By: Colby Wilson, Associate Director of Athletics Communications (Exclusive for LetsGoPeay.com)
You couldn't ask for a better script.
Week Zero, under the lights of the historic Cramton Bowl against a perennial FCS top-25 program. On ESPN. As the first college football game since January. As the only college football game that night. Already, the hype was beyond belief for Austin Peay, the Clarksville community and across the Football Championship Subdivision. All eyes were truly on us.
There's not a ton of pageantry for a Week Zero game in many seasons, but being THE game that America was tuning into, after months without college sports, with fans in the stands on American soil for the first time since March, this was a capital-E Event. If you cared about college sports in almost any capacity, Montgomery had your attention starting at 8 p.m. (CT), Saturday night, and that's before we get to [clutches pearls tightly, whispers] the gambling implications. We saw you in our mentions, you degenerates.
For CJ Evans Jr., it also served as his first college football game, taking place 170 miles from his native Mobile, Alabama home. His mom, dad and siblings were on hand. His cousin, New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton, was watching from afar. Evans earned the right with an impressive camp to open play with the first unit. And on Austin Peay's first play from scrimmage, Evans took the option pitch from Jeremiah Oatsvall, heralding the true start of the strangest college football season any of us are ever likely to experience.
The confidence of the coaching staff in Evans had been evident for some time during camp. Even then, calling his number on the first play to kick off Austin Peay's spot on the national stage was a gambit that offensive coordinator Tim Zetts could scarcely have guessed would lead to an immediate six-spot.
"I can't say I was expecting a 75-yard touchdown run necessarily but I felt confident in the play and his ability to execute it," Zetts said. "Credit to him, because he really made it work, especially downfield with his ability to cut back."
A couple of broken arm tackles, a burst of acceleration, one cutback and 75 yards later, Evans had found the end zone and Austin Peay found itself with a sideline in a state of full-on pandemonium. After everything—the breaks, the stops and starts, the uncertainty and fear and worry that we simply may never get this chance again—all those emotions unfurled themselves in one great, big sigh of relief at the 14:44 mark of the first quarter.
"It felt great," Evans said. "The receivers and O-line blocked great on the perimeter. I saw the hole and just hit it. I feel like the coaches and staff believe in me. They know what I'm capable of, so I just have to live up to that expectation, keep doing what I'm doing and stay humble."
When Evans crossed the goal line, social media exploded. The Austin Peay sideline exploded. The fans in red who made the journey to Montgomery exploded. If it couldn't be normal, because nothing can be right now, it was the next-closest thing: pure, unbridled fun.
"It was awesome," Evans said. "It's great exposure. I knew I had to ball out. We were just ready to show the world what we had. I know we fell short, but I thought we played great tonight."
Maybe this is all a big impracticality. That is, quite frankly, above my station. But for everyone, and especially the ball-carrier himself, those 16 seconds were everything. Throw out the uncertainty, the oddity and the new normal we're all still getting accustomed to—regular coronavirus testing, position meetings via Zoom, sweating through masks during games even if all you're doing is standing on the sideline holding a camera and taking photos—a breathtaking 75-yard run on the very first carry of the season is a good reminder of why we all care about sports in the first place. It was poetic, in a way only sports can be. Â
