Penn State has something 'special' in 2022 signee Omari Evans, signifying the importance of recruiting nationally

Not every recruit takes the same path to Penn State.

Omari Evans is a perfect example of that.

The 6-foot, 170-pound new Nittany Lion from Killeen, Tex., played a lot of quarterback for his Shoemaker High team. That means schools across the country didn’t have tons of tape when it came time to evaluate him at his future college position: Receiver.

Fortunately for head coach James Franklin and the Nittany Lions, Evans made that fact irrelevant for them. He did so by coming to camp last June and impressing everyone and anyone who saw the senior-to-be run a 4.3-second 40-yard dash and a 4.2-second shuttle. Penn State offered practically on the spot. Evans’ stock was boosted even more in its eyes by the fact that he did not drop one pass during his workout.

At that point of his recruitment, Evans had already taken official visits to Vanderbilt and Rutgers. He took one to Penn State to see the Auburn game on Sept. 18, and despite having two more all-expenses-paid trips available, that experience was enough to help him pick the Lions over Rutgers on Oct. 2.

Franklin raves about Evans’ potential at Penn State

Penn State made receiver a priority in this cycle. Besides Evans, it also signed four-star Kaden Saunders, four-star Anthony Ivey, and three-star Tyler Johnson.

With Jahan Dotson moving on after this season along with potentially other members of Taylor Stubblefield’s room, the Lions may need an early contributor in 2022. It’s too early to say Evans could be that guy just yet, and most would set that bar for Saunders. Still, the testing numbers are right for the Texas talent to at least make him someone to keep in mind during spring practices.

“We feel like we needed to have a really strong recruiting class at the wide receiver position and get some speed and some size in here, and Omari was playing quarterback, so we really didn’t get to evaluate him as wide receiver,” Franklin said back on National Signing Day. “He came to camp and had one of the more impressive workouts that we’ve seen in terms of his 40, in terms of his broad jump, vertical jump, triple broad, pro-agility, and caught the ball extremely well. He did not drop a ball in our workout.
 
“It’s interesting, because he’s playing out of position in high school. I don’t think people understand what we got there. But based on the in-person workout we had, special. So that was a different situation. Here is a young man that really came to workout for us, outside of the footprint. There were no real connections there.”

Lions must continue to recruit well ‘outside of the footprint’

As Franklin notes in the above section, landing players from outside of Penn State’s main recruiting areas is a must. The Mid-Atlantic produces plenty of talent, but top-tier football is played all across the U.S., and sometimes, certain players at certain positions from areas the Lions recruit less will fit the roster and depth chart needs better.

In the 23-member Class of 2022, Penn State signed two players from Texas, two who have always called Florida home (plus Virginia native and IMG Academy back Kaytron Allen), and one each from Georgia and Wisconsin. That’s a fine mix moving forward.

“We’re not going to make a living in California or Texas or places like that, but we would love to be able to go get a couple a year, real high character, great students that are great fits here at Penn State,” Franklin said.

“I think we’ve got a strong enough national brand to be able to do that.”