All-American UC Guard Evan Tengesdahl Showing Versatility As 2026 Spring Football Continues

Evan Tengesdahl is primed to be a major NFL prospect very soon, but first, he has another run with Cincinnati to attack with all he's got. The star guard chatted with me after Wednesday's spring practice in Clifton.

Tengesdahl is now one of the main offensive leaders with center Gavin Gerhardt's UC time coming to an end this past January. Few players have more pelts on the wall to lean on than the 2025 Third-Team All-American.

Elevated Roles All Over

Oct 18, 2025; Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats helmet sits on the bench prior to the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Tengesdahl was arguably the best guard in the Big 12 last season, and he's ready to answer any positional call, whether that's either guard spot or the center position. He's playing all over the interior three positions right now as offensive line coach Nic Cardwell finds his best five-man group.

"Coming in, I played a lot of center. That's kind of the first position I played coming here," Tengesdahl noted. "But then with us having Gavin all those years and Luke Kandra, they kind of moved me to guard, to get reps behind Kandra and DT (Dartanyan Tinsley). Kind of the best position for me to get some playing time after starting there last year. A lot of experience. I still have that experience with center. So coming and getting a lot of center reps this year is nothing new to me or Taryn (Tyo).

"We both play all the positions on the whole line. So yeah, but me and him, I feel like, I feel like both of us can fill the role. That was a tremendous leader. But I feel like Taryn and I are doing a great job, also Joe (Cotton) just filling that role, trying to have that vocal presence as he did, and just leave the team in a similar way as he did."

The only major coaching change Tengesdahl is dealing with isn't much of a change at all. Cardwell is now a co-offensive coordinator with quarterbacks coach Pete Thomas.

The work remains the same, but the whole offense is now coming together more often.

"I think he's doing a tremendous job taking on another role. Nothing's really changed," Tengesdahl said about his O-Line coach. "We still have the same amount of meetings as we had before, just kind of added some more unit meetings, more of the offense is together type of thing. We're doing a bunch of meetings together as a whole offense, kind of watching film that way. So it's a little different, but we also do our separate position meetings.

"So, having the big offensive meetings. Everyone's seeing everybody's grades from everybody's practices. You can coach other guys in different position groups. I think it's kind of just benefited the offense more. We're getting closer, a more tight-knit offense."

Check out the whole conversation below:

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