Quietly over the weekend, three-star quarterback Ty Evans from Palmer Ridge High in Monument, Col., made an official visit to NC State. On Monday, Evans announced that he was switching his long-time pledge from Colorado to the Wolfpack.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Evans is rated the top overall prospect in the state of Colorado and the No. 18 pro-style quarterback in the country by Rivals.com. He was the 2017 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state after he completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 3,627 yards and 42 touchdowns with seven interceptions while rushing for 168 yards and eight more touchdowns in 14 games.
This year, Evans was 176-of-307 passing (57.3 percent) for 2,665 yards and 33 scores with 14 picks while running 56 times for 355 yards and 11 more TDs while leading Palmer Ridge to a second straight 3A state title. Prior to the season, Evans was a participant in the finals of the prestigious Elite 11 competition for quarterbacks.
The three-year starter had 9,453 career passing yards and 106 touchdowns in the air and an additional 20 rushing scores.
Evans told the Colorado Springs Gazette that the coaching chance at Colorado, where Mike MacIntyre was fired and replaced by Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker, prompted his change. Evans was pressed to make a quick decision because he is enrolling early. Tucker chose not to keep quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper, which factored into Evans’ decision.
Evans’ sister Mariah played volleyball at UNC until last year when she had to retire with injuries.
“I hardly got any sleep the past week and a half, this was the only thing I could think about,” Evans told the Gazette. “I had a conversation with my sister the night before [I committed] and we talked about everything, and we talked about the magnitude of moving to North Carolina, across the nation, in 23 days.
"Choosing NC State is going to be hard. It’s going to be difficult leaving my family because I am close with them, but that’s going to force me to become a lot more grown up and mature."
Evans originally committed to Arkansas before Bret Bielema was fired after the 2017 season, which prompted a change to Colorado last winter.
"It really just came down the that stability at NC State," Evans also told the Gazette. "Coach [Dave] Doeren has a long contract and he’s building a lake house out there, which is a great sign that he’s not going anywhere. He wants to win championships there and I think that’s someone I can play under."
Evans is NC State’s 21st verbal commitment in the 2019 class from the prep ranks following the decommitment Monday evening of three-star offensive tackle commit Triston Miller from Charlotte Country Day.
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