Top Recruit Evans Shares Moment with Teammates, Lee County Community in Committing to UNC
This wasn’t about Desmond Evans.
He made that much clear on Friday afternoon when, rather than staging a formal announcement alone at the microphone or firing off a video on social media, the top-ranked recruit in the state made sure his Lee County teammates were in on the big moment.
Passed the microphone by Coach Steve Burdeau at the conclusion of a pep rally, he instead said the Yellow Jackets wanted to perform.
It was then, after getting his classmates into a frenzy, that he unzipped his jacket to reveal his commitment to North Carolina.
“He was like, ‘Coach, I’d like to do it in front of the school and let them be a part of this thing too, because I want them to be the first to hear it,’” Burdeau said. “I think that just speaks volumes of him.”
It’s been a long road for the 6-6, 240-pound defensive end who began his recruitment as a freshman, rising to 22 nationally in the 247 Sports composite rankings this season as the nation’s second-ranked weak-side defensive end.
ESPN thinks even more highly of Evans, ranking him as the No. 2 overall player in the Class of 2020.
With a chance to join one college football’s bluebloods, he instead decided to stay close to home, choosing Carolina over finalists Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.
Carolina tight ends coach Tim Brewster led the recruitment, and ultimately, it was the new Tar Heel coaching staff that sold Evans on coming to Carolina.
“It was very important,” Evans said. “Since Mack (Brown) is here, he’s a Hall of Fame coach, so I was just thinking about it. He’s a good coach, he gets a lot of people to the NFL and that’s what I want long-term.”
Evans has been a frequent visitor in Chapel Hill recently, attending the Appalachian State and Clemson games in September.
There, he kept an eye on Tomon Fox, who has moved from defensive end to a hybrid linebacker role in defensive coordinator Jay Bateman’s 3-4 scheme.
Particularly, Bateman sold him on the possibility of taking advantage of mismatches in that role.
The decision actually came two weeks ago after sitting down with Burdeau to discuss his options.
“Some of his goals and being successful outside of football were a big part of it in talking with his family,” Burdeau said. “He wants to be successful in life, not just on the field. I think he’s interested in graphic design. Being set up not just for the three, four, five years; he wants to be set up for the next 40 and 50 years, so I think that was a big key for him.”
Evans kept the secret up until Thursday night until his father called Brown to tell him the news, even keeping it from Lee County teammate Jayden Chalmers, who committed to Carolina in June.
Chalmers has put the press on since, bringing up the possibility of playing together in college whenever they’re hanging out, talking on the phone or messaging on Instagram. Often, he’d send Evans quotes from Brown and other news from the program.
“He’s like, ‘This is the way, man,’” Evans said.
Still, Evans didn’t give Chalmers any hint of what was coming on Friday afternoon for fear he might let the cat out of the bag.
“He talks too much,” Evans said smiling.
His decision adds to a stacked 2020 class on the defensive line where the Tar Heels have commitments from four-star recruits Myles Murphy and Kedrick Bingley-Jones. Additionally, Carolina has pledges from four-star safeties Cameron Roseman-Sinclair and Ja’Qurious Conley and linebacker Ethan West.
After falling behind N.C. State in recent seasons among in-state recruits, Carolina has commitments from eight of the state’s top 25 players in the Class of 2020, with the Wolfpack in second with six.
Evans’ commitment marks the first time since 2014 that North Carolina’s top-ranked recruit has decided to stay in-state since Elijah Hood chose the Tar Heels. Since then, two of the state’s top-ranked players have gone to Tennessee, while the others chose Clemson, Florida State and Georgia.
