Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 NOV. 9, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA F or Notre Dame tight end Mitch- ell Evans, his statistics through seven games of his senior season didn't match up with how he feels physically. According to Evans, who is viewed as one of the best players at his position nationwide, the surgically re- paired ACL in his knee feels fine, in fact, even if the statistics suggest otherwise. Evans has played in every game this season, kicking off the year with 10 snaps in Week 1 at Texas A&M leading into a steady uptick in usage all the way to a season-high (at the time) 51 snaps a g a i n s t G e o rg i a Te c h i n We e k 8. But still, he only had 14 catches for 1 0 8 ya rd s a h ea d o f No t re Da m e 's Week 9 matchup w i t h N a v y. H e had 29 receptions fo r 4 2 2 ya rd s i n eight games before the injury occurred against Pittsburgh in the final week of October last year. Flash forward to the final week of Au- gust this year when Notre Dame opened the season with a 23-13 victory against the then-No. 20 Aggies. That's when Evans knew the knee he spent the entire offseason babysitting wasn't going to be the burden he and Fighting Irish fans feared it would be. "I realized af- ter the game," Ev- ans said, "I'm like, 'Shoot, the only time I really thought about it was when I'm out of the game on the sideline and I'm talking to train- ers, like, Holy crap. I didn't think about it.' That's good." It is good, yes, but Evans still hasn't been as good from a pass-catching standpoint as he was in his junior season. The guy who made one-handed catches and came across as a clear heir apparent to Michael Mayer, the most productive statistical tight end in Notre Dame his- tory, was nowhere to be found in the first month and a half of the Irish season. It's a stark, somewhat unbelievable, reality to think that the guy who had more receiving yards in a single game than Mayer ever did with 134 against Duke last year had 4 catches for 26 yards against Georgia Tech in Week 8 this year and it was viewed as an immense step forward for him. That's just where Evans is in his se- nior season. The comeback hasn't been everything Irish faithful longed for and hoped it would be. "It's just football," he said. "Some- times the football finds me. Sometimes it doesn't. It's just kind of the way it goes." When the football doesn't find him, Evans has sought to be the best tight end he can be. There is obviously much more to the position than just catching passes. Tight ends are the ultimate utility men on a football field, serving the same pur- pose as offensive linemen on some plays and wide receivers on others. In addition, a tight end can be an ef- fective decoy as well. Senior quarter- back Riley Leonard, for instance, faked a handoff to sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love in the red zone against Georgia Tech. He sprinted out to his right in the direction of Evans, who was a pass-catching option on the play. Two Yellow Jacket players hovered all over Evans. That was Leonard's cue to tuck and run for an easy rushing touchdown, his 10th of the season. If it was hockey, you'd give Evans a secondary assist. His mere presence and threat as a receiver aided Leonard in reaching the end zone. Humble as ever, Evans didn't assign himself too much credit. "I don't know if it was meant to be like that," he said. "I think maybe it was a bit more of a [missed assignment] on their end. But I'll take it." Evans is in the business of taking ev- erything he can get at this point. The passing game re- volved around him for three-fourths of the season in 2023. In 2024, there are more options for Leonard to look to than Sam Hartman had at his disposal. Evans understands that, so he's been trying to master the little things while the big catches he was so accustomed to begin to go his way again. His coaches have noticed his dedica- tion despite the lack of pass-catching production. Head coach Marcus Free- man called Evans' outing versus Georgia Tech his "best game as he's come back to play." And even if Evans said he's felt good to go physi- c a l l y e ve r s i n c e Week 1, Freeman, Evans and every- one else who's ever played the game at this level all know you can't just snap yo u r f i n ge rs a n d come back from an injury as significant as an ACL tear. "It takes time, right?" Freeman said. "The more time that he has to get his self to his full potential is crucial. … But we have a lot of confidence in Mitch. There's a lot of times that he's been open that maybe the play call didn't mandate that we throw him the ball. He's really working on his routes but also blocking and is committed to being the best that he can be." TAKING HIS TIME Tight end Mitchell Evans is fully healthy and ready for a strong finish to his senior season "It takes time, right? The more time that he has to get his self to his full potential is crucial. … But we have a lot of confidence in Mitch. There's a lot of times that he's been open that maybe the play call didn't mandate that we throw him the ball. He's really working on his routes but also blocking and is committed to being the best that he can be." HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN ON EVANS