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<\/p>\nMaybe it was pain that drove him, the kind that crawls inside you and never leaves. Mike Evans was 9 years old when a police officer woke him in the middle of the night. There was a dead man on the street outside. The victim had been shot square in the forehead, execution-style, and stabbed 27 times.<\/p>\n
\u201cMikey saw his daddy on the ground that night,\u201d a family friend, Terry Petteway, says. \u201cYou don\u2019t forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or maybe it was fear that his father wouldn\u2019t be proud of him, even after he was gone. Dad coached him from the beginning: Mikey was doing push-ups at 4 years old and working on his jump shot at 6. He still remembers the time he fumbled a kickoff and cost his team the game in his Hurricanes youth football league. \u201cHold that ball with your outside arm,\u201d dad told him on the way home, \u201cso they can\u2019t punch it free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mikey remembers this because it was the day his father was murdered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI swear, after he died, I just started to hear him more,\u201d Evans says.<\/p>\n
Maybe it was rage, because something changed in that 9-year-old boy. \u201cSports became my drug,\u201d he says now. He played in a football game a few hours after the funeral, lining up at defensive end and ignoring his coach\u2019s pleas to set the edge \u2014 no, Mikey was going straight through the offensive line. \u201cMade all the tackles and scored all the touchdowns that day,\u201d Petteway remembers. His sister would later recall him visiting his father\u2019s gravesite and doing push-ups in the rain.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d cry when no one was looking, all the way through college, wishing his father could\u2019ve been there for the climb. But deep down, he knew what all that hurt had left him with: a callus that was never going away. Mike Evans won\u2019t apologize for that. Save your pity for someone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t use that sh\u2014 as a crutch,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t like people feeling sorry for me. I never have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mickey Evans was a devoted father but a violent man. Once, when he showed up to one of his son\u2019s football games after a long absence, Petteway asked where he\u2019d been. Evans shrugged. \u201cOutta town,\u201d he mumbled. Petteway knew what that meant.<\/p>\n
Evans had served three years in prison for assault, then a 30-day stint after hitting Mike\u2019s mother, Heather Kilgore, with a beer can, cutting her lip and chipping her tooth, police records show. Their relationship began when both were teenagers \u2014 Heather gave birth to Mike when she was 14 and Mickey was 19 \u2014 and grew volatile over time.<\/p>\n
One night, Heather\u2019s brother Sam Kilgore, who was living with the family, snapped. It started with a gunshot in the living room while the children slept inside the Galveston, Texas, home, and ended with Kilgore dragging Evans on the asphalt outside, emptying a .32-caliber pistol into his forehead, then stabbing him over and over until blood pooled on the street.<\/p>\n
Kilgore confessed to the crime six days later. \u201cI wanted to make sure he was dead,\u201d he told detectives.<\/p>\n
The fury that filled Mike at first \u2014 he tore up his uncle\u2019s bedroom in anger \u2014 faded over time. He convinced himself he had to bury the pain. He rarely spoke of what happened. \u201cTo this day, he\u2019s never expressed to me what it was like going through that,\u201d Petteway says. \u201cNot once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike tried to grasp his uncle\u2019s motive, and as he grew older, finally did. \u201cHe was doing what he thought was best for his sister,\u201d he says now. \u201cHe was protecting her.\u201d At his mother\u2019s urging, he visited his uncle in prison. He spoke to him over the phone. In time, he found it in himself to forgive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no excuse to kill someone, murder someone,\u201d Evans says now. \u201cBut faith plays a big part in everything I do. I\u2019ve always been forgiven. I\u2019m not perfect. I\u2019ve had plenty of f\u2014ups. He\u2019s still family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the agony needed an outlet. For Evans, sports became therapy, the fields and courts around Galveston his refuge. It was his way of connecting with the father whose validation he never stopped chasing.<\/p>\n
For years, basketball held the tightest pull and was his most likely path to a college scholarship, but the officiating drove him nuts. \u201cHigh school refs and their touch fouls,\u201d Evans bristles, still heated about those whistles a decade and a half later. The kid was too physical for his own good.<\/p>\n
He was also too stubborn to see a different route. Evans had walked out after a single football practice his sophomore year, after he\u2019d shown up for two-a-days without packing a lunch \u2014 \u201cI didn\u2019t know we needed one!\u201d \u2014 and cramped his way through 40 40-yard sprints to close the workout. \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to be at the front!\u201d a coach screamed at him. \u201cYou\u2019re a wide receiver!\u201d Evans trudged a mile home in the 100-degree Texas heat, sweating, starving and vowing to never play again.<\/p>\n
His friends begged him to reconsider. As a senior, he finally did. This time, his physicality found a home. Evans piled up seven touchdowns and 648 receiving yards for a team that went 1-9. Scouts could see the untapped talent, the footwork that carried over from the basketball court and the ease at which he won the ball in the air. Offers trickled in. Evans realized football was his ticket. He signed with Texas A&M.<\/p>\n
He redshirted in 2011, then gutted through a torn hamstring a year later \u2014 \u201cI was hobbling the entire second half of the season,\u201d Evans says \u2014 to set freshman receiving records in catches (82) and yards (1,105). In 2013 he was an All-American.<\/p>\n
By the spring of 2014, Jason Licht was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers\u2019 newly hired general manager. He spent his first few months on the job locked in his office, poring through draft prospects. Licht had the seventh pick, and the Bucs needed a quarterback. The player he couldn\u2019t stop watching was Johnny Manziel. Then, after a while, it hit him.<\/p>\n
Maybe this receiver is actually the guy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Vincent Jackson (left), Evans (right) found a mentor and an example to follow. \u201cHe was my big brother in this league,\u201d Evans says. (Wesley Hitt \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Evans was all energy and aggression at first, impatient and undisciplined. As a rookie in Tampa, he\u2019d bark at teammates in practice, then get into screaming matches with the refs during games. He\u2019d slam his helmet if he dropped a pass. He\u2019d punch the ground.<\/p>\n
The rage was still in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWild sh\u2014,\u201d Evans calls it now. \u201cLike, stuff that was almost hurting the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then a voice broke through. It belonged to the veteran receiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to home that in,\u201d Vincent Jackson urged him.<\/p>\n
Evans listened because in Jackson he saw the template. Jackson was nine years in. He\u2019d piled up five 1,000-yard seasons. He\u2019d made three Pro Bowls. He was a model of class and consistency.<\/p>\n
The vet saw a rookie drenched in talent and willing to work. What Evans needed, Jackson decided, was a voice in his ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re out of college and you don\u2019t have any real structure,\u201d Evans admits now. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a little money for the first time and you\u2019re ordering steaks every night. You\u2019re starting to drink a little more. That\u2019s why my weight was so high \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMike was young,\u201d Licht says. \u201cHe had to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans played at 240 pounds his first few seasons. By Year 3, Jackson\u2019s influence started to take hold. \u201cYou need to stay in shape year-round,\u201d he stressed to Evans, \u201cthat way you won\u2019t get hurt.\u201d To this day Evans\u2019 offseason training program commences two weeks after his last game, no questions asked.<\/p>\n
He dropped to 220. He copied Jackson\u2019s routine. He learned to temper his aggression in practice, then unleash it on game day.<\/p>\n
\u201cVince was helping me with this stuff while I was taking targets from him,\u201d Evans says. \u201cHe was my big brother in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson\u2019s career dwindled while Evans\u2019 took off. He became one of the best receivers in the game, stacking 1,000-yard seasons, year after year, no matter who was throwing it to him: Josh McCown, Mike Glennon, Jameis Winston, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tom Brady, Baker Mayfield. For a franchise long known for defense \u2014 all five Bucs Hall of Famers played on that side of the ball \u2014 Evans became an anchor of offensive consistency, perhaps overlooked and underappreciated on a national scale but beloved in the town where he made his name.<\/p>\n
He became a pillar in the organization and city. Along with his wife, Ashli, he formed the Mike Evans Family Foundation, which serves youth throughout Tampa \u2014 as well as domestic violence victims, a cause that remains deeply personal to him. Heather Kilgore, always in her No. 13 jersey, has been a fixture at Bucs games for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that I have a family of my own, I look back and think, \u2018I have no idea how she did it,’\u201d Mike says. \u201cShe was a hospital clerk. How did she afford stuff? There was never a Christmas that went by where we didn\u2019t have presents under the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twelve years in, Licht\u2019s first draft pick is now the franchise\u2019s all-time leader in catches and yards. Last January, Evans recorded his 11th straight 1,000-yard season, tying an NFL record held by Jerry Rice. After the catch, the celebration and the win, Evans marched into the locker room while the crowd roared. \u201cA top-five Bucs moment since I\u2019ve been here,\u201d his GM says.<\/p>\n
Evans hasn\u2019t finished a season with fewer than 1,000 yards since his senior year of high school.<\/p>\n
Still, he refuses to let satisfaction seep in. \u201cPeople hear consistency and they think that\u2019s all I am,\u201d he says, getting a bit heated. \u201cConsistency is great, but I think I\u2019m the best. I know a lot of guys in my situation couldn\u2019t come close to what I\u2019ve done. Come to Tampa, a team not known for offense \u2026 revolving door at quarterback \u2026 the most doubled receiver in the league since 2015 \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He stops himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be known as a winner.\u201d<\/p>\n
That status is hard to argue. The Bucs have claimed four straight NFC South titles, and in February 2021, with Brady helming the offense, celebrated a Super Bowl triumph on their home field. \u201cThat\u2019s what we wanted!\u201d Evans screamed at Brady while the confetti fell around them.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Evans was targeted just once in Super Bowl LV \u2014 a 31-yard reception \u2014 but drew four penalties against the Kansas City Chiefs as Tampa Bay cruised 31-9. (Mike Ehrmann \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Eight days later, Evans was back in Houston, celebrating with family, when the texts started to flash across his screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this sh\u2014 true about Vincent?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe this. Not VJ.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. No. No. No. No.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans locked himself in his bathroom. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks. He called an old coach, bracing for the worst. Then he heard it. Jackson was gone, found dead in a hotel room, at age 38.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour heart drops,\u201d Evans says. \u201cIt was so unexpected because of how he conducted himself. He had a family. He had money. He had a great career, a great life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson, who\u2019d been reported missing by his family five days prior, was determined to have died from chronic alcohol use, a medical examiner later determined. He also was suffering from Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to the Concussion Legacy Foundation.<\/p>\n
In the days that followed, Evans\u2019 mind went back to the conversations they\u2019d shared \u2014 on the practice field and the sideline, in the locker room and over long dinners after Jackson had moved on from the game. \u201cYou motivated me more than you know,\u201d he\u2019d tell Evans.<\/p>\n
Jackson\u2019s words shaped how Evans worked and how he led. He decided early on that if he lasted in the league as long as his mentor had, he\u2019d treat his young teammates the same way. He\u2019d coach and counsel and pull them along, just as Vincent Jackson had done with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s exactly how it worked,\u201d Chris Godwin says.<\/p>\n
Godwin arrived in Tampa in 2017. Three years later, he led the team in receiving. Two years after that, he did so again. Godwin is now entering his ninth season. Evans is one of the reasons he\u2019s still a Buc.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike never made me feel like, \u2018Hey, if I wanna be the leading receiver on a team, I gotta go somewhere else to do that,’\u201d Godwin says. \u201cHe welcomed me into the room. He allowed me to be a sponge. He helped me become the player I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result: a rare and refreshing duo built on selflessness at a position that can sometimes be sabotaged by ego and accolades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something to be said for two receivers of our caliber playing together for nine years without any drama,\u201d Godwin says.<\/p>\n
For Evans, it goes back to the template Jackson left him. That became the roadmap, and it\u2019s one he still follows. He\u2019ll call out a teammate if he catches him scrolling through his phone in a meeting. He\u2019ll do the same if he hears one of them chirping back at a position coach during practice \u2014 something he was guilty of early on.<\/p>\n
He still works like a late-round pick hoping to make the roster; Evans loses six or seven pounds every practice, and it\u2019s more than just the Tampa humidity. He refuses to take a rep off.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see it in his eyes,\u201d says Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum, a Galveston native who grew up idolizing Evans. \u201cIf you wanna win a rep against him, you have to attack him. Ain\u2019t no freebies, ain\u2019t no gimmies with Mike. No way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to force him to take a day off in training camp,\u201d adds Licht, shaking his head. Asked why he believes Evans won\u2019t rest on his laurels, even at this stage of his career, the GM goes quiet for a moment. Finally, he shrugs his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is Michael Jordan Michael Jordan?\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know. He\u2019s just wired different than the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans has never missed more than three games in a season. Another 1,000-yard campaign and he\u2019ll be the sole owner of an NFL record once thought untouchable. \u201cIt\u2019s so incredibly difficult to get 1,000 yards in this league,\u201d Godwin says. \u201cAnd to do it every year of your career? And tie Jerry Rice? That\u2019s some top-tier sh\u2014, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he inches into Year 12 \u2014 Evans had five catches for 51 yards in the Bucs\u2019 season-opening win over the Falcons \u2014 he\u2019s thinking about more than just a deep playoff run. He\u2019s thinking about Canton, and the Hall of Fame, and what he\u2019ll be remembered for. He knows what it would mean to become the first Buccaneer to go in from the offensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI plan on having one of my best seasons,\u201d the 32-year-old says. \u201cAnd if I retire after this year, I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be a shock to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is that a prediction?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m close to the end, that\u2019s all I\u2019ll say,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be close to where it all started Monday night in Houston, less than an hour from where he grew up, where Mike Evans learned to bury the pain and harness the rage that boiled inside. That\u2019s what lit the fire in a 9-year-old boy and hardened him into the man he became. All these years later, that fire has yet to burn out.<\/p>\n
(Photo: Julio Aguilar \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maybe it was pain that drove him, the kind that crawls inside you and never leaves. Mike Evans…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":228490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,1232,62,3528,13877,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-228489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","15":"tag-texas-am-aggies","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115207856748976247","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}