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Donnie Evege
Wayne grad Evege the face of OSU special teams play
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By Tom Archdeacon,
Staff Writer
Updated 10:51 AM Sunday, November 1, 2009
COLUMBUS — Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
For New Mexico State and especially its kick returners, the sight of Donnie Evege roaring down the field for Ohio State — with his sprinter’s speed, his long dark hair rippling out the back of his helmet, that kamikaze pilot’s singular intent — had to be a dreaded one.
But up in the Ohio Stadium stands Saturday, Oct. 31 — from the vantage point of Donnie Sr., and his wife Chrissy, parents of the former Wayne High School star — the whole thing looked quite divine.
“Any time your child goes through something like he did the past two years, your heart goes out to them,” Donnie Sr. said. “To see him running around full speed and helping his team out there now is exciting.”
And Evege did help the Bucks in their 45-0 dismantling of New Mexico State. The redshirt sophomore’s three tackles — tied for second most by a Bucks player — all ended Aggie kick returns with a bruising exclamation point.
As the season has progressed, Evege — whose dad was a Central State baseball player and whose mom won a state basketball crown as an Akron prep player — has become the face of OSU special teams play.
Two years ago — as the Bucks were preparing for their game at Penn State, same as this week — Evege was a redshirt freshman on the scout team. Attempting to smother an A.J. Trapasso punt in practice, he took the full brunt of the kicker’s leg just beneath his right knee.
He suffered a meniscus injury that required surgery, put him in a hip-to-ankle brace and cost him the rest of the 2007 season and all of last year, too.
“It can be tough — realizing life goes on for the other guys and you’re injured and kind of dealing with the unknown by yourself,” said Donnie Sr. “At least he had some things to keep him occupied.”
Evege, you see, tackles life like he does football.
After graduating early from Wayne, he completed a program at Hondros College in Dayton that got him eligible to take the state licensing test to become a real estate agent.
At OSU, where he carries a 3.1 grade-point average, he was chosen to represent all Buckeye athletes at the National Student-Athlete Development Conference in Orlando, Fla. He’s also heavily involved in the OSU chapter of Uplifting Athletes.
In his spare time, he said he and a couple of his teammates have been playing the stock market and “oh yeah, we’ve done real good.”
The same can now be said about his football, where he hopes his special teams contributions will one day make him a regular in the defensive secondary.
“Right now it’s all about one word — team,” he said. “A special teams player is a different breed. You try to fly around, play physical and make something happen.”
He’s becoming quite popular with the crowd, especially with that Troy Polamalu hair flowing in his wake.
And what does button-down, always trimmed head coach Jim Tressel think of his flowing locks?
“He’s not said too much good or bad,” a grinning Evege said. “I think it’s about making plays.”
Beauty, it turns out, is not just a matter of the eye, but sometimes of the impact.
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3:36 PM, 11/1/2009
ALL the BEST to you and your Family!!!
Orie and Family
1:58 PM, 11/1/2009
-G.Maloy, Wayne '79
7:57 AM, 11/1/2009