Take Two: Is Alabama leading for five-star RB Zachary Evans?
MORE: New Alabama commits are double trouble
Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst.
THE STORYLINE
There has been a lot of intriguing news recently when it comes to five-star running back Zachary Evans.
The Houston (Texas) North Shore star released a top five - Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma and Georgia - that shockingly left off Texas and Texas A&M, two in-state programs that have been recruiting Evans from the beginning.
Then three-star offensive tackle and high school teammate Damieon George committed to Alabama and Evans called the Houston North Shore duo a package deal. As has been seen over the years, sometimes those work out and sometimes they do not.
A day later, four-star running back Seth McGowan from Mesquite (Texas) Mesquite Poteet made his pledge to Oklahoma, giving the Sooners commitments from McGowan and four-star Jase McClellan out of Aledo, Texas. It seems hard to believe Evans would join an already-loaded Oklahoma class at running back.
Ohio State, LSU and Georgia are still very much in the running in Evans’ recruitment but should Alabama like its position even more - especially with the Crimson Tide’s outstanding history of recruiting running backs - or is the five-star’s recruitment far too topsy-turvy to make any bold statements just yet?
FIRST TAKE: ANDREW BONE, BAMAINSIDER.COM
“Alabama has a good chance with him. Last week was his first trip back since last summer. Getting him back on campus was huge for them, building that relationship with the new running backs coach, Charles Huff, kind of getting used to coach Steve Sarkisian. He’s not going to make a decision any time soon. With George committing that helps, but at the same time, I know he said they’re a package deal, but in the end he’ll end up making his own decision. Alabama is right there, but there’s still a long way to go.”
SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM
“It’s still wide open. I’ve heard a lot about package deals over the years and some come true and some don’t, so you can’t rely on that as the true reason why he’s going to pick a school. Evans is going to look at a lot of different factors like comfort and coaches and the way they run the ball and academics.
“Oklahoma has two of the best running backs in the country and they have little trouble recruiting offensive skill players, so they’re probably done at running back. Evans will move on and Alabama has a good shot, but when you look at it I still think Texas or Texas A&M, one of those two, is going to get back in this before it’s all said and done.”