Zack Evans (born June 27, 1990) is a Canadian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

. He is a two-time

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

champion having won the

101st Grey Cup The 101st Grey Cup was a Canadian football game played between the East Division champion Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the West Division champion Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League to decide the Grey Cup champions of the 2013 ...

as a member of the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

and the

104th Grey Cup The 104th Grey Cup (branded as the 104th Grey Cup presented by Shaw for sponsorship reasons) was a Canadian football game that was played on November 27, 2016, between the Calgary Stampeders and the Ottawa Redblacks, that decided the champion for ...

with the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

Junior career

Evans played junior football for the Regina Thunder of the

Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to professional footbal ...

from 2009 to 2011. In 2011, he was an All- Canadian in the CJFL and also a finalist for the CJFL's Top Defensive Player award.

Professional career

Saskatchewan Roughriders (first stint)

Evans was signed by the

as a territorial exemption on May 29, 2012. He made his professional debut in the team's season-opening game on June 29, 2012, against the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

. He played in eight regular season games in his rookie year, recording two defensive tackles. He also made his post-season debut, playing in the team's West Semi-Final loss to the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

. In

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, he began the season on the injured reserve, but played in the last eight regular season games, including in the October 12, 2013 game against the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

where he recorded his first career

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackle (football move), tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the l ...

. He played in all three post-season games in 2013, including his

debut in the

game. There, Evans won his first Grey Cup championship as the Roughriders defeated the

in his hometown of Regina.

Ottawa Redblacks

With the

joining the CFL for the

2014 CFL season The 2014 CFL season was the 61st season of modern-day Canadian football. It was the 57th Canadian Football League season. Vancouver hosted the 102nd Grey Cup on November 30. The league expanded to nine teams with the addition of the Ottawa Red ...

, Evans was eligible to be selected in the 2013 CFL Expansion Draft. He was indeed selected on December 15, 2013, in the expansion draft in the third round and his playing rights transferred to the Redblacks. With Ottawa, Evans became more of a regular rotational player as he played in all 18 regular season games and had four starts in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. He had 20 defensive tackles and three quarterback sacks in his first year with the Redblacks. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, he did not start any of the 17 regular season games that he played, but he still recorded 17 defensive tackles and a career-high seven sacks. He also recorded not only his first career interception, but also his first professional touchdown, on July 9, 2015, after intercepting Eskimos' quarterback Matt Nichols and returning it 66 yards for the score. He also played in his second Grey Cup game, which was a loss in the

103rd Grey Cup The 103rd Grey Cup was a Canadian football game that was played on November 29, 2015 between the East Division champion Ottawa Redblacks and the West Division champion Edmonton Eskimos to decide the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship f ...

match against the Edmonton Eskimos. During the following off-season, on January 4, 2016, he signed a two-year contract extension with the Redblacks. Evans established himself as a regular starter in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

as he played and started in 17 regular season games while sitting out the final game of the season due to the Redblacks already securing first place in the East Division. With the increased playing time he enjoyed a career year with 24 defensive tackles, six sacks, and a fumble recovery. As a result, he was named a CFL Division All-Star for the first time in his career. To cap off the season, he played and started in both post-season games for the Redblacks and won his second Grey Cup championship with a victory in the

game. Evans continued his strong play in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

by playing and starting in 18 regular season games and recording 23 defensive tackles and five quarterback sacks. In total, he played in 70 regular season games with the Redblacks and had 84 defensive tackles and 21 sacks before becoming a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders (second stint)

On February 13, 2018, Evans signed re-signed with the Roughriders. He played and started in all 18 regular season games and had career lows as a starter with 15 defensive tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble. He did, however, have a career-high four fumble recoveries, including his first fumble recovery returned for a touchdown on October 27, 2018, against

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

. After the season, it was announced that he had signed a four-year contract extension with the Roughriders on December 18, 2018. He had an injury-shortened season in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

where he played in only 11 regular season games and had four defensive tackles and one sack. After the

2020 CFL season The 2020 CFL season would have been the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it would have been the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League. It was originally scheduled to begin on June 11; on April 7, the start of the ...

was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Roughriders released Evans on December 18, 2020.

References

External links

Saskatchewan Roughriders bioOttawa Redblacks bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Zack 1990 births Living people Canadian football defensive linemen Canadian Junior Football League players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of Canadian football from Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Roughriders players Sportspeople from Regina, Saskatchewan