Where Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans is in his knee injury rehab

Mitchell Evans didn’t get to take a redshirt year. He didn’t get to play in Notre Dame’s Sun Bowl win over Oregon State. He didn’t even get a chance to be the difference in a narrow Fighting Irish loss at Clemson.

But if there was ever a time to tear his ACL, he said late October wasn’t the worst option.

“If it had happened in August, I would have been way more devastated because I wouldn’t be able to showcase what my capabilities are,” Evans said last week. “But since it happened after pretty much whole season, I was like, ‘Okay, now I’ve just got to prove it again this year and get back to work.’”

Those capabilities allowed Evans to finish with the most receptions (29) and second-most receiving yards (422) of any Notre Dame pass-catcher in 2023 despite only playing in eight games. He missed the final third of the season with the knee injury, one he said didn’t insanely hurt in the moment.

But he still knew something wasn’t right.

“I hobbled off the field, went in the tent, did the whole knee thing and it was like, ‘Yup, your MCL is gone,’” Evans said. “I was like, ‘Ahhh.’ They couldn’t tell about my ACL. That was the next day. And my ACL had a little bit left but I basically tore it.’”

MCL. ACL. Evans basically has a new knee, one he has been slowly getting back into shape some five months after surgery. He’s riding the bike. Climbing the stairmaster. Getting some work in with weights.

He’s still walking gingerly and has not started running, though, so it’s hard to say how healthy he’ll be when fall camp commences in early August.

“The training staff and strength coaches don’t want to look at the big picture too much yet,” Evans said. “We’re more taking it each week and each week I’m getting better and better.”

Evans, the No. 2 returning tight end in college football according to Pro Football Focus, does have a personal goal of running by the end of the semester. He knows exactly when that is; May 18. He’s got just under a month to make it happen.

He derives encouragement from fellow tight end Eli Raridon, who tore his ACL twice in as many years but is back and the fold serving as Notre Dame’s No. 1 TE this spring with Evans and graduate student Kevin Bauman, also a tearer of two ACLs in two years, on the shelf.

Evans called his personal situation his “Bloody Wednesday” — a seminal moment in the middle of one’s career that either breaks or breaks the player. Evans can either bounce back from the setback or come back better for it. He saw Raridon choose the latter. That’s the path Evans is currently going down.

“He’s been great as far as being detailed about learning the things that we’re going ask him to do when he does get back and healthy,” Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, who added when Evans is back there are things the Irish can do with him within the offense that he’s excited about.

Former Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer posted numbers like those of Evans. He left after three seasons. Evans is now locked in for a fourth. It should come with his Notre Dame degree and a chance to be a team captain. If he receives those honors and is able to be the guy on the field he was for the first eight games of 2023, then he’ll have wiped himself clean from his Bloody Wednesday.

And then some.

“Everybody’s got to go through some stuff to become a better person,” Evans said.
So this is my stuff.”

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