TCU football proves it’s a player for elite talent after landing first 5-star recruit
TCU coach Gary Patterson wanted to make a point when evaluating the program’s successful 2020 NFL Draft a couple weeks ago.
The Horned Frogs had three players taken in the top 40, including first-rounders Jalen Reagor and Jeff Gladney and second-rounder Ross Blacklock.
Reagor and Blacklock were highly touted four-star prospects coming out of high school, while Gladney was a three-star ranked as the No. 1,558 player in the 2015 class.
Gladney’s story is what most associate with Patterson and TCU, the ability to find a “hidden gem” and develop him into a first-round talent. Not players such as Reagor and Blacklock who were highly rated when they came in and again when they left.
“One of the philosophies, the misnomers that people are going to have to get out of their mind is that we only recruit two- and three-stars,” Patterson said. “We have some good players here. What we try to do is not screw them up. What we do is have a system set up that you can develop guys.”
For Patterson, his point of being in the conversation and mix for high-end players was proven once again on Monday. The program landed its first five-star player in Galena Park North Shore running back Zach Evans.
Evans was once viewed as the top prospect in the 2020 class last February, and is now regarded as the No. 16 player. He’s got “red flags,” such as being sent home the night before North Shore knocked off Duncanville in the Class 6A state championship.
Evans reportedly didn’t turn over his cellphone to his coaches the night before the game.
But there’s also no question Evans has the talent to be a Day 1 starter whenever players are allowed to report to campus.
The question now is whether Patterson and the structure of his program are what Evans needs to succeed. TCU has a track record of providing the right environment to get the most out of players who may have “red flags.”
In today’s era, though, it’s just as easy for a player to transfer if things aren’t going well. Time will tell with Evans, who initially signed with Georgia during the early signing period before getting out of it.
“He’s a great kid,” North Shore coach Jon Kay told the Houston Chronicle. “Obviously, we’ve had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody in the community that’s not rooting for his success.”
Maybe it’s a marriage that works. Maybe it doesn’t. But, make no mistake, it’s an opportunity for TCU to show that it’s a destination for high-end talent.
Reagor chose TCU over offers from schools such as Oklahoma. Blacklock could’ve gone to LSU, Alabama or Texas A&M. TCU was in the mix for quarterback Jalen Hurts last off-season before he jumped from Alabama to Oklahoma.
Patterson has built a program worthy of being in the mix for players alongside the bluest of bluebloods. And it’s not lost on recruits that TCU has turned those highly touted recruits into NFL prospects.
Evans pointed to that in an interview Monday.
“I think TCU can help me get to the next level and get a great education,” Evans told Rivals.com. “They had two first-round picks in the NFL Draft this year.”
Evans could join that list. He’s drawn comparisons to Adrian Peterson. Yes, the running back position is being devalued at the NFL level, but it remains a valuable position at the college level.
Every team in last year’s College Football Playoff, for instance, had a 1,000-yard rusher.
At the end of the day, landing Evans is a huge get for TCU. And a huge opportunity for Evans to establish himself at a program that lost its top two rushers in Darius Anderson and Sewo Olonilua.
“Offensively, it was a good fit for me,” Evans told the Houston Chronicle. “I want to start my own legacy. I wanted to do something different.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
