if there's one thing that people always give Notre Dame football credit for it is the development of the tight end position there are literally so many tight ends that have come out of South Ben that it's not even worth naming that many but in recent memory you've had guys such as Tyler eer Kyle Rudolph and Michael Mayer those are just some of them but it looks like the Fighting Irish have found their next great tight end who I think could make a big impact in the NFL and be around for a long time his name is Mitchell Evans last year I was there to watched the Ohio State Notre Dame game and Mitchell Evans just had that it Factor he caught pretty much everything that went his way he looks to par for a future NFL tight end and had that fire in his eyes that makes a player become a superstar Evans was the number one guy for Notre Dame last year until he unfortunately got hurt and now as we go into the future and into 2024 I think Mitchell Evans is going to take over college football and I think he's the best tight end of the country that is my personal opinion and in today's video I'm going to introduce you to him We're to talk about his journey how he went from a three star recruit to potentially the best tight end in college football his outlook for the year and just how good he could be in the future but before we get started if you're a big fan of college football be sure to subscribe to the channel leave a like if you didn't support today's video and let me know what player team topic or situation I can cover next now let's get started and talk about the rise of Mitchell Evans in order to understand how Evans got to this point we first need to go back in time honestly I didn't think I would ever actually make this video but Sports ran in the family as his mother played volleyball at akan and his dad D played on the football team at Kent State which is in Ohio his older sister currently plays volleyball at Georgia so the Evans Family is not new to sport stardom or being near the top he ended up growing up in the town of wodsworth Ohio and immediately was much stronger and bigger than his peers showing he could one day play football at a high level Wadsworth football head coach Justin Todd knew that Evans would be an exceptional candidate to play division one football one day he said quote between Mitch's sophomore and junior year we assumed he was a D1 Prospect due to his size and athleticism as he grew into his body it became very apparent his tangible measurements would be appealing to coaches at the next level it would end up happening Tom was also confident that all the effort and work that Evans put in would stand out to prospective coaches he said quote while dealing with an injury most of his junior year Mitchell was able to put enough Elite plays on film to give College recruiters a glimpse of what he could become as a junior he started to become the focal point in the offense as he caught 19 passes for 306 yards and seven touchdowns plus he ran the ball three times for 61 yards and a touchdown this is when he got a ton of recruiting hype and attention and this would go right into his senior year and he would be surging apparently he was also both a punter and a quarterback while he was at Wadsworth as he made a varsity debut throwing for four touchdowns and a 54 to 21 win over North Royalton his coach would say quote he's a once in a generation kind of player he deserves all the college offers and accolades and he's deserving of everything he has in terms of recruiting his first offer would come from the Toledo Rockets before he get offers from schools all around the country as a senior he had a pretty crazy stat line as he went 63 of 299 for 2,131 yards and 25 touchdowns he did also have six interceptions and then he ran the ball for 440 yards and six scores there so yeah he was pretty much a Swiss army knife who did everything and he kind of was the guy on this team where would Evans end up playing college football well he was considered the number 26 tight end in the class of 2021 and he' eventually turn down offers from Iowa Michigan State and Pittsburgh to join into Notre Dame's 2021 recruiting class he came in alongside Kane bang and in total he was a blue chip recruit who had 26 offers he found himself going to a prestigious school for both academics and football reasons and many thought that Notre Dame was kind of taking a fly on him I mean he was only a three star recruit and at the tight end spot Notre Dame can kind of afford to be picky and get whoever they want I guess he was seen as a player who had a really high ceiling and they just fell in love with them Notre Dame would offer Evans on June 30 and the fighting Iris quickly Rose to the top of his list recruits could not meet with college coaches in person at the time but Evans took his own tour of Southbend but Evans took his own tour of the Southbend campus during family weekend that was July 17th through 19th and he came away super impressed why did he go to the Irish well he said quote the moment I was on campus in July it just clicked for me and I knew I wanted to be a part of the program in the school their campus was amazing and by far the most beautiful campus I've ever been to I also didn't want to just go to school for football as I was looking for an Elite Education and Notre Dame has that Scouts were still not all that high on him as according to 247 Sports Evans was a three star recruit the number 23 tight end and the 493rd best player in the class of 2021 so how would Evans end up doing in South Bend well let's take a look rather than joining the Fighting Irish for the summer after graduation he decided he would graduate from Wadsworth High School early and head to Southbend he said quote it's going to be a step up from high school but I think I'll be able to handle the pressure one thing I really like about Evans that I think will translate to this season and to the eventual NFL level is that he never considered a red shirt during his time at Notre Dame Not only was he not a four-star recruit but it's really hard to play in general as a freshman at Notre Dame he said it was never going to happen as he arrived in 2021 intending to play tight end and sitting out was not going to be a part of the plan he worked ridiculously hard and in 2021 he actually got on the field not only did he get on the field but he actually made a decent impact for them in total in 2021 he would appear in their games but only ended up registering two catches for 21 yards that came in a game against Virginia and in a game against Stanford as I said he was a reserve tight end and mostly played on special teams while he was playing alongside Michael Mayer at the time he still managed to average 40 snaps in the eight games that he played in and that's because he embraced the role of being a blocker early on in his career going into 2022 he would unfortunately have a major setback as while Michael Mayer was the guy he would not get a chance to play much as he broke his foot during the off season and eventually had to undergo surgery because of that he had to fix a bone on the outside of his foot but luckily he got an opportunity to play in five regular season games he actually didn't register a single catch but he did run the ball a total of seven times and even had his first career touchdown again this guy would do anything to get on the field eventually Notre Dame would playing against number 19 South Carolina in the Gator Bowl and this is where mayor showed that his potential was through the roof in his first game as essentially the starting tight end he caught three passes for 39 yards and his first career Notre Dame touchdown this was definitely a big deal and it came at a super great time for him too Notre Dame really needed a play to win the game and Tyler Buckner had a bold play design and eventually found Evans for a 16 yard game-winning touchdown with just over a minute and a half remaining so it was a big play and it was now living rentree in the Notre Dame fan base's head it was a glimpse of the future and apparently he showed Marcus Freeman that he could be tight end one moving forward as I said he had huge shoes to fill as every single tight end to start a season opener has been drafted since Anthony Fano back in 2004 that is huge shoes to fill actually he's also leaving after record breaking tight end Michael Mayer and he was selected to the Raiders and Evans just picked up right where he left off in 2023 he became the starter and he'd make his first career start against Tennessee State catching four passes for 61 yards in that one after that he'd have a catch against NC State before he would show up big against number six Ohio State this was one of the Premier non-conference games of 2023 and as I said I was personally at this game and Mitchell Evans was all over the place he caught a career high seven passes for 75 yards including a circus catch unfortunately for Notre Dame fans they ended up losing this game as they only had 10 men on the field and Ohio State scored a walk-off running touchdown but Mitchell Evans was only getting better after that he ended up catching six passes for 134 yards against Duke and it truly looked like he was being Unleashed they ended up winning that game by a touchdown and from there Evans would continue to cook he caught four passes for seven yards in a touchdown and their loss to Louisville helped them up set number 10 USC and then had five catches for 66 yards against pit before he would suffer an injury this was super unfortunate and he would be held out for the remainder of the year before going down with the injury his 422 receiving yards were fourth amongst all tight ends in the nation and the only ones who had more were all supposed to be top five tight end picks in the 2024 draft he also had 10 forced Miss tackles and that only trailed Brock Bowers ultimately for the season he had 29 catch CES for 422 yards in a touchdown but it looked like he was going see to get better as the year went on after he ended up getting hurt Notre Dame looked to both Holden stays and Eli raran to field but neither took his spot rariden wasn't all that impressive and stays left for Tennessee going forward to 2024 PFF ranks Evans as the second best returning tight end in all of college football and I would put him at number one while he has yet to put together a full season just seeing that guy play in person and just seeing what he was starting to do this past year makes me believe that he's going to be the top tiend in the country and currently according to NFL Mock database there are lots of people who are starting to get trendy on him he's currently ranked as a top 60 Prospect for the 2025 NFL draft and there's a lot of mock drafts that have him going in the late first round I truly think he'll play his way into the end of the first round or maybe even to the second and will get drafted in a similar position to Michael Mayer I think Evans has the perfect size for a tight end he's got great athleticism knows how to work in block and will just have to put it all together this upcoming year he'll have a more mobile starting quarter back and Riley Leonard and I think this is going to be a great quarterback receiver Duo one Scout said quote as long as he can regain his pre-injury form Evans should be the ultimate security blanket for new quarterback Riley Leonard I totally agree and I think Mitchell Evans is the next great tight end and the next great Notre Dame playmaker but if you think I'm wrong let me know down below and let me know who you think the best tight end in college football is who will be the top guy for Notre Dame and just your overall thoughts on them before you go don't forget to also leave a like subscribe if you're new and check out all my their videos on the end screen including my video about West Virginia quarterback Garrett green hope to see you guys again soon but until next time peace