Ty Evans Still Competing For QB Job, Even Without Spring Practice
Ty Evans was on the practice field earlier this week, exactly where he wanted to be this time of year.
The problem is, instead of throwing passes under the watchful eye of his NC State coaches while battling three others for the starting quarterback job in Raleigh, the redshirt freshman was back in his hometown of Colorado Springs flinging the ball around a nearly deserted field to a group of his former high school teammates.
It's hardly the optimal situation for a youngster who was hoping to use the 15 workouts of spring practice to work his way up the Wolfpack's depth chart.
But under the circumstances, with school and all sports activities shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, it's about all Evans can do to stay ready until he and his teammates are allowed back on campus to begin working together again.
"It sucks for everybody in the country," Evans said of the circumstances that led to the cancellation of spring ball. "Every college athlete that you ask right now, we're all feeling bad about missing spring.and all that.
"It's tough for the freshmen that came into spring early to get those practices in and now they're told they have to go back home. IIt's a tough situation, all this. But it is what it is."
Evans, the top-rated quarterback in the state of Colorado in 2019, entered the spring facing an uphill battle for the starting job in a four-way competition with Devin Leary and Bailey Hockman -- both of whom started games last season -- and early enrolling freshman Ben Finley.
The good news is that with the arrival of a new offensive coordinator, all four of the quarterback candidates are starting over from scratch learning a new system.
Evans also benefitted from the fact that the Wolfpack got in five spring practices before the NCAA shut down all athletic activity to help stop the spread of the dangerous virus.
"The five practices that we got in were great," Evans said. "We were going in the right direction."
Although the sampling is small, Evans said he likes what he's seen from new offensive coordinator Tim Beck, who came to State from Texas with a reputation for developing top quarterbacks.
"I love like the ideas he's brought in. I think it's been really refreshing for everyone," Evans said. "There's a learning curve to every new offense, but everything that I saw was I feel like we've all caught on pretty well.
"Throughout college football, you're not going to have like a school that's like reinventing the passing game or anything like that. It's just different ways of formatting, different ways of doing like the same stuff. I think it's just like a different thought process."
While Evans said he would like to have gotten some game experience last season, since under the NCAA's new rules he could have played in as many as four games without losing his redshirt, he said he made the best of his season on the Wolfpack scout team.
"I trust the coaches," he said. "They're always telling me to trust in the process, so I'm trusting the process. I think that they'll put me out there when they think I'm ready. Right now I'm just working hard trying to do the best I can to move in that direction.
"It's been like a learning curve going to college football. The playbook is a lot bigger, a lot more detailed every play. It's just football IQ in general. Everyone was telling me I was moving in the right direction and keep working hard."
(Chase Howell of SI Buffs Country did the interview and provided the video for this story)
