Buccaneers Draft 2017: Three Things To Know About Justin Evans
By Bailey Adams
2. He Was Once A Promising Baseball Prospect
Before he went to junior college and eventually Texas A&M, Evans was already quite the athlete. At Stone High School in Mississippi, he was a solid baseball player. In fact, he was a pitcher that had collegiate potential. Southern Mississippi and Tennessee had interest in him for his baseball talent and he even drew interest from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Below is from his Perfect Game profile:
"Medium athletic build, lean present strength. Easy low effort delivery, clean arm circle, fast arm coming through, 3/4’s arm slot, tends to leave backside over rubber on release, some downhill plane, hides the ball well and has deception. Fastball topped out at 91 mph, nice late tailing life when down in zone. Big breaking slurve type slider, nice sharp bite at times, can spin it. Didn’t see change up. Can improve raw stuff and consistency with some delivery adjustments, has a very live arm."
That’s a pretty impressive scouting report for a fairly lean high school player. However, he wanted to play football. The problem was, he didn’t have the high rankings that usually get high school players to big-time Division I schools. So rather than continue with baseball, he went to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
After spending time there, he had some big football offers from schools such as Alabama, Georgia and Auburn. He picked Texas A&M, where he spent two seasons. Over his two years, he picked up 165 tackles (99 solo), five interceptions and 11 passes defended. He was a co-defensive MVP for the Aggies last year, sharing the award with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Myles Garrett. Not bad for someone who was once looked at as more of a baseball player.