter 
from daybreak until noon 
before coaching at Huron in 
the afternoon. Afterward, he 
spent about four hours at 
Ahmo’s delivering and wash-
ing dishes. 

At Huron, Evans led daily 
special 
teams 
practices, 

prepared game plans and 
assembled scouting reports. 
Most importantly, though, 
the school became a place 
where 
Evans 
could 
both 

mentor and be mentored. His 
arrival 
paid 
immediate 

dividends, and in his first 
game coaching special teams, 
Huron snapped its five-year, 
39-game losing streak with a 
63-14 victory.
Throughout Huron’s season, 
Evans and Mack formed a 
close relationship. And as 
Mack began to open up about 

his own past, Evans did the 
same. 
“I would talk to him about 
things and share hardships 
that happened in my life,” 
Mack said. “And he would 
share some of the things 
about being without football, 
how it made him feel and 
what he needed to work on to 
get back. We shared things, 
and as I shared more of my 
story, it was encouraging for 
him as well.”
One Saturday, as the Michi-
gan football team took the 
field, Mack brought up the 
elephant in the room, asking 

how the suspended Evans 
felt 
about 
missing 
what 

would’ve been his senior 
season.
“I’m sad, but I’m rooting for 
my 
guys,” 
Mack 
recalled 

Evans 
telling 
him. 
“I’m 

rooting for the guys starting 
at my position. I want to see 
them do well. I want to see 
them develop. And if I get a 
chance to come back, I just 
want to compete at a high 
level and be prepared for 
those guys to get better.”
Added Mack: “(Evans) was 
always positive about his 
situation, 
even 
when 
he 

wasn’t playing. That showed 
me his true character.”
***
In November, nine months 
after Evans’s original suspen-
sion and removal from the 
team, Harbaugh announced 
he would be reinstated for 
the 2020 season.
For 
Evans, 
the 
formal 

announcement marked the 
culmination of a year of 
uncertainty. Even more than 
that, it was a validation of his 
hard work. Now back on 
scholarship, 
everything 

about the hundreds of hours 
he spent working odd jobs to 
stay afloat are in the past.
That is, everything but the 
lasting 
relationships 
and 

perspective they gave him.
While away from the Wolver-
ines, Evans’ jobs opened his 
eyes to realities he’d never 
considered. Perhaps most of 
all, it shined light on the 
value 
of 
his 
eventual 

reinstatement.
“I felt like there were some 
older high school coaches on 
the (Huron) staff that wished 
they 
could 
play 
football 

again, trying to hype kids up, 
get them going,” Evans said. 
“They 
knew 
that 
they 

couldn’t 
play 
again. 
I 

watched that, and I was like, 
‘I get the luxury and might be 
able to play again.
“So I’m going to make sure 
that when I get my opportu-

nity, I’m going to make the 
most of it.’ ”
For 
Michigan, 
Evans’s 

reinstatement 
will 
add 

another dimension to an 
offense that already returns 
its two leading rushers from 
last season. Evans will be 
greeted 
by 
an 
offensive 

scheme drastically different 
from the one he left, but he 
projects as a great fit for 
second-year 
offensive 

coordinator 
Josh 
Gattis’s 

up-tempo system. Address-
ing the media earlier this 
spring, 
Michigan 
running 

backs coach Jay Harbaugh 
mentioned Evans has shown 
interest in the details of the 
game, adding that his passion 
and personality have driven 
him to ask extra questions.
In Schembechler Hall, Evans’ 
teammates have welcomed 
him back with open arms.
“We all know he’s a great 
guy,” senior safety Brad Haw-
kins said on a Zoom call with 
reporters Friday. “We all 
know he’s a great football 
player. The mental toughness 
that he has, being away from 
the team for a year, getting 
his mind right, doing the 
things that he had to do and 
coming back this year, being 
a leader and stepping up, that 
says a lot about him as a 
person and the character that 
he has. He’s a great guy and 
definitely somebody that I 
look up to.”
With a productive senior 
season, Evans could play his 
way up NFL draft boards. He 
currently ranks No. 50 on 
ESPN analyst Todd McShay’s 
list of top 2021 NFL Draft 
prospects, which translates 
to a second-round selection.
Regardless of his NFL Draft 
status, the next time Evans 
puts on a winged helmet will 
be a reflection of his own 
journey. For that, and what-
ever comes next, he’ll have 
his battle-tested work ethic 
and people like Issa and 
Mack in his corner.

FILE PHOTO/Daily

EXILED FROM FOOTBALL, CHRIS EVANS

FINDS POWER IN MENTORSHIP

He was able to do

whatever I needed him to do.

He was always willing
to learn, always worked
hard, always coached the

kids with high energy.

