What Happened with Nick Evers

I bought into the hype too...

When Nick Evers announced his transfer to Wisconsin I was all in. Here comes this blue chip Air Raid ready QB riding into Madison to lead the Badgers to the promised land. Even after the subsequent incoming transfers of Tanner Mordecai and Braedyn Locke I thought the team was prime to turn into the Nick Evers show. Mordecai would be the bridge starter to let Evers get a year bigger, stronger, and smarter and Locke would be a camp arm. And then spring ball happened. And then we didn't hear much about Nick. We saw the intoxicating clip of him throwing that over the shoulder bomb with effortless arm strength to Chris Brooks, but it was Locke who was getting the reps with the 2s. That's ok he was more the student of the game learning from the Mad Pirate himself and Evers would take over eventually. Then we heard Marshall Howe was taking reps with the 3s.

Knowledge equals reps and for all of Evers physical skills he was having problems understanding the basics of the offense, but given time he would start to match his physical skills. But it never happened. Instead the closest he got to the field was being elevated to #3 when Tanner went down with his broken hand and now here we are 16 months after coming to Madison and Nick is on the road again.

So how did we get here? How does a player with such immense physical talents not be able to learn and execute and offense that on paper is relatively simple. Phil Longo has long preached that he wants to carry 28 base plays in his system. What went wrong with Evers that he couldn't master such a simple task? Well the answer is as simple as the offense in that it's all about sutbleties and nuance and reading between the lines. But let's take a look at what really went wrong and why Nick Evers is on his way to Storrs instead of leading the team out of the tunnel at Camp Randall.
So, why are we here today? I've taken the time to record this discussion in response to a thought-provoking comment I received on one of my earlier Substack posts. I want to extend my gratitude to those of you who revisit my older writings and engage with the content. The comment in question revolves around a significant topic: Nick Evers. This query poses a fundamental question about Evers' grasp of the playbook despite its apparent simplicity.

Let's start with the obvious. For as phyically talented as Nick is that is one of the least important aspects of being a quarterbacks. Raw skills are extremely overrated. Sure I can mash home runs vs soft toss or bust a long drive at the range, but ask me to hit a curve ball or put for eagle and I'm done. It goes without saying that playing QB is more than just throwing a pretty pass. It's about leadership, execution, and timing. And if a QB doesn't have those intangibles they will never make it as a QB.

Now, I'm going to state that everything that I'm going to here is pure speculation, based on reports, based on what I've seen on the sideline, and hearing from Nick himself. I wasn't in the meeting room, wasn't on the practice field with him, so I don't know exactly what happened, but I have a pretty good guess.

Getting back to the original question. What is so difficult about an offense that has 28 base plays that he couldn't learn it. I will say I bet he learned it. He knew the plays, he could draw them up and talk it up on the board. But when it came to execution he was hampered by poor fundamentals and lack of awareness. It was this lack of awareness that position him as the #5 QB exiting last spring. He was beaten out by Marshall Howe for the fourth-string job. He only got the fourth-string job because Howe transferred after the spring. He's only in position to be the third string now because of another transfer.

So, why is it so difficult from a playbook standpoint? I think it's really important to understand with the Air Raid, and like most teams, Phil Longo doesn't have a playbook. There's no sacred tome for Evers to sit down and study. He has to create his own playbook through note-taking, study and research. This way he should be able to craft a personal playbook that gives him the information he needs in a language he can always understand. But in creating your own playbooks it is really important to understand the subtleties of the offense. It is simple, but the offense is all based on rhythm and leverage. All the passing plays in Phil Longo's offense are tied to footwork. Even though he came from another Air Raid offense the previous year the footwork was different.

Longo's footwork is unique amongst college quarterbacks in that it relies on a straight dropback as opposed to the traditional dropback. Because the footwork is different, the timing is different. I'm guessing at the beginning what Evers did was rely on what he knew from Oklahoma instead of starting over and learning the offense from Phil Longo. So, he's sitting there translating in his head, "Oh, this means this from last year, this means that, okay, I got it." Even if the play is drawn on paper by Lincoln Riley in Oklahoma and Phil Longo are exactly the same important aspects like language and footwork are different. And because they are different, you can't just rely on saying, "This is how we did it last year." He needs to actually learn the difference and forget the past. So, that's part of it which is just a not a poor understanding of the basics of the offense by relying on what he thinks he knows. That's the first failure.

The second issue at hand cannot solely be attributed to the kid himself. Oftentimes, when you have a dynamic athlete like Evers, particularly at the quarterback position, you find coaches who become intoxicated by their athleticism. Blinded by speed and agility and arm strength coaches may become complacent. So instead of teaching the kid how to play quarterback they admire his ability to make plays.

Relying too heavily on an athlete's natural talents rather than developing their total game as a quarterback is not unique to Evers. It's a common pitfall that many mobile quarterbacks have faced, Michael Vick being the a prime example. He was a dazzling football player who was a decade ahead of the times however he was coached by coaches who were 20 years behind and he never had the chance to develop into what he could be. I am not comparing Nick Evers to Michael Vick but you can see the common mistakes in their football upbringings.

In Nick's case, I'm not sure if he was ever truly taught the finer points of playing quarterback. It seems more likely that he was encouraged to rely on his athleticism and playmaking abilities, which undoubtedly opened doors for him—securing scholarship offers, including his first home at Oklahoma, and ultimately leading to a transfer to Wisconsin. However, over time, this approach may have hindered his overall development as a quarterback. Nick has said all the right words and has taken ownership of his mistakes but responsibility for his development does not solely rest on his shoulders. What it does is highlight the broader issue of the difficulty in nurturing and refining the quarterbacking skills of exceptionally talented athletes.

But what Nick can control is himself. He was always smart and said the right things when he was interviewed but there was always an air of disinterest in his voice. He's a good kid deep down but his demeanor on the sidelines during games. Compare him say Myles Burkett who was his direct competition. Look at Braedyn Locke who he had to beat to be the backup. While those guys are standing there, engaged, they either have the headset on or they have their helmet on. Evers often had his head down, and didn't really look like he's paying attention. I get it. You get into Wisconsin in the fall when it gets cold and you're used to the sun and the warmth and being the guy. Losing the status of being the guy and sitting in the cold, wear could certainly wear on any of us. It certainly wore on Nick, because he really seemed like he didn't want to be there most of the season, especially as they got deeper into the fall.

At the end of the day, it comes down to knowledge equals power. Maybe he was behind the eight-ball to begin with because he was essentially brought in before Phil Longo was the offensive coordinator. But you have two choices in that case. You either fight and you're the first guy in the door and the last guy out, or you cry, "Woe is me," and you sulk and when you lose, you move on. That's maybe what happened.

I wish Nick all the luck in the world going to UConn. Jim Mora Jr. is a solid head coach who will build a solid mid-major program at UConn. Maybe it's more of the environment that Nick Evers needs to be in. You know, he's no longer the man. Now he needs to prove that he can be the man when given the correct opportunity to do so. I wish him all the luck in the world, though, because he's still young, he's still got a chance to show what he can. But I hope he's learned from his mistakes, and more importantly, I hope he's learned that he has to be the one to give himself playing time, and he's the one who has to do the extra work, because now he's got the reputation that he doesn't.