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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina senior defensive end Des Evans had football taken from him for the first time last fall, and he didn’t like it.

He suffered what turned out to be a season-ending injury in the Tar Heels’ eighth contest of the season, a victory at home over Pittsburgh. And just like that, football was gone for a while.

“It was tough because I've never been injured in my entire life playing football,” Evans recently said.

Dealing with an injury is a common obstacle for football players, but most don’t deal with adversity similarly to what Evans faced. Injuries can take a serious mental toll on athletes that is sometimes too much to overcome.

On the other hand, some players take the time away from the game to gain new perspectives on and off the field and come back stronger than before. Evans appears to have taken the latter approach.

“I saw that if you want to play this game of football, you have to wake up with intention. You can't take it for granted,” Evans said. “That's what I recognized. When you play the game, you don't really think that much, and people wake up and say, ‘I don't want to do this today,’ and have a bad mindset about it.

“Being injured opened my mind. You have to wake up and get it every day. You can't take it for granted.”

In life, when things are taken away, people either realize how much it meant to them, or they can move on quite easily. For Evans, having football stripped away allowed him to realize what's important to him and take purposeful action to ensure he eventually reaches his goals.

“I wasn't really hanging out with teammates because I was going to rehab every day,” he said. “So, I just had to sit back and understand what I want to do with my life and attack that full go.”

As physical of a sport as football is, when players figure things out mentally, their natural abilities can shine. The perspective change that Evans describes is bound to show itself on the field, and according to defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, it is.

“I’m really proud of Des,” said Chizik. He had a season-ending injury. He's really paying attention to his craft in the offseason. He’s getting better at the little things, and it's showing on the field right now.

Before suffering an injury against Pittsburgh, Evans was playing arguably the best football of his collegiate career. According to PFF, the Samford, NC, native had a tackling grade of 78.8 and a run defense grade of 72.8, both of which ranked among the top UNC rotational players. Evans was often responsible for setting the edge of the defense. With his long six-foot-six frame along with his athleticism, Evans was often successful in making running backs run laterally instead of vertically.

And though he was solid in run defense, Evans arrived in Chapel Hill with the reputation of being one of the best pass-rushing prospects in the country, but his collegiate production hasn't lived up to that billing. In 364 pass-rushing reps in his UNC career, Evans has recorded just one sack. With the shift in mindset and intentional actions, however, Chizik sees signs of Evans' potential as a great pass rusher and holds him to those expectations. That would go a long way in boosting a Tar Heel defense that finished last in the ACC in the 2022 campaign.

“He’s done a really good job at pass rush,” Chizik said. “Probably the best I've seen since I've been here with the pass rush. He needs to be not a good pass rusher; he needs to be a great one, so that is our expectation of him. He is making progress.

“He’s one of those guys who is very intentional. He knows what he wasn't good at, and he is very intentional in trying to fix it. “

Evans used a time of physical weakness to get stronger mentally. And now that his body is back to 100 percent, his gained appreciation for the game that was taken away from him for the first time should have him playing with a new passion.

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