Transfer Tracker: Tulsa DB is one to watch
Mark Pszonak contributed to this report.
The transfer portal never stops grinding. Tulsa transfer defensive back Akayleb Evans' entry into the portal did not create much initial buzz from fans, but since then he has picked up offers from each of the Power 5 conferences and is getting serious interest from a number of additional schools.
Recruiting: Evans initially committed to Kansas, but then flipped to Tulsa a couple of days after the Hurricanes offered during the summer leading up to his senior season. He also had offers from Iowa State and North Texas.
At Tulsa: Evans played in 18 games, with 11 starts, during his first two seasons at Tulsa. During this time he totaled 47 tackles, 6 passes defended and one tackle for a loss. In 2019 he only played during the first three games of the season before a shoulder injury sidelined him. Returning in 2020, he finished with 29 tackles, one sack and three passes defended.
Potential landing spots: Already with offers from Kansas State, Oregon State, Louisville, Mississippi State, West Virginia, Minnesota, Washington State, TCU, Washington State, SMU, Texas Tech and others there are a number of additional schools close to joining the chase. Ohio State is taking a very long and serious look, and are joined by Missouri, Northwestern, Nebraska, Texas, Oregon, Florida and Tennessee as others to keep an eye on.
Farrell’s Take: Tall, rangy defensive backs are popular in the transfer portal and guys who like to tackle and can play the ball so well like Evans with good size are obviously going to get a ton of attention. He's clearly taking a step up to the Power Five level and as a Texas native keep an eye on TCU and perhaps Texas if they jump in with an offer. More offers will come on a daily basis. Based on what I've seen this kid could be an immediate starter for someone.
Impact Meter: 8.6 out of 10
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and manage their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.