Just wrapped up an interview with 2026 LB Tatum Evans. We'll run a full story at some point, potentially Thursday. Here are my notes from the call:
-Two points of connection to NU: his dad and his coach. His dad got an MBA from NU in the early 2000s, and his high school HC, Bob DeBesse, coached with Chris Foster back at Georgia Southern. Visit came about through the connection to Foster.
-Was very impressed by the facilities. Had been in the Evanston/NU area a couple times with his dad, including a swing through when they visited Notre Dame but this is his first visit through the program. On that note, said that Northwestern's facilities were the best he's seen and he loved the lakeside practice fields.
-His recruiting has a ways to go as a 26 in March of 24, but he said the four top teams for him right now are the ones in consistent contact: Northwestern, Notre Dame, Baylor and Oklahoma State.
-Lead recruiter so far has been Rhett Smeins, a recruiting analyst, though they will soon pass him up to the area recruiter. I'm not sure how much that has been shuffled around since the new influx of hires, but we'll work to get the areas mapped at some point. Evans said NU hopes to have a coach down to Grapevine sometime this spring to see Evans practice, and will invite him to camp this summer and a game this fall.
-Said there are three program objectives that stuck out to him from the walls of the facility: 1) be a champion 2) prepare for life 3) earn a Northwestern degree
-Always makes me chuckle when the recruits echo the coaches. Evans finished off the quote about the objectives with a Braunism: "That was how they will prepare their players. They're pouring into players and it's not just on the field."
My early read: it'll depend on how serious ND is and if other offers of a similar caliber come in. With a family and coaching connection, I don't think proximity to home will be as much of an advantage for Baylor and OSU, and the Wildcats will have the Big Ten in their corner there. Right now there's an avenue to contention if ND doesn't extend a committable offer down the road, but connections will probably only go so far if the Irish get serious or the nearby SEC teams get involved.
A lot of his tape here is at DE/DL, but he's moving to LB and projects to be recruited at that position.
