Texas Football: 5-Star RB Zachary Evans re-opens recruitment

This 2020 Texas football recruiting class is trending away from the top 10 in the nation right now. Could that change before National Signing Day?

A high school prospect that was once a key target of the 2020 Texas football recruiting class, five-star North Shore running back Zachary Evans, looks to have officially re-opened his recruitment. When Evans narrowed down his five finalist schools, Texas was not included on it. That was maybe the most notable omission on his list of finalist schools.

The Texas Longhorns football program is set at running back at the top of their 2020 recruiting class. Signing five-star Salpointe Catholic running back Bijan Robinson might turnout to be a better move than if the Longhorns were to land Evans.

Since Texas could have two running backs in the mix for their 2020 recruiting class, they’re likely not in a position to make a move on someone like Evans who has a troubled recruiting timeline of late. His recruitment was also likely the most polarizing and confusing of the 2020 cycle.

Texas doesn’t need to be intertwined with another confusing recruiting timeline like that of former five-star signee and early enrollee from their 2019 class, wide receiver Bru McCoy. It took until last month for McCoy to even start officially practicing with the USC Trojans, the school he wound up at after transferring from Texas.

Given that saga, there’s ample reason why the Longhorns wouldn’t want to pursue a prospect with a confusing recruitment like Evans.

Evans re-opened his recruitment it seemed when a 247Sports report surfaced on Jan. 6 that he was not likely to wind up with the Georgia Bulldogs. That looked to be confirmed on Jan. 7, when it was officially announced that Evans would not be playing for head coach Kirby Smart and Georgia.

Georgia granted Evans a release from the National Letter of Intent he signed back in December. That could leave him with the other three finalist schools that he announced later on last year. Those other three schools include the Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas A&M Aggies, and the LSU Tigers. The trending schools right now reportedly look to be Texas A&M and LSU, among those that have offered him.

Head Texas football coach Tom Herman would likely be wise to stay away from Evans unless he feels that he can turn this around and follow a more consistent path from National Signing Day to the beginning of his freshman year. Texas would have a very crowded backfield with both Evans and Robinson in the mix.

Texas is still clinging to a borderline top 10 ranked 2020 recruiting class in the nation. Sure, landing a prospect like Evans would be a boost to the national class ranking, but that wouldn’t be worth it over the long haul.

Nonetheless, it will be intriguing as always to follow this recruiting saga of Evans to see where he lands.