Nico Evans is a special guy.

You can see it on the field.

You can feel it even more when you talk to him off the field.

It's hard to find a guy with more character, more resolve than this guy.

Not only was he raised right by his parents, Melonee and David, but he obviously listened.

He relishes being a leader, and he's good at it. He's one of the most respected members of the Cowboy football team. Easy to see why when you visit with him.

While Wyoming's senior running back is having a marvelous final season, it hasn't always been roses for the native of Los Angeles.

Take last year, for instance.

Evans carried the football exactly 11 times in 13 games, and gained just 19 yards.

"It was really hard. I wasn't going to quit, because I gave Coach Bohl my word that I would be here for four years, and I wasn't about to go back on my word," says the soft-spoken captain who speaks with just the right amount of confidence.

"But I was so frustrated that I'd being lying if I said it didn't cross my mind. I was raised much better than that. My parents wouldn't have let me do it anyway. My mom always told me 'never quit in the middle of something.'"

Thank goodness he stayed.

Evans has already produced three 100-yard-plus games as the Cowboys head into the Fresno State game tomorrow evening. With that game looming, he leads the Mountain West in total rushing yards (612), and is 14^thin the country. His 153 yards-per-game average would rank him first in the league and third in the nation but he doesn't meet the NCAA's minimum of playing in 75 percent of his team's games. He missed two games because of injury.

That's a far cry from the 19 yards he gained a year ago.

"I made a judgement error," Evans says about last year. "After Brian (Hill) and Sean (Wicks) left, I mistakenly assumed that I would be 'the' guy. Well, I didn't work hard enough to be that. When it didn't happen, I was crushed."

So being the consummate competitor that he is, Evans decided to do something about it.

"I worked as hard as I could last off-season to change my body, and my mental approach. I was never going to quit, but I was determined to change myself, to make myself the absolute best I could be. I wasn't going to sit on that bench again."

It wasn't hard to see he was a changed guy on the outside. He was bigger, and just looked better. But that was only the half of it. He was better on the inside. A renewed mental outlook has driven him to compete on a consistently high level.

Heading into Saturday's game he is averaging a remarkable 7.85 yards per carry. He has 78 carries thus far this season, and would like to tote it a lot more.

"A running back thrives on carries," says Evans. "It helps him get into a rhythm. Before this year I was only getting two or three carries a game at most. That's going to make it hard to be successful. Rhythm is critical to a running back. The more carries he has, the better chance he has of getting a feel for what the defense is doing." 
 
Evans says his competitive edge manifested itself early on. "I really began feeling it in pee-wee football. I took losses really hard. . .okay I cried after losing a game. I don't think anyone in the family wanted to play with me because if it didn't go my way, I'd start in," he laughs.

He still takes losing really, really hard. "It takes me a couple of days to get over it," he says.

Evans was an outstanding football player at Loyola High in LA, and earned all kinds of accolades. He also was an excellent student, and was recruited by the Ivy League as well as by Wyoming, Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and San Jose State. 

In addition to being quite a football player, he was an outstanding track athlete too. He thought he could do both at Wyoming. As a prepster he competed in the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and the 4x100 relay, his favorite event.

"I have always been a team guy, so I think that's why the relay was my favorite. I am driven not to let my teammates down. It's always a team thing with me."

While Evans had designs on running track as well as playing football at Wyoming, it wasn't meant to be. "I put on too much weight for football to really seriously consider running track," he says.

He looked very much the track athlete during his 75-yard touchdown run against Boise State a couple of weeks ago, the longest TD run for the Cowboys in eight seasons. "When I got to the goal line, I stuck my chest out like I was breaking the tape," he says with a smile. "It made me feel good."  

One thing was clear on that scamper, he ran away from some pretty quick Boise defenders.

Evans very much embraces being a team leader.

"I've always enjoyed being a leader. I always wanted more responsibility than just playing the game. I like putting things on my shoulders, taking the lead, being the guy who is called upon to make big plays."

Once you get to know him, you can understand that leading by example is his bag.

"Hopefully the way I go about things motivates the younger players," he says. "I think it's difficult to lead by yelling. Some may respond to that, but others may shut down. You can't be sure how someone will take that. Leading by example is better for me."

Evans is hopeful of playing the game of football beyond the collegiate level.

But when he does leaves the game he eventually would like to go into television sports production, either behind the camera, or in front of it. A communications major, he spent last year as an intern in the athletic department's Creative Services unit, something he says he really enjoyed.

"I think I would really like to get into television, and work with video. It was a lot of fun working with those video guys."

Not so fast Nico, you still have a lot of highlights to create yourself.