Notre Dame tight ends remain inevitable in the NFL Draft.
Mitchell Evans extended the streak of Notre Dame starting tight ends eventually being selected in the NFL Draft when the Carolina Panthers picked him in the fifth round with the No. 163 overall pick.
Notre Dame’s impressive streak began in 2006 when Anthony Fasano, who started most of the games in both the 2004 and 2005 seasons at Notre Dame. The player with the most starts at tight end at Notre Dame in each season since then has eventually been selected in the NFL Draft. Evans became the 12th Notre Dame tight end drafted during that stretch.
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Evans earned playing time immediately in his Notre Dame career. He played in all 13 games as a freshman in 2021 while fellow tight end Michael Mayer, who was eventually drafted in the second round by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023, led the Irish in receptions. Evans remained in a complementary role to Mayer in 2022, but he missed the first five games recovering from a summer foot fracture.
After Mayer made the leap to the NFL, Evans emerged as Notre Dame’s starting tight end. He started seven of the first nine games in the 2023 season before suffering a torn ACL in his left knee. Despite missing five games throughout the season, Evans still finished as Notre Dame’s leader in receptions (29), which he turned into 422 yards and one touchdown.
Evans returned for his final season of eligibility last year and once again led the Irish in receptions (43). He produced 421 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 16 games with 11 starts.
"That was a tough obstacle to go through," Evans told reporters on Saturday after being draft, "but my goal was to get on the field early and be confident and be healthy, and I feel like I did that when we were playing against [Texas] A&M, that was Week 1 for us.
"So for my rehab journey, that was eight and a half, nine months, I was just working back to get on the field and so I can help contribute to the team. I feel like as the season went on, I got better, got more confident and healthier as the season went on, and I truly feel like I'm better than I was before."
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Evans will join a pair of former Notre Dame players on the Panthers rosters: tight end Tommy Tremble and long snapper J.J. Jansen. Tremble was part of Notre Dame's tight end draft streak when Carolina drafted him in the third round of the 2021 draft. He signed a two-year contract extension with the Panthers earlier this year. Jansen has been with the Panthers since 2009 and holds the franchise record for games played with Carolina at 260.
"I've talked with him when he's made some stops back in Notre Dame or whatnot," Evans said of Tremble, "so we've definitely communicated in the past. You know, Notre Dame guys are great."
Notre Dame took a chance on Evans as a three-star recruit out of Wadsworth (Ohio) High. He primarily played quarterback throughout his career and only transitioned to tight end when he arrived at Notre Dame.
That quarterback background allowed Notre Dame to use Evans in short-yardage situations for quarterback sneaks in 2022. He turned seven carries into 11 yards and one touchdown. He gained two yards on one carry in 2023, but the Irish didn’t use Evans in that role after his ACL injury. Notre Dame didn’t need Evans as a running quarterback when it had Riley Leonard as its quarterback last season.
Rivals ranked Evans as the No. 26 tight end in the 2021 recruiting class. Evans ended up being the eighth tight end selected in the 2025 draft class.
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