The day was supposed to have already come for Lee Evans. Two
years ago, he passed up a chance at millions of dollars and NFL
fame to return to Wisconsin for his senior year. His reward: A knee
injury in the 2002 spring game that led to a medical redshirt and a
2003 season filled with uncertainty. Even though he erased all
doubts with a 1,213-yard, 13-touchdown season, the wait for
Saturday’s NFL draft has still been a lengthy one.

“I only expected a one-year thing, but it’s been two,” Evans
said. “It will all pan out in the end. I certainly don’t know what
will happen this Saturday, but at that time I thought I made the
right decision. Hopefully on Saturday it will prove right.”

For the past three months, Evans has been proving himself to NFL
scouts, personnel directors and coaches. He began by running a
sizzling 40-yard dash time reportedly as low as 4.30 seconds. Evans
followed that up by catching every single pass thrown to him by
quarterback Jim Sorgi at Pro Timing Day in Madison March 3.

“I guess things could always go better, but I think they went
very well,” Evans said of his postseason workouts. “I think I
surprised a lot of people in some of the things I did. In my
personal workout I didn’t drop any balls, so that’s certainly a
starting point and something I certainly expected out of myself. A
lot of things went well and went very well, but we’ll see when the
decision-makers pull my name out of the hat on Saturday.”

Since that day, Evans has been playing golf and trying not to
notice where draft prognosticators slate him.

“[I’ve been] trying to relax, trying to keep my mind off of it,”
he said. “[I] stay away from SportsCenter and things like that.
Sometimes you can get pretty amped up, or vice versa. I try to stay
away from TV and try to relax, get my mind off it.”

Evans hopes to find himself off the board in round one,
something that appears more and more likely with the temporary
exclusion of USC sophomore wideout Mike Williams from the draft
pool.

“That’s my aim, that’s my goal,” Evans said of the first round.
“Obviously the situation with Mike Williams plays into it. People
talk about it, and people talk about it in a good way. You just
don’t know.”

Evans certainly does not look like the rest of the top-tiered
receivers in the draft. He pales in size to taller wideouts like
Roy Williams and Larry Fitzgerald. However, given the right
offense, Evans believes he may be a better fit than his larger
counterparts.

“Out of the top six, eight receivers or so, I’m probably the
only one under six feet,” he said. “I think in certain situations
that will help me, because not all offenses are looking for a big,
tall receiver. Some already have one and some are looking for a
smaller-type receiver who can get deep and stretch the field
vertically. It will play to my advantage in some cases.”

Evans has made visits to the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers
and Cleveland Browns in recent weeks. In those visits, he has met
with coaches, toured facilities and gotten a brief taste of NFL
offenses.

“Those trips were pretty good. The Buffalo trip was actually the
best one out of them all,” Evans said. “There’s no telling what’s
going to happen in the draft, but a lot of teams talked to me. They
say one thing, but when the draft comes, another thing may happen.
You just don’t know what to expect.”

One thing he came to expect in workouts was questions revolving
around his surgically repaired left knee. Those questions, however,
have been answered time and time again.

“Down at the combine they tested it, pulled on it, yanked on it
and everything,” Evans said. “I still test well, ran well. That
part can be behind me. It’s just now about the team that’s going to
pull the trigger.”

Despite the positive reviews, the knee will always be an issue
to some so-called draft experts.

“I know the people that make the decisions know it’s not an
issue,” Evans said. “Obviously it’s something that has happened in
the past and probably will be brought up until the mini-camp, or
until I play my first season in the league, whenever that may be.
Some people still think it’s a concern, but I think the people that
make the decisions don’t.”

Those decisions will be made Saturday. Evans will return home to
Bedford, Ohio and watch the proceedings with friends and
family.

“I’m certainly going to be more waiting on the phone call than
watching the TV,” he said. “I’ll still be watching to see what
happens, and see if any dramatic moves are made — if someone
trades up, trades down or someone gets picked and traded. I’ll
certainly be watching, but I’ll be waiting on that phone call more
than anything.”

So, after two years of rehab and waiting, Evans’ time in the NFL
has almost come.

“I’ve been anxious, anxious for a long time,” Evans said.
“Saturday can’t come quick enough. We’ll just have to wait and see,
but the days seem like they’re getting longer.”