Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss emerge as favorite to land top-ranked transfer

Former TCU Horned Frogs running back Zach Evans, who entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in late November, is trending towards committing to Ole Miss, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.

Zenitz reported that Ole Miss is the “clear current favorite” to land Evans. Previously, his return to TCU was a possibility, but according to Zenitz, “that now seems unlikely to happen.”

Evans is not just one of the highest-ranked players to enter the portal this offseason, but he would also the highest-ranked Ole Miss commit of the Lane Kiffin era. Kiffin, who has picked up several four-star recruits in his two-year tenure in Oxford, has yet to nab a five-star, and Evans would be his first.

Evans, a 5-foot-11, 212-pound running back from Houston, Texas, was ranked a five-star recruit out of high school by the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 running back and the No. 1 overall recruit coming out of Texas.

In two years with TCU, Evans appeared in 15 games with the Horned Frogs, racking up a total of 1,063 rushing yards on 146 attempts — good for a career average of 7.3 yards per carry — and nine rushing touchdowns. Evans is also an efficient pass catcher and needed just 18 career receptions to reach 206 receiving yards and one touchdown.

Evans first broke out in 2020, his freshman season with TCU. He held a team-best average of 7.7 yards per carry, which was second-best among all eligible rushers in TCU history and second-best in the nation for a true freshman in the FBS (minimum 50 rushes). He played in nine games that season but started only the last three. In that three-game Span, Evans needed just 29 carries to amass 236 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Evans entered the 2021 season as the clear-cut starter for TCU, and in six games he amassed 648 rushing yards on 92 attempts, as well as five rushing touchdowns. However, in TCU’s Oct. 9 win over Texas Tech, Evans suffered a turf toe injury. He played once more in a subsequent game against West Virginia, but then, the toe injury shut Evans down for the remainder of the season. He missed the final five games of the year.

Evans was recruited to TCU by then-head coach Gary Patterson. Patterson was the second-longest tenured head coach in college football before parting ways with TCU on Oct. 31. Evans never played another game for TCU after Patterson’s departure.

Before TCU ended up replacing Patterson with former SMU head coach Sonny Dykes, Evans made his case — and made it publicly — for an unexpected candidate to fill the vacancy: Deion Sanders.