The day was supposed to have already come for Lee Evans. Two years ago, he passed up a chance at millions of dollars and NFL fame to return to Wisconsin for his senior year. His reward: A knee injury in the 2002 spring game that led to a medical redshirt and a 2003 season filled with uncertainty. Even though he erased all doubts with a 1,213-yard, 13-touchdown season, the wait for Saturday’s NFL draft has still been a lengthy one.

“I only expected a one-year thing, but it’s been two,” Evans said. “It will all pan out in the end. I certainly don’t know what will happen this Saturday, but at that time I thought I made the right decision. Hopefully on Saturday it will prove right.”

For the past three months, Evans has been proving himself to NFL scouts, personnel directors and coaches. He began by running a sizzling 40-yard dash time reportedly as low as 4.30 seconds. Evans followed that up by catching every single pass thrown to him by quarterback Jim Sorgi at Pro Timing Day in Madison March 3.

“I guess things could always go better, but I think they went very well,” Evans said of his postseason workouts. “I think I surprised a lot of people in some of the things I did. In my personal workout I didn’t drop any balls, so that’s certainly a starting point and something I certainly expected out of myself. A lot of things went well and went very well, but we’ll see when the decision-makers pull my name out of the hat on Saturday.”

Since that day, Evans has been playing golf and trying not to notice where draft prognosticators slate him.

“[I’ve been] trying to relax, trying to keep my mind off of it,” he said. “[I] stay away from SportsCenter and things like that. Sometimes you can get pretty amped up, or vice versa. I try to stay away from TV and try to relax, get my mind off it.”

Evans hopes to find himself off the board in round one, something that appears more and more likely with the temporary exclusion of USC sophomore wideout Mike Williams from the draft pool.

“That’s my aim, that’s my goal,” Evans said of the first round. “Obviously the situation with Mike Williams plays into it. People talk about it, and people talk about it in a good way. You just don’t know.”

Evans certainly does not look like the rest of the top-tiered receivers in the draft. He pales in size to taller wideouts like Roy Williams and Larry Fitzgerald. However, given the right offense, Evans believes he may be a better fit than his larger counterparts.

“Out of the top six, eight receivers or so, I’m probably the only one under six feet,” he said. “I think in certain situations that will help me, because not all offenses are looking for a big, tall receiver. Some already have one and some are looking for a smaller-type receiver who can get deep and stretch the field vertically. It will play to my advantage in some cases.”

Evans has made visits to the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns in recent weeks. In those visits, he has met with coaches, toured facilities and gotten a brief taste of NFL offenses.

“Those trips were pretty good. The Buffalo trip was actually the best one out of them all,” Evans said. “There’s no telling what’s going to happen in the draft, but a lot of teams talked to me. They say one thing, but when the draft comes, another thing may happen. You just don’t know what to expect.”

One thing he came to expect in workouts was questions revolving around his surgically repaired left knee. Those questions, however, have been answered time and time again.

“Down at the combine they tested it, pulled on it, yanked on it and everything,” Evans said. “I still test well, ran well. That part can be behind me. It’s just now about the team that’s going to pull the trigger.”

Despite the positive reviews, the knee will always be an issue to some so-called draft experts.

“I know the people that make the decisions know it’s not an issue,” Evans said. “Obviously it’s something that has happened in the past and probably will be brought up until the mini-camp, or until I play my first season in the league, whenever that may be. Some people still think it’s a concern, but I think the people that make the decisions don’t.”

Those decisions will be made Saturday. Evans will return home to Bedford, Ohio and watch the proceedings with friends and family.

“I’m certainly going to be more waiting on the phone call than watching the TV,” he said. “I’ll still be watching to see what happens, and see if any dramatic moves are made — if someone trades up, trades down or someone gets picked and traded. I’ll certainly be watching, but I’ll be waiting on that phone call more than anything.”

So, after two years of rehab and waiting, Evans’ time in the NFL has almost come.

“I’ve been anxious, anxious for a long time,” Evans said. “Saturday can’t come quick enough. We’ll just have to wait and see, but the days seem like they’re getting longer.”