Instant Reaction | TE Mitchell Evans out for the season
Notre Dame has been fairly lucky this season when it comes to long term injuries to key players. That luck ran out with Mitchell Evans now out for the season after a knee injury suffered against Pitt.
It’s absolutely a blow for the Irish offense with Evans having a breakout season and emerging as one of the best tight ends in college football. PFF has him with the third highest grade at the position and he has the fourth most yards out of any tight end in the country.
He’s much more than an in-line tight end with him lining up as a slot 48% of the time and Evans has proved he can win as a receiver out there. He’s been a go-to player for the Irish on 3rd down. Only Chris Tyree has more yards after the catch than Evans for Notre Dame in 2023.
In many ways, Michael Mayer was considered irreplaceable. Even at a place like Notre Dame with their history of great tight ends, Mayer was possibly the best ever to play for the Irish. It says everything about how good Evans was this year that people aren’t talking about how much the offense misses Mayer.
Gerad Parker has to deal with the reality of the situation right now and what it means to not have Evans the rest of the year. There’s a few different scenarios that seem likely.
The first is Holden Staes becoming a bigger part of the offense. He’s been TE2 for the Irish and very good in that role as a receiver. When Notre Dame is in 11 personnel and they are playing the tight end in the slot, he’s going to be the one who benefits the most during Evans’ absence.
He isn’t a natural fit in-line, though. Though he has had good moments as run blocker, he’s not consistent enough to be the same guy Evans was for the offense. Staes is better off in an H-back role.
Eli Raridon is the most likely to get more snaps in-line. I thought he looked the best he’s looked as a blocker since returning from his ACL injury against Pitt and that’s good timing for Notre Dame because they are going to need him to be more involved.
This also means Cooper Flanagan, who has looked beyond his years as a blocker as a true freshman and just had a touchdown against Pitt, will get more snaps as well.
Are any of these players going to give Notre Dame exactly what they got from Evans this season? Probably not, but it’s not out of the question because every single one of them has big time potential. Now they’ll get more opportunities to see if their time is now.
We could also see more 11 personnel (one back, one tight end) and 21 personnel (two backs, one tight end). That could give more snaps to Chris Tyree and I think everyone would agree he has earned it and then some. It could also give more snaps to Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. That’s something many people have already been clamoring for.
For Evans, it will be a long road back from this injury and we’ll have to see where he’s at next summer. Every player is different in terms of when they are ready after something like this and he has a chance to become a very high pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. He shouldn’t rush it.
When he comes back, there is no doubt he can continue to be one of the best tight ends in college football. Now we get to see if one of these other young tight ends can do what he did to become the next great player at the position for the Irish.
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