On Campus: Prairie Ridge grad Samson Evans prepares for busy final season at Eastern Michigan

Working out last offseason with Eastern Michigan’s new football strength and conditioning staff, Samson Evans was presented with a goal.

“They said, ‘You’re going to get 1,000 yards,’ ” recalled Evans, a Prairie Ridge graduate. “At the time, that was not something that was in my mind.”

After all, Evans spent the 2021 season as a third-down running back and short-yardage specialist. He piled up 13 touchdowns on only 316 yards.

What a difference a year makes.

These days, as Evans prepares for his final season of college football, he’s the reigning rushing touchdown leader in the Mid-American Conference (15 in 2022).

“I always felt like I could do something more than I was doing. Last season felt like I started to scratch at the potential I know I had in me.”

—  Samson Evans, Eastern Michigan running back

After rushing for 1,166 yards, he is on the preseason watch list for three major college football awards – the Walter Camp Award [nation’s best player], the Doak Walker Award [top running back] and the Maxwell Award [national Player of the Year].

“It’s been pretty special,” Evans said of the past 12 months. “My whole college journey has been a little different.”

After spending two seasons at the University of Iowa, he left for more opportunity, which he wasn’t sure he would find.

“When I transferred, it was straight-on COVID,” said Evans, who wasn’t able to visit EMU per NCAA recruiting rules during the pandemic. “All I had was talking to three [EMU] coaches. I made the right decision in the end, but at the time it was one of those shots in the dark.”

Evans played in only five games in 2020 before becoming the team’s third-down back in 2021.

When he got an opportunity to play a leading role, he didn’t disappoint.

In the third game of the 2022 season, he rushed for a career-high 258 yards and a touchdown in an upset win at Arizona State.

“That gave me a lot of confidence,” Evans said. “I always felt like I could do something more than I was doing. Last season felt like I started to scratch at the potential I know I had in me.”

Evans is quick to credit EMU’s strength and conditioning staff, which helped him add lower-body strength last off-season before his big year.

“It really helped me with breaking tackles and being explosive through the line,” Evans said.

This offseason, his focus was on upper-body strength, which he expects to use in thwarting tacklers with a stiff arm.

Evans admits that he doesn’t pay attention to the watch lists and finds it difficult to project how many yards he is shooting for this season. He gave up social media during the offseason to stay away from the hype of preseason accolades.

“I’m trying to do my best so we can have a season where we win a lot of games,” Evans said. “As long as we’re winning games, the stats will come.”

Evans and his EMU teammates open the season at 5:30 p.m. Friday at home against Howard University.

One downside of the season ahead is Evans will not be playing with his brother, Carter, a junior defensive lineman for the Eagles. Carter Evans sustained a season-ending knee injury during fall camp.

“It was pretty rough,” Samson Evans said. “He was probably going to be a starter. That’s one of those times that you wish you could take the pain from him and put it on me.”

After about 250 carries last season, Samson Evans is ready for more.

“I do enjoy when I’m getting a lot of carries,” Evans said. “That’s always fun. I love the workload, but it takes a toll on your body a little differently than in high school. 30 carries now feels like 60 in high school.”

After not knowing what his future held as a transfer, Evans feels right at home in Ypsilanti.

“I’ve made a ton of great friends,” Evans said. “That’s made playing football a lot easier.”

Setting standout: Indiana State junior setter Hannah Baudin (Prairie Ridge/McHenry County College) ranks third so far this season among the Missouri Valley Conference volleyball leaders with 9.45 assists a set.

Baudin, who has started every match for the Sycamores (1-2), posted a season-high 45 assists last weekend in a 3-1 victory against Alabama State. She had 31 assists in a 3-1 loss to Xavier in the season-opening Tribute to No. 10 Tournament in Cincinnati.

Silber shines in victory: University of Illinois soccer forward Makena Silber, a graduate student, scored her 20th career goal Aug. 17 for the Illini in a 3-2 season-opening victory against Loyola.

Silber’s goal was the first of the 2023 season for Illinois, which played all last season without her. Silber [Prairie Ridge] missed every game a year ago because of injury. In three of the past four seasons, Silber played more than 1,000 minutes, with a career-high of 1,408 in 2019.

Leatherneck leader: Hampshire grad Jake Detiveaux, a senior defensive lineman at Western Illinois University, was named to the Phil Steele preview magazine’s All-Missouri Valley Football Conference’s preseason fourth team.

He had 31 tackles and three sacks a year ago for the Leathernecks, who open the season Saturday night at New Mexico State.

• Barry Bottino writes about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at barryoncampus@hotmail.com and follow @BarryOnCampus on Twitter.