The Transfer Portal has changed the landscape of college football. So at Rivals we bring you the Transfer Tracker, where we analyze players entering the portal and rate them on what kind of impact they could make at their new home.
Next up in the tracker: Nicholls State defensive back Darren Evans, who is now headed to LSU.
CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
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TRANSFER RANKINGS: Quarterback | Running back | Tight End | Wide Receiver
AS A RECRUIT
A Baton Rouge native, Evans didn't even have a Rivals.com profile as a recruit, let alone a ranking, and he landed at in-state school Nicholls after excelling at football and track in high school.
AT NICHOLLS STATE
After redshrting in 2016, Evans worked his way into the starting lineup in 2017 and never looked back. He finished his redshirt freshman season with 20 tackles, five pass breakups and one interception. Evans was second team All-Conference in 2018 after starting all 13 games and recording 33 tackles, eight pass breakups and two interceptions. He became a star in 2019 when he recorded 47 tackles, 15 pass breakups and one interception. Evans, viewed as a potential NFL Draft candidate, elected to enter the transfer portal after a roster spot opened up at LSU and he quickly landed with the Tigers.
FARRELL'S TAKE
“Evans came out of nowhere to become a potential Power Five transfer after a successful stint at Nicholls State. Evans wasn’t on our radar out of high school as a lanky wide receiver and defensive back who was an FCS level prospect and now with his size and ability to play cornerback he will add depth to LSU. As a Baton Rouge native this will be a sweet homecoming and he will battle Elias Ricks for the spot across from Derek Stingley Jr.” -- National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell
Impact Rating: 7.4 out of 10
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and mange their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.
