Throw it up to Franklon

Franklon Evans loves football.

From his days playing youth football with the Arlington Trojans to Friday night lights at the Boneyard, Evans has been infatuated with the game.

“(Football) means a lot to me,” Evans says. “It means everything, really.”

After spending much of the 2024 season perusing the game from the sidelines, Evans, now a junior at Lake Highlands, was given his opportunity to shine this past year.

Evans seized that opportunity, leading the Wildcats in touchdowns in 2025 as a utility player on offense. His 16 regular-season scores were good for 96 points, the 14th-most among 6A Dallas-area football players prior to the playoffs.

There was no slowing down for Evans once the postseason began. Facing South Grand Prairie in the bi-district round for the sixth consecutive season, he helped lead the Wildcats to a 43-36 victory.

Evans acknowledged the challenge ahead of him and his team.

“I know that they’re a really good team,” he said. “With only one loss on the season (and) I know they got a good defense. So it’s going to be a great game.”

A great game it was, and Evans’ team-high six receptions for 80 yards and two touchdowns proved to be the difference.

Holding just a one-point lead with 8:58 remaining in the third quarter, Evans found himself wide open in the middle of the end zone, where he caught a touchdown pass from nine yards out to extend Lake Highlands’ lead to 15-7.

Then, with the score knotted at 22 in the fourth, Evans struck again.

Franklon Evans lines up for Lake Highlands in a 52-21 victory versus Jesuit on October 10, 2025. Photography by Mike Duhon.

Facing third down and four from the South Grand Prairie seven-yard line, Wildcat quarterback Chuck Smith rifled a pass to Evans in the end zone. He bobbled the ball for a second before hauling in a tough reception, giving Lake Highlands a 29-22 lead with just 11:53 remaining in the contest.

After holding on to win, Wildcats Coach Cory Campbell lauded the performance of his two dynamic playmakers: Evans and running back Christian Rhodes.

“(Rhodes and Evans) haven’t played much in the second half in a lot of games,” Campbell said. “And man, we needed every second of those guys tonight. They were big for us.”

Before the game, Evans admitted that Rhodes’ and Smith’s play has done a lot to make his life easier as he has moved up Lake Highlands’ depth chart. The connection with his first-year quarterback, in particular, has been strong since Smith first joined the team after transferring from Highland Park following his junior year.

“(Our chemistry) was just there since we first started catching,” Evans says.

Smith was also a beneficiary of the strong bond he shared with his receiver, with Evans hauling in 42 receptions for 539 yards and nine scores on the season. Evans was productive from the ground, too, amassing 461 rushing yards and nine more touchdowns.

“Franklon is so reliable, it’s crazy,” Smith says. “If I’m going to throw it up to somebody, it’s going to be Franklon. I mean, I know he’s going to come down with it nine out of 10 times.”

Evans’ connection with his teammates doesn’t stop there. He values the bonds he’s created with all of his peers. Off the field, he enjoys spending time with them, namely hanging out with fellow receivers Tray Willis and Mason Spangler.

“They’re all fun to be around,” he says.

Evans also plays video games, with Madden being his game of choice, a true testament to his love of football. More often than not, he finds himself playing as the Kansas City Chiefs, utilizing two-time AP NFL Most Valuable Player and Tyler, Texas native Patrick Mahomes to wreak havoc on his opponents.

But with the Wildcats’ season over after an area-round playoff loss to Allen, Evans has turned his attention to how he can get better as he enters his senior year. Coming into his own as a junior, Evans ran into some challenges despite his breakout season.

“When I was a sophomore, I wasn’t really a big part of the offense,” Evans says. “A challenge that I’ve faced is the scouting report and players being keyed in on me. They notice that I’m going to get the ball, so I see the importance of doing extra work and taking care of my body.”

As for how he wants to improve, Evans has a couple of things in mind as he seems primed to take a higher snap count with Lake Highlands losing Rhodes and others to graduation.

“I would want to improve on my routes because I feel like they can be better than what they are now,” he says. “And also, my vision as a running back.”

He elaborated further, explaining, “Sometimes, I’ll say, I don’t see the wide-open hole in the gap, which causes me to not get as much yards as I should’ve gotten.”

Of the Wildcats’ top seven rushers in 2025, six will graduate in May. The other is Franklon Evans.

That leaves 260 rushing attempts on the table, and although Evans certainly won’t receive all of those handoffs, it does set him up to be the focal point of next year’s offense. Lake Highlands has produced a slew of productive runners over the last decade, and Evans might be the next.

“I’m just grateful to be in this position,” Evans says. “(I’m grateful for) my coaches and teammates believing in me this year to go out and showcase my abilities.”