Former TCU running back Zach Evans has officially hit the transfer portal as of Monday afternoon. Evans was a five-star recruit in the 2020 class and was the number one overall player in the state of Texas according to 247. However, after just two years with TCU, combined with the ongoing turnaround inside of the program, Evans is officially on the move.
During his time on the recruiting trail, Evans was a Tennessee target. The former five-star did visit Tennessee in January of 2020 which was the last official visit that he made before committing to TCU in the following May.
However, Evans’ recruitment as a whole was, in a word, unconventional.
Before he visited Tennessee, Evans seemed to be already locked into a school. During the prior Under Armor All-American Game, Evans told reporters that he had signed with a program, which he did not name, during the early signing period. That school turned out to be Georgia, and when it came down to it, Evans chose a different route. Georgia granted Evans an unconditional release, which eventually led to him committing to stay in-state and go to TCU.
“The former 5-star running back spent 2 seasons in Fort Worth, finishing his Horned Frog career with 1,063 yards and nine touchdowns on 7.3 yards per carry,” 247 said in their initial breaking news report on Monday. “Evans averaged 7 yards per carry this season on 93 attempts, which was the fifth-best clip in all of college football.”
Also according to the report, “name, image, and likeness will play a big role” in where Evans decides to transfer to.
This past Friday, before Tennessee took down Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale, Vols’ running back Tiyon Evans announced his intent to enter the transfer portal before finishing his first season in Knoxville.
Zach Evans had considerable attention from several SEC teams as a recruit, which will likely play a factor in his transfer destination. The former five-star took official visits to Tennessee, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and LSU while in high school.
According to a Rocky Top Insider article from 2020, “the five-star running back posted a video to his Instagram story on Saturday of him reacting to the painting on the rock, adding the caption ‘They love tha kid here.’ Instagram stories can’t be embedded into articles, so here is a screenshot of the video:”
