Old Souls Evers and Martin Leading the Defensive Line
STILLWATER – During his Monday news conference I asked Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy about two players that opposing teams, even their own teammates have to think they’ve been there forever. When defensive tackle Brendon Evers runs out Saturday for his first play against Arkansas-Pine Bluff he will be participating in his 51st game as an Oklahoma State player. Down the line from Evers in the three technique at the “leo” end Brock Martin will be playing in his 53rd game in orange and black. Evers from Bixby and Martin from Oologah are pure old school or as I labeled in my question, old souls.
“I talk to the team a lot about our discipline and toughness and define that, so they know what that actually means. Most young people you communicate with these days you tell them something and they shake their head and they have no idea what you are talking about unless you question them and ask them,” Gundy said. “The other day I talked to the team about it and how this culture was built and when we were done Brock walked up and put his arm around me and said, ‘Coach, you know really all I have is discipline and toughness and I’m really not that good.’ He goes, ‘I really have to live on discipline and toughness.’ I said, two things, one, that’s true and two, you are that good because you choose to do that and you are tougher than most people that step on the field.
“Yes, those are throwback guys for today, and Evers is like a 30-year-old man,” Gundy continued now really into discussing two of his most veteran players. “He’s working on his third degree. I don’t know how many degrees he’s got here and he’s working on his education. He’s an important role player and they get beat up. You see them (Evers and Martin) in games and they get hurt. They are like 10-year vets in the NFL. You know they come over and smoke a cigarette and they go back out and play 10 more plays. That is what they do. They’re like those old first basemen, like Don Mattingly who goes in the dugout and burns one and then goes up and lines a double to the opposite field.”
We write about Martin and Evers a bunch because both players now in that NCAA offered COVID year like linebacker and Martin’s best friend Malcolm Rodriguez was in last season. Both have had multiple surgeries, Evers all in the shoulder area and Martin in the shoulder and with his elbow.
One great value in Martin, Evers, and also red-shirt senior defensive end Tyler Lacy is they know where every defensive lineman should line up in every front.
“We always say if you’re all wrong, you’re all right and if you’re all right, then your all right,” Martin said of their influence. “We’ve been getting everybody lined up whether it is me at the end spot or Brendon at the tackle spot and Tyler (Lacy) is at the other end or he is inside. As long as everybody is doing what they are supposed to be doing we’re usually good.”
Martin has 112 career tackles with 29.5 of those going for lost yardage and 13.5 sacks. Last Saturday against Arizona State was his first forced fumble. He’s recovered five fumbles. Evers, in a position that gets less opportunities to make tackles, has 49 in his career with 7.5 going for a loss, four sacks. He also has two passes deflected, one in the open field, and six quarterback hurries. To label these two relentless is an understatement.
I brought up another player Martin and Evers remind me of. He too was from up in the northeast part of the state, Tulsa area, but on the offensive side, center Ben Buie (2000-2004). I said that I would pay to watch Buie and Evers, in their prime go one on one in drills. Gundy jumped on the that.
“It would be a battle that you would have to turn the lights on for because neither one of them would ever give in,” Gundy explained. “Bowie is like that guy you fight in high school, and if you end up winning the fight the bad news is you have to fight him tomorrow. Then he probably wants to fight again the next day.”
It turns out Buie was fresh on Gundy’s mind from a recent visit from the olde center from Gundy’s days as offensive coordinator.
“You know he came to practice about two weeks ago and we were kind of reminiscing a little bit,” the head coach said. “You know when he walks in, he doesn’t look like a guy that could block Tommy Harris, you know the guy that played at OU and was a first-round pick of the Chicago Bears. That one game out here he dominated Tommy Harris, no business doing it. Then he said Dvoracek was the problem. He was the real issue there. He and Brock Martin and Brendon Evers they are all throwback guys.”
Yes, they are, and it is great to have them around as long as the NCAA will allow it.