Clark Kent-like Evans is Super guard for Saints

MIAMI -- At times when he's not wearing contact lenses, Saints guard Jahri Evans sports these spectacles that even Anthony Edwards from Revenge of the Nerds wouldn't be caught dead wearing.

Thick frames and Coke-bottle lenses, your stereotypical geek uniform.

The presence of Jahri Evans (73) is one reason Drew Brees remains upright. (AP)

Then when you chat with him, his soft-spoken demeanor wouldn't scare away a wiener dog.

Even ladies have no issues teasing Evans.

On an unseasonably cold night in the Warehouse District in downtown New Orleans, Evans walked into Lucy's Surfer Bar wearing a T-shirt while everyone else was bundled up in their peacoats and North Face jackets. A woman asked me who Evans was and, once she found out, she offered him her jacket. Evans politely turned her down.

So she strutted around him chanting "fat guy in a little coat."

Evans knew he got dissed. He laughed it off and told me to tell my friend to stop making fun of him.

It's probably the last time anyone dissed Evans, who was named to his first All-Pro team this season and will be a key player in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday.

"He's really doing a great job," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "He's physical. He's smart. He works at it. He's been a key part of what we're doing offensively."

Evans' unassuming personality fits perfectly with his unassuming alma mater -- Bloomsburg, a Division II school in Pennsylvania. He said the biggest games he played in during his time there came against -- wait for it -- East Stroudsburg.

Recruiters knocked Evans coming out of high school, as a serious knee injury scared away all the big-time programs. Then an injury during his first season at Bloomsburg put the seed of football doubt in Evans' head. He began thinking he'd have to use his exercise science degree to go into the cardiac rehabilitation field.

"That was kind of the low for me," Evans said. "I told myself I got through the first one and I'll get through this one. I knew how to bounce back from it."

He bounced back enough to become a fourth-round pick when the Saints traded down nine spots in the 2006 draft with the Eagles in a deal that also sent beefy defensive tackle Hollis Thomas to the Saints. The deal was made more for Thomas than the pick.

Evans entered training camp that August and became the starter. He said the process was mentally straining despite the fact he made it seem easy, quickly opening eyes throughout the league the way he manhandled defensive tackles.

"It wasn't weird, but it was kind of challenging a little bit, just coming in and learning the terminology and all the things that go into being a professional football player," Evans said. "Coming from Bloomsburg, where there wasn't much, the playbook isn't as large or it's not so complex, so it was definitely a change for me."

In his fourth season, Evans is becoming one of those older guys helping the newest up-and-coming guard. Evans and second-year guard Carl Nicks have given the Saints one of the best duos in the league. They are a major reason why Drew Brees stays clean and the Saints running game has flourished for the first time in the Payton era.

On how much he has learned from Evans, Nicks put it simply: "Everything."

"The way Jahri plays, he's just so physical," Nicks said. "I want to play just like him and maybe one day make the Pro Bowl like he did. ... I just want to be on the ride with him."

Nicks said he hopes and prays he can pass Evans on the league-wide respect meter, but he doesn't think it's possible.

"It's [Evans] and Steve Hutchinson," Nicks said of the NFL's elite guards. "I'm obviously going to say Jahri is the best since he's my teammate. They're the top two. Easily."

Evans could have pointed the finger at those who ignored him up until this season, when he was selected to the Pro Bowl and deemed by voters as one of the best guards in the league.

But that's not Evans' style.

"I think some people did recognize it," Evans said. "Coach Payton said it goes like this: Some guys get [recognition] when they shouldn't get it. I feel like if you play hard, if you are consistent in your play and you continue to do well, you will get recognized."

Coke-bottle glasses and all.