After helping anchor one of the best defenses in Abilene High School history, Ethan Evans believes the Cowboys have something to prove in 2026.
Despite returning a new-look roster, Evans said the team’s confidence hasn’t wavered. Instead, the senior linebacker has embraced the opportunity to lead a fresh group while silencing doubters.
“The thing I’m most excited for this upcoming season is getting to go and ball out with a brand new group of guys and prove everyone wrong who is saying we won’t perform as well as we have been,” Evans said.
Preparing for the challenge has required a demanding offseason. Evans has participated in Abilene’s summer weightlifting and football practices four days a week for the past six weeks while adding extra work outside of the team’s schedule.
He trains twice a week with Kegan Schumann at Revive Performance and makes nightly trips to the gym in an effort to be ready for the season.
The extra work comes after a junior campaign in which Evans recorded 84 tackles and two sacks while earning All-League honors at middle linebacker. Although those numbers were impressive, Evans believes they could have been even better.
An injury forced him to miss two games last season, preventing him from reaching one of his biggest individual goals.
“Individually I want to surpass 110 tackles,” Evans said. “I missed two games last year due to injury and that held me back from meeting this goal, but this year I will fulfill it.”
While Evans remains focused on his own production, he said the Cowboys’ biggest improvements must come collectively on the offensive side of the ball.
Abilene’s defense carried much of the load a year ago, but the coaching staff and players spent the offseason reshaping the offense to better fit the team’s personnel.
“The main thing as a group we want to improve on is production on the offensive side of the ball,” Evans said. “We had one of the best defenses in school history last year, but the offense was lacking. To change that we’ve completely flipped our playbook to better match our personnel as well as moving some guys around to different positions.”
The Cowboys are also determined to take the next step in the postseason.
After first-round playoff exits in each of the past two seasons, Evans said the team has set its sights on extending its season into November.
“As a team we want to be playing November football and make it over the hump of being first-round exits, as we have been the past two years,” Evans said.
