Notre Dame a Finalist for Grad-Transfer CB Akayleb Evans

Notre Dame is hopefully one step closer to adding a potential starting corner to their secondary for 2021 after being named a finalist for Tulsa cornerback transfer Akayleb Evans.

Evans, a Texas native, also listed Missouri, Texas, Texas Tech, and Jackson State as his other four finalists. Jackson State might look like the outlier in the group, but don’t forget that NFL Hall of Fame Deion Sanders is the head coach at Jackson State making them a formidable challenger here. It’s pretty easy to understand why a corner would potentially want to play for a one of the best cornerbacks to ever play the game.

Notre Dame struck gold with graduate transfer corner Nick McCloud after some spotty luck with defensive back transfers previously, and they are hoping to do the same here again with Evans.

Notre Dame’s shortcomings recruiting in the secondary in the last few years of Todd Lyght’s tenure as the cornerbacks at Notre Dame have been well documented and we’re now hitting the years where those past recruiting failures are being felt.

Should Notre Dame land Evans, he’ll enter fall camp penciled in as a starter opposite sophomore Clarence Lewis. Evans has 82 career tackles with 2 TFL but has yet to record an interception in 27 career games. If the Irish miss out on Evans, there will be a pretty open battle for the second corner back position between Tariq Bracy, Cam Hart, and a host of redshirt and true freshmen.