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Football Guide 2018

GROWING UP: Evan Foster’s physical transformation in high school brought him to SU. He’s hoping a similar jump gets him to the NFL.

GROWING UP: Evan Foster’s physical transformation in high school brought him to SU. He’s hoping a similar jump gets him to the NFL.

/ The Daily Orange

By Andrew GrahamSenior Staff Writer

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Evan Foster checked into fall camp for his senior season at West Bloomfield (Michigan) High School in what seemed to be a brand new body. The summer before, he grew three inches taller and added roughly 30 pounds.

The fast, skinny kid came back a grown man.

“Very rarely do you see a kid transform from his junior year to senior year in a manner that Evan did,” Ron Bellamy, Foster’s high school coach, said.

Foster’s late-stage recruitment resulted from a physical change between his junior and senior years in high school, spurred mostly by a rapid growth spurt. As the junior strong safety prepares for his second season as a starter at Syracuse, he senses the next progression is coming. A move forward that will boost SU and potentially take Foster where he’s always wanted: the National Football League.

“I know one of Evan’s goals since he was a little boy has been to play in the NFL,” Bellamy said. “And you know, Evan knows he’s scratching that surface. He’s not there yet, by no means.”

By all accounts, the four Foster brothers — Brian, 27; Aaron, 25; Nicholas, 23; and Evan, 20 — are a close-knit family. Growing up, the four hurtled around outside, said their mother, Marva, except when they were inside bouncing on the furniture. Marva saw fingerprints on the ceiling and caught on.

With the camaraderie came the smack talk, and naturally, Aaron said, Foster made an easy target for the three older brothers. Ribbing rarely became malicious, but when Foster asked for a Corvette for Christmas, he did not hear the end of it.

“Everybody threw that out the picture,” Foster said, laughing.

Foster is a self-proclaimed quiet person, and Aaron attributes his brother’s taciturn style to the flack he took from his three older brothers. There’s always a chance the next thing Foster says will be rushed, and the older three brothers will pounce. He needs to be deliberate when he speaks.

“When you’re the youngest brother of four,” Aaron said, “you can’t speak first and react later.”

But Foster’s bond with Aaron is particularly strong. A successful safety at WBHS and Bowling Green State University, Aaron provided the blueprint for Foster to follow.

Early in Foster’s high school career, he seemed a run-of-the-mill player. But he was always compared to his older brother. During a mid-October bye week in college, Aaron drove north through Toledo, Ohio, and back to the Detroit suburbs to watch a then-sophomore Foster play in a Thursday night junior varsity game.

“I’m telling you,” Aaron said, “he had like three or four missed tackles for touchdowns. Like bad. Like, ‘Who is this kid? Who is his brother? He can’t be Aaron’s brother.’”

Bellamy, who caught passes from Tom Brady at Michigan, trusted that Foster would eventually arrive. Aaron was a late bloomer, too. Bellamy saw the coverage skills and noted Foster was “twitchier” than Aaron, referring to his ability to change direction and explosiveness.

Still, at about 5-foot-9-inches tall and 175 pounds at the conclusion of his junior season, Foster wasn’t a likely candidate for a Division I offer.

His growth spurt hit early in the summer. Starting to look the part of a Division I safety, Foster got his first offer from Eastern Michigan early in June 2015.

Wasim Ahmad | Staff Photographer

“Low and behold,” Bellamy said, “he transformed himself into a hell of a high school football player.”

At a camp later in June, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Foster worked out with Nick Monroe — who coached Aaron for four years — then the safeties coach at Bowling Green under Dino Babers.

On a sweltering day where Foster felt he underperformed, Monroe walked away impressed by his athleticism. A mix of defensive back drills — backpedaling, breaking on the ball, clearing hips — and a combine-style workout showed Monroe everything he needed to see. The offer came days later on June 29, and Foster committed that day.

Bellamy recalled telling Babers not to overlook Foster.

“You have the steal of the 2016 recruiting class,” Bellamy remembered saying.

“Yeah, he’s a really good player,” Babers replied.

“No, no. You don’t get it coach,” Bellamy said. “You got the steal of the class.”

After playing his entire senior season committed to Bowling Green, on Dec. 7, 2015, Foster’s recruitment took a turn. Babers left BGSU for Syracuse and took Monroe with him. Foster followed suit, decommitting that day.

Foster’s attachment to playing for Monroe trumped his pledge to Bowling Green, mostly because of Monroe’s relationship with Aaron.

Marva and Darryl, Foster’s father, liked Bowling Green not just because of the familiarity, but also the geography. They didn’t want their youngest as far away as Syracuse.

Ultimately, because of Aaron’s prior experience with Monroe, they trusted their son would be taken care of. On Jan. 25, 2016, he committed to Syracuse.

“That was everything,” Darryl said. “It wasn’t even Dino. It was coach Monroe. I basically all but told him, ‘He’s yours now. He is your responsibility.’”

During his growth spurt in high school, Foster didn’t notice a sudden change because, to him, the differences were subtle. At SU, he didn’t get instantly better after his sophomore year but learned from mistakes through the season, spring ball and now fall camp.

When the improvements converge, the jump happens.

Foster’s stature is ideal for an NFL prospect — 6-foot, 223 pounds — and his combine numbers are catching up, Bellamy and Aaron said. Foster ran a 4.43 40-yard dash and bench pressed 225 pounds 15 times over the summer, Bellamy said. Minkah Fitzpatrick, a safety from Alabama who went 11th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, ran a 4.46 and hit 14 reps on the bench press at the NFL Combine.

“(Evan) needs to understand that his body is going to be what fuels the good play,” Aaron said.

“Whether it’s getting more rest,” Aaron continued, “drinking more water, stretching or getting more treatment. Getting in that ice tub after practice. Maybe just taking a nap.”

When Foster came back for his senior year of high school, Bellamy and his staff decided to work him with the linebackers.

As Jabrill Peppers popularized the “viper”, a hybrid safety-linebacker, position at Michigan Stadium 37 miles to the northeast, Foster played a similar role for West Bloomfield.

“I have three kids on my football team like that right now,” Bellamy said. “I tell Evan, we call it the ‘Evan Foster.’ I got (a) linebacker whose name is Lance Dixon, 2019. He just committed to Penn State, 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, runs a 4.4. Well guess who that is? It’s Evan Foster.”

The Orange transitions to a 4-2-5 defense this season, removing the third linebacker from the field — meaning Evan will have to play with more physicality, Bellamy said.

Foster views it as a matter of confidence. It’s less about his ability to play physically, he said, but his comfort level getting downhill and making plays near the line of scrimmage. He wasn’t sure of himself last season. But after a year of being pushed harder than ever by Monroe, Foster feels he’s there.

“Being able to mess up and hone in on my mistakes and understand what I’m doing wrong and just allows me — really it’s a mind thing,” Foster said, “and it allows your feet to do the job.”

After building up and surging forward in 2015, Foster seems primed for the same in 2018. Bellamy, Aaron and Darryl agree that when the mental, physical and psychological traits come into focus, Foster will skip forward once more.

Only this time, Foster needs to leap.

“Yeah you’re playing, you’re making plays,” Bellamy said. “But are the scouts stopping your film? And rewinding and watching it again? And rewinding it? And watching it again?

“The moment that happens, that’s the moment you become a first-round draft pick.”

Cover photo by Paul Schlesinger | Staff Photographer

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