Take Two: Where does mercurial 5-star Zach Evans stand?
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.
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THE STORYLINE
There have been so many perceived frontrunners and so many surprises in the recruitment of five-star running back Zachary Evans that at this point nothing is too shocking.
He’s going to commit, he’s not going to commit. The date has been set, it’s been pushed back. Texas leads, no Texas A&M does, no Georgia does, no Alabama does, no LSU has the advantage.
It’s been a long drama with the Houston (Texas) North Shore standout, but it’s becoming clear that LSU is the frontrunner in his recruitment, or at least the flavor of the month.
Rated as the fourth-best running back in the 2020 class, Evans took an official visit to Baton Rouge this season and while there still seems to be some serious flirtation with Texas A&M and others, the Tigers are consistently brought up as a top program.
Just last week it was reported that Evans was only days away from making his pledge. Then that got pushed back. The Under Armour game could be a target date now.
Can LSU land the five-star running back or are there even more twists and turns ahead?
FIRST TAKE: Sam Spiegleman, Texas and Louisiana analyst
“LSU has a sizeable lead, but with Evans, things are fluid constantly. Looking back, it was Texas and then it was Georgia and then it was Alabama and now it feels like LSU.
“He hasn’t taken any official visits since the LSU visit for the Auburn game in October. It has been the favorite ever since. That’s not to rule out Texas A&M and that’s really the only team really left in the mix. With North Shore continuing to march on in the playoffs and Signing Day getting closer, it feels like when and not if he lands at LSU.”
SECOND TAKE: Mike Farrell, National recruiting director
“LSU is definitely the team to beat. As long as they’re patient and they can put up with a lot of this, then he’ll end up at LSU. A few times, they’ve thought he was going to commit, expected him to commit and then he didn’t pull the trigger most recently in the last couple weeks.
“Now he’s expected to announce at the Under Armour game. They’re in it deep enough now that they’re going to wait. He’s a big boom-or-bust prospect, but he’s too talented for them to let go. Texas A&M will stay in there and be an option if LSU says enough of this, but LSU pretty much has this locked up.”