Prospect Play: Darrynton Evans

Ray Garvin Posted On April 4, 2020

The Prospect Play series is a quick film session that highlights specific traits and attributes from potential soon-to-be NFL Stars. Anybody can post the highlight reel plays; come take a look at some of the lesser-known plays that make these college prospects devy and dynasty talents.

Darrynton Evans, RB Appalachian State

When you play in the Sun Belt Conference, it’s not easy to catch the attention of NFL teams, let alone dynasty owners. However, with a strong final season and an outstanding Scouting Combine performance, Evans is finally starting to gain some steam in relation to his current rookie draft ADP which currently sits at 44 overall.

When it’s all said and done I cannot see Evans falling to the fourth round in rookie drafts. Take a look at this prospect play breakdown to see for yourself.

Prospect Film Breakdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHxuaM_Qxps

Prospect Play Summary

You’ll see a little bit of everything from Evans in this quick-hitting breakdown. One of the first things you’ll notice is how fast and decisive he is when hitting the hole. He wastes zero time or movement when finding the gap and hitting it. He has tremendous acceleration as evidenced by his explosion testing drills at the NFL Combine. Evans ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash, which puts him in the 89th percentile. He also fished in the 80th percentile in the vertical jump and 88th in the broad jump.

At 203 pounds, he knows how to finish runs. He does a fantastic job of converting his speed into power and you can see that in this breakdown as he routinely sheds initial arm tacklers attempts. While he’s not quite as twitchy as D’Andre Swift, he has a very good dead leg that he deploys decisively and aggressively to avoid defenders.

Evans is a dynamic player who, from day one, could win a role as a third-down back right out of the gates at the next level. He caught 20 passes this past season and looks natural in the receiving game. He was a very productive kick returner in college as well which should help yield opportunities to make plays even if he opens the season as the second or third back for a team.

You can see on each clip just how fluid and explosive he is in space. He’s a touch natural runner who makes playing the position look effortless. While the level of competition cannot be ignored, his skill-set and play speed can’t either.

Film Conclusion

With the recent news that Evans has been in contact with teams looking to potentially spend day two draft capital on him, I can only see his value rising over the coming weeks. The way his momentum is trending, getting him late in rookie drafts seems like a distant memory. I have a saying if I’m going to miss, I’m going to miss fast. Evans is a player I’m willing to take a risk on and the end of the second round and hopefully if we’re all lucky, the top of round three.