Who the Heck is Evan Svoboda?
That’s what many casual fans asked when they surprisingly saw him take the reigns of the Wyoming offense against #4 Texas last Saturday. There really wasn’t much known about him, as he has always been on the sidelines, overshadowed by graduate transfer and starting quarterback Andrew Peasley. But....who is Evan Svoboda? During the offseason, Wyoming Head Coach Craig Bohl had this to say about Evan, "...He has the stature of what you’re looking for in an NFL quarterback. Evan has tremendous arm strength. I keep looking at the number 17 that he’s wearing and have tried to draw some comparisons (to former Wyoming QB Josh Allen, who wore #17), even though that is kind of hard to do.” Bohl was certainly bold in saying that about his own QB, but Bohl has been right about many QBs during his career.
The Svoboda Family
Scott and Nicole Svoboda met at a college bar in Indiana in 1992, Nicole jokingly tells the story of how she met Scott: “Scott was sitting across the bar, and I told my girlfriend that I could have some big linebackers with that guy someday you know?...I was joking… Then lo and behold, we ended up dating for five years while living in Chicago.” The Svobodas are diehard Bears and Cubs fans, Nicole spoke about her upbringing in Chicago around her family’s love of the Bears, she mentioned that she was born into a football family. it’s no surprise that Nicole and Scott married in 1997 on a whim while in Arizona during a vacation to watch their beloved Cubs during Spring Training. “After vacation, we returned to Chicago to sell our house and move to Arizona… and we never looked back.”
The Svobodas knew they wanted to have a big family. In Nicole’s mind, she wanted to have a “basketball team” of five boys. However, their first two children were girls. Nicole exclaimed: “So when I had two girls, first I was like, holy ****, I am not having seven kids just to get those five boys somewhere down the line.” Then in 2003, Evan was born. “He was 10.5 pounds when he was born, and he was 23 inches long…He was a big baby.” Nicole explained. When the dust settled, the Svobodas had two girls and two boys.
Football Beginnings and High School
Evan began playing flag football at the age of five and then began playing tackle football at the age of 9. “I played linebacker when I first started playing football, my number was 54 because I really liked Brian Urlacher from the Chicago Bears”. Evan Svoboda told me during an interview over the phone from Laramie. Evan continued: “I played linebacker until 7th grade, then I wanted to try being a quarterback because I could throw the ball really far as a young kid.” Evan attended Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona. By his freshman year Evan was a starter for the JV team and then played on the varsity team from his sophomore through the rest of his high school career. Evan said his favorite memory from high school was making it all the way to the state championship game his junior year, where they played at “Mountain America Stadium” on the Arizona State University campus.
COVID Changed Everything
Evan was recruited heavily by several schools during his junior year in 2019, including former Wyoming Offensive Coordinator and current Montana State University Head Football Coach Brent Vigen and Executive Director of Recruiting Gordie Haug from the University of Wyoming. Other schools that showed interest in Evan were: Marshall, Illinois State, Abilene Christian University, and Moorehead State. Then 2020 happened, coincidently Evan’s senior year. Evan played really well during his senior year, but there were games where the other team had to forfeit because of COVID-19 outbreaks. It was not a good time for Evan to have any decent stats because of the circumstances. Nicole recounted: “As soon as COVID-19 happened, the college offers and visits stopped completely…some colleges even ghosted our son.” An important point that isn’t reported on very much… so many young athletes lost their chance to play at the next level because of the gap year. Svoboda recounted the words Evan had heard so many times: “We don't have any more scholarships to give. You know, those seniors who would have left after graduation are staying. You're on our board. You've been on our board forever, but now we can’t. Our hands are tied, so you can walk on and see what happens.”
Snow College Called
Then, one day, the Recruiting Coordinator from Snow College in Utah called and wanted to offer Evan a full ride for football. It was a gold mine for the school, as they didn’t think they had a chance to get Evan into their program because of the D1 interest. Evan said “I had a couple of preferred walk-on offers, but I went to junior college because of the full ride”. “We felt that Snow College had a nice program and facility where Evan could grow,” Nicole said. Evan was the backup quarterback for the Snow Badgers his freshman year, on a team that was ranked #1 in the nation. Evan recounted, “I played in a couple of games towards the end of the season. Our team lost one game during the regular season and lost in the semifinals.” Throughout Evan’s JUCO Journey, Wyoming’s Gordie Haug continued to remain committed to Evan. Nicole recalled Gordie’s words to Evan: “Evan, I’ll call you every Wednesday at 8 P.M. let’s talk about how your week was, we’ll talk about what happened at Wyoming or anything else on your mind.” That wasn’t just lip service either, every week at 8 P.M. Gordie would make that phone call to Evan. “We felt that Evan was still an option for Wyoming,” Nicole said.
Evan, Bohl is on the Phone
During the winter break of 2021-2022, Gordie called Evan- nothing unusual. Yet, this time Gordie said, “Hey, [Craig] Bohl wants to talk to you.” A full offer was granted to Evan. To say Evan was excited would be an understatement, “He's like, mom, crap. I gotta go back to Utah, pack up my things, and get to Wyoming!!!” Nicole recounted. “So we end up driving all night long just to get there. We checked in at the Holiday Inn. It was kind of late, but the bar was still open, and we walked in, and several people came out from the bar and said, Evan, you're the new guy from Snow College. Several local people were talking to him, and I'm like… look at how wonderful these people are. We met with Bohl the next morning, and we're sitting in his office, and he stressed that having a scholarship is an education. He was so polished, honest, genuine, direct, and professional. We knew that Evan made the right choice to come to Wyoming.” Nicole recounted. Nicole continued, “While we were sitting in Bohl’s office, big snowflakes started falling outside and it looked just like a snow globe, it just fit right in with the moment.”
Mentors and Trainers are Household Names
Quarterback trainer Mike Giovando has worked extensively with Evan from 7th grade to current. Giovando works with around 100 QBs per year and is the man behind South Carolina's QB Spencer Rattler, Louisville's QB Jack Plummer, West Virginia's QB Nicco Marchiol, Washington Husky QB Will Haskell, and many more. Usually, during the offseason, Evan gets to practice throwing to Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, which is facilitated by Giovando. "He could be a dual-threat QB if asked to, but I don't think anyone has ever asked him to. He's very athletic, he can run, and he's got a strong arm. He holds his own when he's out there." Giovando said during an interview over the phone from Arizona. Giovando continued "He needs to get his feet wet a little more and start some more games, the more time he gets on the field the better. Just to see him have this opportunity now is really cool, I'm happy for him. I texted him after the Texas game, I congratulated him, and he thanked me." Giovando said.
Former NFL star and current NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner loves to give back to a select group of local Arizona football players every summer. One day, Evan got an Instagram message from someone he didn’t know that said, “Come work out with Kurt. He likes to give back, he only selects a few young men at a time.” Nicole said that Evan got the message a few times, and they thought it was fake. But one day, Evan answered, and it really was Kurt Warner reaching out to Evan through his representative. Evan drives over to Kurt Warner’s house, and he has a full football field in his backyard, something unheard of in Arizona (or anywhere). Kurt’s wife, Brenda, brings the group lunch and cookies each day. They spend weekends working on techniques, footwork, passing, and classroom time. “Kurt is a great mentor for the kids, I’ve listened to him speak during workouts and what he has to say, he gives them such great tips and it’s all “no strings attached”.” Evan still trains with Kurt when he returns to Arizona during breaks.
Evan attended the Manning Passing Academy in 2018 and 2019 during high school. Alumni of this prestigious academy include a “who’s who” of legendary quarterbacks, including Wyoming’s Josh Allen. “It was great to be around quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Trevor Lawrence, and Jaylen Hurts,” Evan said.
Here’s your Chance Kid
During the week leading up to the Portland State game, Evan’s little brother Ethan was admitted to the hospital in Arizona for six days with Spontaneous Pneumothorax (a very rare form of lung collapse). Ethan was released from the hospital just in time to watch the Portland State game on TV. The following Monday, Evan was given the news that he would likely be the starter against #4 Texas at DKR Stadium. Evan Svoboda was given the green light to be QB1 just before the game. Head Coach Craig Bohl stated in the post-game press conference that the decision to start backup quarterback Evan Svoboda was a “game-time decision”. Following the game, Svoboda told the press when asked by a reporter that he might play earlier in the week. “I had to step up this week, take on the reps…it kind of hit me Monday …you know, you could potentially go in and start against Texas, the number 4 team in the country, so that's when it hit me”. Svoboda became the starter against Texas with only a handful of passes in special formations the team would run occasionally. Svoboda did play the full 4th quarter against Portland State but did not throw a pass during his time in the game. Essentially, Svoboda was “unproven” coming into the Texas game. "Unproven" didn't last long, as Svoboda showed us what he could do against Texas. Svoboda's play style is a more traditional pocket passer, yet he showed us that he is mobile and can pass on the run - reminiscent of Josh Allen’s days at Wyoming. Evan did run the ball, yet he typically passed the ball while running, so his rushing stats don’t show the full picture. When the dust settled, Svoboda’s stats were: 28 attempts, 17 completions (61% completion), one interception, 136 total yards, a long of 20 yards, and a QB rating of 94.4. Svoboda exceeded Longhorn QB Quinn Ewers in all statistics except for touchdowns thrown, pass long, and QB rating.
Saturday Night’s Game - No Stage Too Big
Could you imagine having your first start in front of more than 101,777 people at sold-out Darrell K Royal- "Texas Memorial Stadium" in the heart of Austin, Texas, and in the biggest game of your life? That would be a daunting task for anyone in that situation. “There were a lot of emotions…I just went out there to have fun and play ball.” Svoboda said when asked by a reporter at the post-game press conference. On nerves: ” I get a little nervous before every game, but once I get that big hit, that big play…That's when it kind of all just goes away.” Svoboda continued. Svoboda’s confidence didn’t waiver: “It [the game] gives me all the confidence in the world. I mean, you're hanging in... [with] the best, and they're a great team, [and] we're a great team, and we showed that, and I think it gives us all the confidence, [and the] confidence moving forward."
The Team Supported Svoboda
Wide receiver (Gr.) Wyatt Wieland spoke about the support he gave Svoboda before the game, “I just kinda told him [Svoboda] before the game I was like - hey, believe in yourself, believe in us, trust us to go make plays - He definitely did that tonight. So I'm grateful that he trusted us to go out there and make plays.” Linebacker (Jr.) Easton Gibbs also had a lot to say about Svoboda’s first start: “Evan, we always knew he was a passionate guy. It was really cool to see him lead… come out there, and he operated offense. That's what we told him to do: take care of the football and stay on the field. I think he did a really good job with that, especially for someone's first start. It's not the easiest place to come into. So yeah, it was impressive, and I was very proud of him. *All quotes in this section are from the post-game press conference and were from reporters' questions.
"His leadership showed a lot.” Transfer running back (Jr.) Harrison Waylee, who also played his first-ever game as a Cowboy against Texas, had this to say: “Him [Svoboda] coming in and having to take over in a really big game is pretty impressive, and the way he carried us throughout the whole game out there, impressive as well. He did what he had to do [and was] just up for the occasion.” Offensive tackle (Gr.) Frank Crum also chimed in about Svoboda: "I'm definitely really proud of Evan. He's got the guys behind [him], so I'm proud of him for going out there and he wasn't hesitant at all nor seemed shook at all. Which is good to see from your signal caller and some confidence there, and I think he has a lot to build on for sure.” Lastly, Head Coach Craig Bohl spoke about Evan’s remarkable performance as well: “I thought it was pretty remarkable. I was constantly looking at the play clock because typically a younger quarterback doesn't look. Even though you think that's one of the first things that you look at, he never really put us in jeopardy. I think one time it was down to 0. His handling of the huddle, handling of the crowd noise and [the] silent count was good. He made some really good throws. There was one I think he was a little bit late on and that's when he got picked off. But you know, he had, he really was composed and I thought Andrew did a nice job with him along with Coach [Tim] Polasek.” *All quotes in this section are from the post-game press conference and were from reporters' questions.
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