March 29, 2024
Recruiting


Recruiting

Prairie Ridge's Carter Evans makes college choice, will join brother at Eastern Michigan

As it turns out, the Class 6A 2017 football state championship game was not the last time Carter Evans would play with his big brother Samson on a team.

The Wolves won that title game, 28-21, over Nazareth, for back-to-back state titles. Samson was the star, running the triple-option at quarterback. Carter was a freshman split end on that team.

Carter, now a 6-foot-4, 215-pound fullback-linebacker, announced his college commitment Monday via Twitter and will rejoin Samson at Eastern Michigan University. Samson has three years of eligibility remaining, so he and Carter could play two seasons together.

“My brother’s there and I really got to know the coaching staff. I got to meet some of the guys and it felt like a family culture,” Carter Evans said. “(Samson) gave me insight of what it’s like there, he had only good things to say about them.”

Carter Evans, who colleges are looking at as a tight end, linebacker or defensive end, has more than 30 NCAA Division I offers. Eastern Michigan liked him as a tight end or defensive end and let him decide. Evans said he wants to play defensive end.

Other schools that were high on Evans’ list were Army, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo and Virginia.

Samson, now a running back, attended Iowa for two seasons and transferred to Eastern Michigan this summer.

“Samson was more honest about (Eastern),” Carter Evans said. “He wants the best for me, but he wanted to play together too. He was honest about everything there, and at the end of the day, that’s where I wanted to be.”

Carter Evans rushed for 922 yards and 15 touchdowns last season at fullback for the Wolves, but suffered a fractured left fibula in the playoff opener against Grayslake North. Prairie Ridge advanced to the state championship game and lost to East St. Louis.

Evans, who was selected to the Northwest Herald All-Area second team as a running back, recovered this spring and landed numerous more D-I offers.

“It’s definitely nice not having to worry about anything,” Evans said. “I can have full focus ahead on school and the season (in the spring).”

Evans is the third brother in his family to start four years in high school and play D-I football. Shane Evans, a 2014 graduate, was an offensive lineman at Northern Illinois University and Purdue.

Joe Stevenson

Joe Stevenson

I have worked at the Northwest Herald since January of 1989, covering everything from high school to professional sports. I mainly cover high school sports now.