Ole Miss '20 TX RB - Zachary Evans (Transfer to Ole Miss)

Rivals.com
24/7Sports

Running Back
0 STARS
North Shore
Houston, TX
RR: 0
Ht: 6'1"
Wt: 185 lbs
Class: 2020

Ohio State has offered.

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Check out Zachary Evans Varsity Highlights by Zachary Evans on @hudl https://t.co/cces8Exsf3 #hudl

— OSUBasketballJunkie (@ScarletBuckeye2) July 25, 2017

 

KEEPING THEIR HOOK IN 'EM

On a similar note, Ohio State has really made its presence felt in the Houston metropolitan area this summer, as it hosted a satellite camp at Texas Southern that was attended by more than 300 prospects.

Among them, North Shore running back Zachary Evans, to whom the Buckeyes offered a scholarship on Monday evening.

The 6-foot, 180-pound Evans — a rising sophomore — isn't ranked yet either, but also holds offers from Alabama, Baylor, Houston, Kansas, LSU, Oregon, Texas and Texas A&M. He played a vital role in the Mustangs' march to the state title game last season, and you can only imagine how much more attention he'll garner when he's the team's feature back this fall.

 

RESPECT HIS DECISION
Much to the dismay of our readers — and some of the nation’s top prospects — Houston North Shore five-star running back Zachary Evans included Ohio State in his Top 25 on Saturday night alongside... well, you can see for yourself.

If you’re not caught up on your school-specific hashtags, the other 24 programs are Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Houston, Iowa State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, USC and Wisconsin.

For what it’s worth, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Evans — who is considered the top-rated running back and No. 5 prospect overall in the Class of 2020, as he carried the ball 184 times for 1,483 yards and 27 touchdowns to lead the Mustangs to the state quarterfinals last fall — cut nine programs from his list of scholarship offers.

Evans was one of seven underclassmen invited to The Opening Finals after he posted a 4.51-second 40-yard dash, a 3.91-second 20-yard shuttle and a 34-inch vertical jump at the Houston Regional. He did not attend the event after he chose to participate in the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge a few days prior instead.

Evans hoped to visit campus for the first time this spring, but was unable to make the trip. He caught up with several Ohio State staff members — including the offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Wilson and wide receivers coach Zach Smith — during a satellite camp in Houston in early June, however.

There’s also obviously plenty of time Evans to make that trip, especially considering he’s eyeing a decision during the Early Signing Period a little over 17 months away.

Ohio State holds commitments from a pair of running backs this cycle in Georgia four-star Steele Chambers and Indiana four-star Sampson James. I anticipate they’ll take three next cycle, however, with Evans, California five-star Kendall Milton, Virginia five-star Chris Tyree, Arizona four-star (and Akron native) Darvon Hubbard, Dublin Coffman four-star Michael Drennen II, Dallas four-star Emmitt “E.J.” Smith and Florida four-star Demarkcus Bowman among those worthy of consideration.

 

5-star 2020 RB Zach Evans (@Runzekerun01) pic.twitter.com/QsgqAyzTdK

— Jason Howell (@Jason_Howell) July 14, 2018

 

Country's No. 1 class of 2020 RB says he will definitely visit #OhioState this summer. VIP https://t.co/1zkNlOckiy

— Bill Kurelic (@Bill_Kurelic) July 27, 2018

 

After visiting Friday, 5-star RB Zachary Evans likes how he would hit in the new Texas A&M offense (VIP)https://t.co/isxpMfsAsf pic.twitter.com/Y4Apr2auLu

— Brian Perroni (@Perroni247) July 29, 2018

 

2020 5-star RB Zachary Evans visited #UGA this weekend https://t.co/1m6eRPx5fG

— Brian Perroni (@Perroni247) January 28, 2019

 

Rivals analyst Sam Spiegelman predicts that uncommitted five-star 2020 RB Zachary Evans will land at Texas.

Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Clemson are among the other teams to watch in this race for the Houston native. There is a fair bit of smoke around Evans-to-Texas at this juncture, with Spiegelman referring to Tom Herman's crew as the "safe early bet" to reel in the 6-foot, 213-pound star in the making. He's an explosive, powerful prospect. Rivals ranks Evans as the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2020 class.

 

#Buckeyes a surprise inclusion in the top five of the nation's top running back, and No. 2 overall prospect, Zachary Evans out of Houston (TX): https://t.co/yqVcM1Kl8x

— Marc Givler (@MarcGivler) May 28, 2019

 

Ohio State surprisingly makes cut for Zachary Evans
The country’s top-ranked running back and overall prospect in the Class of 2020 made some serious waves on Tuesday night when he announced his final five schools via social media.



Zachary Evans, a 5-star running back from North Shore (Houston), threw the Lone Star State into shock by not including the Texas Longhorns or Texas A&M Aggies. instead focusing on five of the country’s most prominent programs outside of those borders.

As we mentioned on Tuesday, there is an interesting running back carousel happening, and what makes Evans top schools list unique is that it includes each of the top schools being considered by fellow 5-star back Kendall Milton.

Now before anyone gets too worked up, let’s be very clear: There’s a very small chance that Evans would pick Ohio State, a school he’s never visited and a program that he has little to no communication with right now. Why is Evans including the Buckeyes on the list? That’s anyone’s guess, but I do not believe for a second that Texas (or A&M) is out of this race any more than I would believe that Ohio State is being truly considered in this recruitment.

The focus at the top of the running back board for the Buckeyes remains the same: Kendall Milton and Bijan Robinson will be the top targets until they’re off the board one way or another. Ironically, the Longhorns appear to be the primary competitor for Robinson, so there’s some interesting crossover discussion coming.

 

Zach Evans reaffirmed with @247Sports last week he's a "package deal" with North Shore teammate Damieon George. And George committed to Alabama on Wednesday🤔: https://t.co/DlObIrGqZd pic.twitter.com/56h0f6W46B

— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) June 7, 2019

 

Zach Evans visit this weekend will be an UNofficial visit. #Buckeyes

— Marc Givler (@MarcGivler) June 18, 2019

 

Another 5-star running back to visit Ohio State
Ohio State has hosted a pair of 5-star running backs for official visits in the last three weeks, and this weekend it will host the country’s top-ranked running back, Houston’s Zachary Evans.

The visit, first reported by Marc Givler of BuckeyeGrove.com, is an unofficial. Sources close to the Buckeyes have confirmed the trip to Lettermen Row.

What makes this visit particularly interesting is not that Evans is making it, because he did include Ohio State in his final five schools. But it’s that it is an unofficial visit — and there’s a purpose for that, I’d imagine.

As we wrote in late May when the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Evans announced his final schools, there is a very small chance for Ohio State to be his eventual pick because the relationship with the program has been very superficial to this point.

It’s not been worked on and grown like the relationships with Kendall Milton and Bijan Robinson have. Ohio State isn’t keen on bringing in players for official visits unless they believe there’s a real possibility it can land the prospect. So, if he makes the trip, this weekend is sort of a prove-it trip for Evans — a chance to show he’s serious about his interest in the Buckeyes.

If he does that, then maybe Ohio State could ramp up its efforts and try to bring him back for an official visit later in July.

 

Zachary Evans Calls Off Trip to Columbus
Five-star running back Zachary Evans will not be making the trip to Ohio State this weekend, 247Sports reported, and it is unknown if he will visit Ohio State at a later date.

He made an unofficial visit to Texas on Thursday and will be visiting Texas A&M this weekend instead of Ohio State.

 

Man the red flags keep coming. Great talent but lots of issues. https://t.co/Z7Hp1UhfgR

— Mike Farrell (@mfarrellsports) December 21, 2019

 

A ton of smoke around this kid.........

 

Five-star RB Zachary Evans has postponed his commitment announcement https://t.co/Y34NGQQEWn pic.twitter.com/tWeODk4zlm

— Kipp Adams (@KippLAdams) January 2, 2020