Notre Dame TE Mitchell Evans Healthy & Embracing Expedited Learning Curve in Camp
Mitchell Evans started the 2023 season with a bang. The 6-foot-5, 260-pounder recorded 29 catches for 422 and one touchdown over the first eight games, which included the Duke game where he made six receptions for 134 yards in the comeback win.
The Ohio native saw his season end against Pitt as he tore his ACL after making five catches for 66 yards in the 58-7 win.
Yet, when Notre Dame opened fall camp on Wednesday, Evans was on the field and catching passes and his head coach expects him back for the week one showdown at Texas A&M.
“I feel good,” stated Evans. “I’m currently in the ‘return to play’ status that we have here. I don’t even know how many months. I think I’m like nine months because my surgery was Nov. 1. I feel good. I’m strong. I feel confident. Just working back into football things.”
As with any major injury, it’s been a process. Evans has taken it slow. He’s learned to listen and trust what his body is telling him as there are long-term goals in front of him.
“Your number one indicator is your body,” explained Evans. “Your body will tell you, ‘Hey, cool it down a little bit.’ The hardest thing as a competitor is you want to go, you want to go all the time. But I’m coming back from an injury. I did it with my foot. All I wanted to do was go, go, go, but you have to think. You have to hold back. Is this a smart thing?”
The good and bad news is Evans wasn’t alone in the training room as there were other tight ends rehabbing with him during the offseason. Kevin Bauman has had two major ACL injuries, while Eli Raridon tore his ACL twice before his freshman season was complete.
“In our room, since my four years of being here, I think we’ve had seven total,” said Evans. “Six or seven. Whatever. At the end of the day, it’s just football. You have to deal with injuries. Your room has to adapt. Other rooms have to adapt when certain rooms get hurt. Our room’s depth is great. They’re all great guys. They were helping me with mine.”
Outside of being cleared, the next step for Evans will be finding comfort in Mike Denbrock’s offense. With Evans out, he didn’t get crucial reps in the spring and find a role, so the next three weeks will be critical in mastering the new scheme.
“It’s a lot different than last year’s offense,” Evans explained. “Last year, we huddled a lot, kind of took it slow. With Denbrock, it’s boom, boom, boom, boom. I like that. His big thing is keeping the defense on their toes. They don’t really know where to go. Showing different pictures pre and post-snap.
“I’ve adjusted really well. I’ve tried to help the room adjust pretty well because we’re the focal point of the offense. We’re moved around everywhere on the field. We’re running all different types of routes. I’m pretty sure some defenses call a bunch of their strengths to the tight end. So when they move us around, it screws up their defense. Coach Denbrock knows that. He’s big on making us a big focal point. We’ve done great at adapting to what he wants us to do each play.”
The other piece to the puzzle is developing a chemistry with quarterback Riley Leonard. The positive is Evans did that last year with Sam Hartman, but this will be expedited over a three-week period, which presents a challenge in itself.
“Any extra work that you can get,” Evans said of how he and Leonard can build a rapport. “Not in practice, but we have a bunch of extra work on the field on the weekends. We come in and talk through what we’re seeing.
“Being kind of banged up in the spring – he got hurt, I was not playing this spring. Talking more than ever. ‘Hey, this is what he wants me to do on this route. Hey, I think I should do this on this play.’ It’s just bouncing ideas off each other, especially the last couple weeks in the summer, I was able to start turning it up a little bit, get loose. Me and Riley and a bunch of the guys got work in and did a bunch of extra routes on the sides to build that connection.”
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