The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a roster full of players, and we want to talk about them all. One Foot Down’s player profile series will, once again, take a look at every single one of them, and hopefully we all learn a little bit more about these guys, and Notre Dame’s chances for the upcoming 2021 season.

#88 Mitchell Evans, TE

Evans enrolled early at Notre Dame this year after signing as part of the 2021 recruiting class. The #497 overall recruit and #22 tighte end is his class, he is a product of Ohio’s Wadsworth High School, where he was also used as a quarterback and punter.

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As a prospect, Evans is more or less the mirror image of his classmate Cane Berrong. While Berrong already excels as a receiver but needs work as a blocker, Evans brings remarkable size (6’6”, 240 pounds) and in-line blocking ability to the table, but is somewhat raw in terms of receiving ability - understandable given his positioning in high school. This combined with his massive size led to some speculation during his recruitment that Evans would be moved to tackle, but so far there are no signs of that coming to fruition as he remained at tight end throughout his first spring. He managed to impress in the Blue-Gold game, hauling in three catches for 59 yards.

The Restaurant that Fits

Golden Corral

If Evans does end up moving to tackle he’s going to have to put serious weight on his big frame, and ol’ GC has a legendary buffet that just might do the trick.

2021 Outlook

Part of the reason Evans was able to star in the Blue-Gold game was that Michael Mayer, who has an absolute hold on the #1 tight end job, was on the sidelines. With a capable #2 in George Takacs taking over the more traditional blocking tight end role vacated by Brock Wright, Evans will likely be competing with Berrong and Kevin Bauman for mop-up minutes this fall barring a position change. Look for the Irish to either develop Evans as a tight end, teaching him more of the receiving nuances of the position, or commit to moving him to tackle, where he would likely emerge in a couple years as an incredibly athletic blocking force on the edge.