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Recapping wide receiver Omari Evans path to Penn State

Mug-Shot 4x4by:Ryan Snyder•03/13/22•

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Penn State wide receiver Omari Evans committed to Penn State last summer.

Penn State fans, the following story appears in Blue White Illustrated’s upcoming Class of 2022 recruiting magazine. It features over 70 pages of analysis, bios and superlatives on the most recent class. You can order today at BlueWhiteOnline.com.

Almost every year, Penn State manages to find a player in the second-half of a recruiting cycle that seemingly comes out of nowhere. In 2022, that player was wide receiver Omari Evans.

Of the 23 players who signed in December, Evans was the last to earn an offer from James Franklin. It all came about pretty quickly, too, with offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich reaching out for the first time in mid-June. Within a week, Evans had plans to fly to State College.

“Coach Yurcich hit me up and told me that they were very interested, but due to lack of film at receiver, they wanted me to come do a one-on-one workout,” Evans said.

Evans, who mainly played quarterback in high school, would’ve normally had to wait until July if he wanted to workout for the staff that late before the summer dead period. Penn State had already wrapped up its on-campus prospect camps by then. However, due to the NCAA’s decision to allow personal workouts during unofficial visits last year, Evans was allowed to work with the coaches two days before the dead period started. 

He ended up exceeding the staff’s expectations, running a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, along with a 4.2-second shuttle. Evans picked up an offer immediately.

By the time official visits resumed in September, Evans was down to two schools: Penn State and Rutgers. Greg Schiano and his staff were actually considered the favorites at the time. That’s mainly because Evans took four visits to Rutgers between June and September. 

“Honestly, at first, I didn’t want to go to Penn State,” said Dorian Evans, Omari’s mother, who admitted she was leaning towards sending her son to Rutgers. “But for my children, I’m always going to keep an open mind and put my best foot forward. I think what impressed me the most about their coaches was that they never put pressure on Omari. It was more like, ‘this is what we have to offer, we know you’ll be a great fit, but it’s up to you and what you decide.’ I respected that approach. I liked the way they handled that.”

Evans then took an official visit to Penn State for the game against Auburn a few weeks into the season. That’s when everything started to shift for both mother and son. For mom, the comfort of learning Penn State’s academic commitment was key, along with getting a better feel for the coaching staff and what’s important to them. That was significant to Omari, too, as well as getting a better feel for who his future teammates may be. He still took his time deciding after the visit, but would go on to verbally commit to the Nittany Lions on Oct. 2.

An On3 Consensus three-star, Evans totaled 853 yards passing and 818 yards rushing playing quarterback for Shoemaker High School his senior season. He earned all-conference honors his junior and senior year, as well as academic all-state honors in 2021. Evans enrolled at Penn State in January. 

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