Wadsworth's Mitchell Evans picked by the Carolina Panthers in NFL Draft

Mitchell Evans has completed the Mount Rushmore of Medina County players selected in the NFL Draft since the 1970 merger. The Wadsworth native and Notre Dame tight end was drafted in the fifth round (163rd overall) by the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, joining Highland's Jim Ritcher (1980, 1st, Buffalo Bills) and Cloverleaf's Kyle Juszczyk (2013, 4th, Baltimore Ravens) and Medina's Mason Schreck (2017, 7th, Cincinnati Bengals). The 163rd pick was part of a trade Carolina made with the Ravens in October. The Panthers sent wide receiver Dionate Johnson and the No. 183 selection to Baltimore in return for No. 163. "For me, I've never been into watching the draft or whatnot, but obviously with this year I was in it and whatnot," Evans said during his introductory video conference with Charlotte media from a rented Airbnb in Cleveland that allowed better access for his relatives from Toledo. "It was a little more stressful, I would say, but fun nevertheless. "The one thing coach (Marcus) Freeman, our Notre Dame coach, always would say, 'Right foot, left foot. Stay right where your feet are and keep moving forward.' I tried to go that through the whole process. I never try to get too high, I never try to get too low. I just try to be where my feet are, and eventually if my name is going to get called, that was meant to be. I got called today to a great organization, great team, great people, and I'm excited." Evans joins a Panthers tight end room that has been methodically rebuilt in recent seasons. Carolina drafted Notre Dame's Tommy Tremble in 2021 and Texas' Ja'Tavion Sanders in 2024, as well as signing former Coastal Carolina men's basketball player Colin Granger as a developmental prospect. Likely beginning his pro career on the third string, Evans came off a torn ACL to put up 43 catches for 421 yards and three touchdowns while helping the Fighting Irish to a 11-1 regular season. The 6-foot-5, 260-pounder, who also took goal-line quarterback sneaks early in his career, also had four receptions for 52 yards in a 34-23 national championship loss to Ohio State. Evans was ranked as the No. 12 tight end by NFL.com coming into the draft but was the eighth player at the position to be drafted. Analyst Lance Zierlein praised Evans' ability to find holes in defenses and catch contested passes but also questioned his consistency as a blocker at the line of scrimmage. Carolina is coming off a 5-12 season but won four of its last nine games. The offense features 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young at quarterback. "I truly feel like my versatility is my strength," Evans said. "I know a lot of people doubted by ability to come back from this (torn ACL) injury — the past season specifically — but I truly feel like to elevate my game to the next level, I'm going to have to get better at blocking and get back into it and stuff, but I feel like my versatility is being able to both line up inline and out in space and being able to create space against linebackers or safeties or be able to block D-ends. I feel like I can do it all." Evans was a quarterback for all but one season of his high school career at Wadsworth, backing up record-breaking Trey Shaffer as a sophomore and starring as a senior with 2,145 passing yards and 23 touchdowns for an offense that averaged 36.6 points. In-between, Evans made his debut at tight end as a junior due in large part to a nagging back injury that limited his skills behind center, putting up 19 receptions for 306 yards and seven touchdowns. The younger brother of Pro Volleyball Federation player Kacie Evans will be relied upon as a touchdown threat in the red zone early in his professional career. He feels prepared for the challenge, thanks partly to the tutelage of coach Justin Todd at Wadsworth. "I feel like the way I see and understand the game of football — the way I read it, process it — because of how I learned," he said. "I grew up as a quarterback, so I feel how I learned the game of football has really helped me as a player and how I learned to read defenses and understand offenses as a whole. "When you get down into the end zone, it's all about execution. You have to be dang-near 100 percent perfect in-tune with your steps, your footwork, your depth, your timing, your spacing with your quarterback and also your route. So, I feel like I have a great understanding of all that, and I'm ready to show that at the next level." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.