At 10 years old, Evan Adams lost the man whose lessons pushed him through the rest of his formative years. Adams had spent weeks in and out of the hospital visiting his sick father, Ernest, often doing homework or eating meals there to be with his mother, Alisa.
In one of those meetings, before Ernest died from lung cancer in February 2007, Adams promised his dad he’d graduate college.
“(Evan) tried not to show it but I know it impacted him a lot,” Alisa said. “Football was an out for him. Even something that he take his frustrations out on any one person.