Omari Evans Might Be Injured, But Nothing Wrong With His Hands

Omari Evans, the Penn State transfer, has fully participated in just four of eight University of Washington football practices after the wide receiver limped off the field a week and a half ago, with what appeared to be a pulled muscle of some sort.

On Thursday, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior from Killeen, Texas, came out dressed in his No. 5 jersey and he mixed in with everyone, seemingly ready to return.

However, it wasn't long before Evans had aborted this move by replacing his purple shirt with a black T-shirt that said "Work. Win. Washington." on the back, indicating he was still having issues.

Either way, he has showed everyone in his abbreviated UW debut that he has a significant amount of receiving skills, even putting to rest the negative critique of his game, which players in the transfer portal usually face as reason for them leaving their previous stop.

"It's always funny when you recruit a guy and there's people who say good things and bad things about him -- there were some questions about his hands," Husky receivers coach Kevin Cummings said of Evans. "He's goes out there his first practice and has three phenomenal catches."

While the Huskies did a lot of scrimmaging in their eighth practice, Evans was relegated to using a passing machine off to the side, along with freshman Raiden Vines-Bright, who also was coming off an injury, to catch balls and keep those hands sharp.

Evans either fed footballs to the machine, fed a staff member who was sending balls at Vines-Bright or caught balls himself that come at you so fast you have to be alert.

Omari Evans, left, does stretching exercises alongside his Husky teammates. | Dan Raley

While some might have had an issue about the former Nittany Lions player's hands, he sold himself to the Huskies in the portal with his top-of-the-line speed, said to be in the 4.4- or 4.5-second 40 range, making him the deep threat the UW might have been lacking.

"His speed, obviously we haven't seen a lot of it," Cummings said. "But his speed is what we're looking for."

Evans will continue to try and get healthy and finish up strong in spring ball, but he's been a welcome addition with his hands and feet, plus his veteran experience needed by the Huskies after departed seniors Giles Jackson and Jeremiah Hunter used up their eligibility in the Sun Bowl.

Omari Evans showed off his talents early in UW spring ball before getting injured. | Skylar Lin Visuals

He's the oldest player now among the Husky receivers while teaming with veterans in junior Denzel Boston, a returning starter after a 63-catch, 834-yard, 9-touchdown season; and junior Kevin Green Jr., who played 14 games for Arizona and started two before missing all of last season for the UW with a knee injury.

"He's brought obviously a mature presence to the group to add to Denzel and KG," Cummings said. "He's brought that presence."

Again, those hands aren't bad either.

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