SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Playing against Ohio State was personal for Mitchell Evans.
The Buckeyes didn’t recruit the three-star prospect out of Wadsworth (Ohio) High. And with Evans in Notre Dame’s No. 1 tight end role as a junior this season, Saturday’s game at Notre Dame Stadium was one he had been anticipating.
Then when Evans dealt with concussion symptoms during the week leading into Notre Dame’s game against Central Michigan on Sept. 16, it could have kept him sidelined long enough to miss the Ohio State game.
“That was going through my head. But even during the Central Michigan game I was feeling a little bit better,” said Evans, who sat out the 41-17 victory over the Chippewas. “Then Sunday, Monday, whatever, I felt like pretty much myself again. Tuesday, they kind of worked me back in. Wednesday, I was pretty much full go. I wasn’t really too worried, but we were still taking it day-by-day as Ohio State came up.”
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The 6-foot-5, 251-pound Evans proved to be a bit of a headache for Ohio State. He led the Irish in receptions (seven) and receiving yards (75) and was on the field for all but two of Notre Dame’s offensive snaps in the 17-14 loss.
Evans, who played the role of sidekick for record-breaking All-America tight end Michael Mayer last season, doesn’t impact Notre Dame’s passing game as much as Mayer did. But he’s become an indispensable part of the Irish offense with his combination of run blocking and pass catching abilities. Even though he missed the Central Michigan game, only six offensive players have played more snaps than Evans this season: all five starting offensive linemen and quarterback Sam Hartman.
The need for Evans to be omnipresent in the Irish offense was heightened when senior tight end Kevin Bauman joined sophomore Eli Raridon on the injury report in preseason camp. Bauman tore his ACL in August. Raridon is still working his way back from his latest ACL tear in October.
Head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Gerad Parker haven’t been afraid to use Evans liberally.
“I kind of figured talking to Coach Parker, Coach Freeman, I’m probably going to take on that role of playing a hefty amount of snaps,” Evans said. “Whatever I need to do, run block. There was a time in the second half last game where we ran like six plays in a row. I was out wide and then would motion down and run a back block, or I’d motion down and we’d do counter or something like that.”
The seven-catch performance against Ohio State surpassed last year’s Gator Bowl, in which he caught three passes for 39 yards and the game-winning touchdown, as the best receiving performance of his Notre Dame career. His one-handed catch in the first quarter Saturday also took the title of best in-game catch of his career.
Evans wasn’t the first read on that play, he told reporters Tuesday. His objective was to set a rub to get wide receiver Jaden Greathouse open against man coverage. The defensive back Evans tried to screen blitzed instead, and a linebacker picked up Greathouse across the middle.
“But then I did that, I’m at the top of my route, I’m getting bear hugged, and I’m like ‘All right, probably not going to get it,’” Evans said. “So then I break, the ball was coming at me, so I was like ‘All right, I gotta do something.’ I just stuck my hand out there because my right one was getting held, and then just thought, ‘All right, come down with it. I’m putting one up there, so I gotta come down with it.’”
Evans, who entered 2023 with five career catches for 60 yards and one touchdown, has started to look more and more like a proper representative of Tight End U. When Evans was asked to take on a starting role for the Gator Bowl with Mayer sitting out to end last season, that’s when Freeman realized Evans was on track to become a No. 1 tight end for the Irish.
“I noticed it last year really in the bowl prep,” Freeman said. “I think it noticed it through the season, but all of a sudden Michael Mayer’s not playing and Mitchell Evans — we are a tight end heavy offense. The bowl prep, I noticed he can be the guy.
“He played well in that bowl game, and he’s played really well all year. He hasn’t had the catches and the targets that he did this past Saturday, but he made some great catches and did a really good job in the run game too.”
Evans felt a responsibility to help fill the void of Mayer leaving for the NFL in the offseason. After Saturday, Evans moved into a tie for second on the team with 12 catches that have totaled 138 yards.
While Evans is taking the majority of snaps, the Irish still like to use multiple tight ends. Sophomore Holden Staes had a breakout performance against NC State — four catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns — but he also caught touchdown passes against Tennessee State and Central Michigan. He has a team-high four receiving touchdowns on six catches for 123 yards.
Even junior tight end Davis Sherwood found the end zone for the first time in his career against NC State.
“It was sick," Evans said of the tight end production against NC State. “It was cool. We were in like 13 personnel [one running back and three tight ends] for all that. So that's pretty cool. Obviously, I'm a big fan of 13 personnel. I liked it.
“They couldn’t really cover it. They couldn’t really match-up with us, because they almost seemed kind of lost when we were on that personnel.”
Evans compared Duke’s defensive front to the one Notre Dame faced against NC State. But the No. 17 Blue Devils (4-0) have a much better overall defense than the Wolfpack (3-1).
When Notre Dame heads to Durham, N.C. for Saturday’s game at Duke (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC), the No. 11 Irish (4-1) will take on a defense ranked No. 4 in the FBS in scoring (8.8 points per game), No. 4 in team passing efficiency defense (93.82), No. 16 in total defense (276.2 yards per game) and No. 68 in rushing defense (133.0 ypg).
“NC State was pretty big,” Evans said. “[Duke has] a pretty stout defensive line. Their backs are pretty good, their linebackers, and defensive backs are pretty fast. They’re schematically a good defense. They’re pretty sound.”
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