More often than not, there is not a person on the planet, other than a parent, that knows a high school football player better than their head coach.
BlueandGold.com recently caught up with Justin Todd, the the head coach Notre Dame 2021 tight end signee Mitchell Evans at Wadsworth High School in Ohio, Justin Todd to discuss Evans and what he can bring to Notre Dame.
Todd could not say enough about Evans and how he has persevered through tough times to get to where he is now, on track to play tight end at Notre Dame.
“Mitch has served multiple roles for us throughout the years,” Todd explained. “He was an eighth-grader when I met him and at that point, he was an unsung player. He had not developed yet and he was a smaller, chubby, backup on defense for us.”
Seeing Evans now, standing at 6-7, 240 pounds, he looks like a completely different player and person. Major growth spurts in Evans’ freshman and sophomore years of high school enabled him to be as large as he is now.
“Through his growth and added size, Mitch never lost his athleticism,” Todd said. “We played him at quarterback quite a bit, his initial position, before moving him back and forth from tight end.”
“In Mitch’s junior season, last year, we had him at tight end to show what he could do at the next level and to help him with his recruiting process. We then transitioned him back to quarterback this season for his senior year and he was remarkable. We were not a great football team but he threw for 2,300 yards, 25 touchdowns, and had 400 or 500 yards rushing.”
It is clear what the Notre Dame staff saw in Evans athletically. There are not many players in the country that could put up the numbers Evans did at his size.
“I have never had anybody that big play the quarterback position for me,” Todd said. “Before Mitch, the tallest quarterback I ever had was probably 6-0, it was certainly different. He’s bigger than most offensive lineman and defensive lineman! He is just a big, talented athlete.”
It seems inevitable that Evans will only get bigger in Notre Dame’s strength program, combined with being on a nutrition plan. In the 2021 class, the Irish currently have five offensive linemen signed, but it is possible that Evans ends up transitioning into being the sixth down the road.
“I think it’s possible Mitch moves to the offensive line in a few years,” Todd explained. “Although, it is also a matchup nightmare to have a 6-7, 260-pounder at tight end that can run like the wind.”
If Evans does indeed stay at tight end for Notre Dame, he provides a lethal combo with the other committed tight end in the class, Cane Berrong.
Berrong, a 6-4, 225-pounder out of Hartwell (Ga.) Hart County will be a nice receiving target at the tight end position for Notre Dame in the future, as will Evans.
Notre Dame certainly knows how to recruit the tight end position and Evans will look to be the next in a long line of Irish tight ends to be a part of ‘Tight End U.’
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