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.