Zach Evans

Pos: RB

School: Ole Miss

Ht. 5’11″ 

Wt. 202

Games Watched: Auburn, Arkansas, Vanderbilt

One Liner: Violent running back who wins with power, twitch and speed.

Strengths: 

  • Very good power. Evans is a fearless running back who can win on several reps by lowering his shoulder and playing violent to run over defenders. He is a powerful runner who’s strength and frame make him tough to bring down in space.
  • Very good speed. Evans has good long speed to break away, and attacks gaps in a quick and tempo’d manner. He has good acceleration and shows the ability to break away from tackles. 
  • Good explosiveness. Evans is an explosive runner that attacks gaps with full speed and power, making him a tough task to bring down by defensive lineman or even linebackers. Evans carries his explosiveness from start to finish in his run, and brings a consistently fuelled up motor to the field. 
  • Good twitch. Evans flashes some twitchy movements and the shiftiness to break free of tackles. This isn’t his primary method of winning, but there are flashes of him dominating with twitchy jukes and shiftiness to evade tackles.

Weaknesses:

  • Adequate processor. Evans is not the best at processing blocks and identifying optimal holes to attack. He works primarily as a north south runner that attacks with predetermined blocks.
  • Marginal passing game threat. Evans is not an effective receiving weapon at this point, and wasn’t used much in this area at Ole Miss. His profile doens’t necessarily align with that of a receiving back, and I am not sure how much he can affect the game with this at the next level. 

Overall Assessment:  Zach Evans is a north-south runner who wins with power and an aggressive running style. He fights for extra yardage and is not afraid to lower his shoulder. He has good speed alongside a nice frame with good strength. He has some explosiveness in his runs, and can unleash some shifty moves in space to break tackles for big gains. Evans is slightly limited as he isn’t a natural processor of blocks, and thus would work best as a gap scheme runner. He isn’t a high level threat in the passing game either, which raises some concern as to how high his ceiling can be. 

Scheme Fit: Gap scheme runner

Pick Projection: Late Day 2 Early Day 3

Grade: 6.22