Hello: Evan Link
Michigan picked up a massive commitment following the BBQ at the Big House last weekend, OT Evan Link. You could read that choice of words one of two ways. On one hand, it's a massive pick up because the player in question is a massive human being. On the other hand, it's massive because Link is a solid prospect at a position that has been poorly recruited so far this cycle, offensive tackle. Either way, Michigan needed a 4* tackle in this class and I am very pleased to get to write this Hello:
GURU RATINGS
| Rivals: 6'6/290 | ESPN: 6'5/290 | 247: 6'6/290 | On3: 6'5.5/290 | 247 Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3*, 5.7, NR Ovr #50 OT, #3 DC |
4*, 80, #35 East, NR Ovr #33 OT, #3 DC |
3*, 88, NR Ovr #43 OT, #3 DC |
4*, 93, #125 Ovr #11 OT, #2 DC |
4*, 0.9041, #294 Ovr #27 OT, #3 DC |
| 3.77 | 3.95 | 3.79 | 4.47 | 4.04 |
Link is a prospect where there's a bit of disagreement between the various sources. On3 is the highest right now, putting Link in the top 150, while Rivals and 24/7 are a bit lower, with him in 3* territory. The composite rounds up to 4* status, though. Seth's historical tracker that ranks recruits in Michigan history based on his five-star scale conversion factor names Link's closest comparables as three current players, Jeffery Persi, Karsen Barnhart, and Ryan Hayes. If we take size into account, where Link is among the heavier OT prospects to commit in recent years, his closest comp. might be Grant Newsome, who was a similar 4.11 on the five star scale, coming in at 290 lbs. as well.
[AFTER THE JUMP: Tall and robotic?]
SCOUTING
Playing in a top level HS circuit, Link is a player with a decent amount of scouting on him. On3's milquetoast, free scouting report hits some of the common positive traits that get mentioned in write-ups on Link:
Technically sound offensive lineman with a big frame and well-rounded skill set. Measured around 6-foot-5.5, 290 pounds prior to his senior season. Has solid length with a 33.75-inch arm. Technically advanced relative to many other top offensive tackle prospects. Polished with his hand placement. Understands how to position his body against defenders.
The bolded areas are the elements that most scouts talk about. Link has close to an ideal tackle frame at a height that rounds up to 6'6" with nice-sized arms. Most scouts also praise his basic technique, including pad level, hand placement, and general processing speed and awareness. Lucas Reimink of Rivals ($) elaborates on some of these points:
In the pass game, Link has a good frame with good arm length ... He has good technique in terms of hand placement, as he has a strong punch that makes it difficult for pass rushers to get under his pads.
In the run game, Link is a true mauler. He has good physical strength and uses good technique to be able to open holes in both power and zone-based run plays. You can tell he’s been well coached as he understands leverage very well and uses it to his advantage in all aspects of run blocking
Touch The Banner more or less echoed these points as well, so this appears to be a pretty universal perspective when it comes to the positive elements of Link's profile. TTB adds one other strong area of Link's game that hasn't come up, though:
He uses his body position well to cut off players and work his butt to the playside, and he does a nice job of walling off second level defenders when climbing.
It may be a testament to Link's natural intelligence, or it could be the fact he comes from a solid HS program in an elite conference, or maybe both, but it seems to be that you have a smart and educated football player in a good, tackle-sized body. That's a nice start. What are the issues?
For one, Link appears to be athletically limited. Obviously, OL is not a position where that is a death knell like corner, but natural agility and reactive athleticism come up as problems that could hinder his upside. Reimink:
In zone blocking, his limited agility will likely be a hamper on outside zone plays as he’ll struggle to maintain proper leverage against the quicker and faster defensive lineman at the next level.
TTB:
His first kick step is good, but after that he can get lost and is not quick enough to catch up to defenders who elude him.
There also seems to be concerns over Link's tendency to play stiff. TTB describes it as "robotic" and then elaborates:
He tends to stop his feet and does not move well laterally once defenders react to where the ball is going. If Link were a musician, he would be good at playing chords but not so good at improvisational jazz.
Reimink gives his take:
That being said, he stands up too tall in his pass sets and when combined with his only solid-level agility, he will have trouble staying in front of the speed rushers he’ll face at the next level.
Overall, all the scouts cited here describe Link as a similar player to Amir Herring, a lower ceiling but higher floor type player. Comps. thrown out by these scouts include names such as Andrew Stueber and Nolan Ulizio, with the idea that if Link adds a bit more muscle, his solid fundamental skillset give him the chance to be a decent college player but he's not likely to ever be picked on Day 2 or Day 3 of the NFL Draft.
OFFERS
Link held offers from a whole bunch of schools, largely concentrated in the B1G and the ACC. The top contenders were Michigan, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Stanford, with the Nittany Lions being the leader before Michigan made their move. Outside of the contenders, there was a laundry list of other schools who offered, Miami, Tennessee, L'Ville, FSU, South Carolina, Northwestern, Kentucky, BC, Pitt, Duke, Vandy, Rutgers, Maryland, UVA, and yes, Wisconsin.
HIGH SCHOOL
Link attends Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC, an all-boys private Catholic prep school. They compete in the famed Washington Catholic Athletic Conference against such teams as DeMatha Catholic and St. John's College HS, one of the toughest HS football conferences in America. Over the past decade, Gonzaga has not been one of the juggernauts of that conference, typically finishing in the middle of the league standings and close to a .500 record overall, though they did have a strong (abbreviated) spring 2021 season. The Eagles are not often a top dog, but by virtue of playing in that conference, Link is facing high-level competition.
STATS
Is an OL
FAKE 40 TIME
Have not yet been able to find a 40 time for Link.
VIDEOS
Here is his junior year Hudl tape:
ETC
High academic student (but you could guess that from Stanford being one of his top schools).
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
I came into this write-up expecting perhaps a bit more positive scouting on Link and it could be the case that those who have bothered to do full analysis are more on the negative side. I would've liked more from On3, given that they are the site with the highest ranking of Link. Instead, we got a very short and basic scouting report from them. Make no mistake about some of the low-upside takes I shared, there are a lot of elements to like about Link. He had a lot of offers, including some from schools who recruit very well (PSU) and some who develop OL very well (Wisconsin). There is a good fundamental skillset here and Link seems to be a kid who understands the game of football and is tackle shaped. In this class, that's much needed.
Michigan will need to put more weight (muscle, specifically) on him, but he's not coming in as a total transformation project like Ryan Hayes once was. Several scouts noted that there is a chance Link could be a fit to play inside at some point given the athletic/agility limitations, but given his height and length, I think the long-term ideal play is at RT. Michigan is pretty well stocked at OL on the roster and they're still looking to add two more prospects to this class (one at OT and one at IOL). There will be no rush to get Link on the field when he arrives this time next year. Put him on the depth chart and see what happens after that.
UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS
Michigan's OL board has been shuffling quite a bit lately after missing on the first round of tackle prospects (besides Link) and losing Paul Mubenga to LSU on the interior. At tackle, they reportedly made a big impression with rising prospect Caleb Lomu during the Big House BBQ, so I would flag him as the new most likely target at that position. They are sauntering in on the recruitment of the more highly rated Monroe Freeling, but that one feels like a much tougher pull. We'll get more clarity on OL soon.
THE CLASS AS IT STANDS
| OFFENSE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Player | State | Stars | In a nutshell |
| RB | Cole Cabana | MI | 4.2⬆⬆ | Speedy receiver back |
| RB | Benjamin Hall | GA | 3.7 | Battering ram with vision |
| SL | Semaj Morgan | MI | 3.8⬇ | Homegrown Gattis-ian slot |
| WR | Fredrick Moore | MO | 3.6 | Crafty, Roundtree 2.0 |
| TE | Deakon Tonielli | IL | 3.9 | Catchy bouncy bballer |
| OT | Evan Link | DC | 4.0⬆ | OT with a Wisconsin offer |
| OG | Amir Herring | MI | 4.1 | West Bloomfield's interior mauler |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| Pos | Player | State | Stars | In a nutshell |
| DT | Brooks Bahr | IL | 3.7⬇ | Long grow-a-3-tech |
| SDE | Enow Etta | TX | 4.3⬆ | Poor man's Rashan Gary |
| WDE | Collins Acheampong | CA | 4.1⬆⬆ | Long/tall athletic freak |
| WDE | Aymeric Koumba | FRA | 3.6 | Long/French athletic freak |
| MLB | Semaj Bridgeman | PA | 4.0 | Formerly elite, WLBish |
| PK | Adam Samaha | MI | 3.1⬇ | Local #1 kicker |
Thanks.
Thanks for this.
Andrew Stueber was a Day 3 pick--did you mean to say 'not a Day 1 or Day 2 pick'?
Agree this makes way more sense. Otherwise comes off as kind of a cheap shot. Just say looks more like a Day 3/UDFA vs being negative.
I came into this write-up expecting perhaps a bit more positive scouting on Link and it could be the case that those who have bothered to do full analysis are more on the negative side
No offense to Magnus, but if over half the analysis you used in this write up is coming from him, you're probably gonna come away with at least a bit of a negative opinion on a recruit. Love his contributions to the site, but he can be bit of a pessimist in his analyses of recruits
Fair comment but I tend to give Magnus' evaluations at least as much attention and value because he isn't afraid to point out weaknesses and limited upside. And when he does give a high grade, we know it's a prospect he is excited about. Overall, Magnus seems to view Link as a solid contributor but maybe not likely to be a star and that's okay.
Agreed, I also don't take it as pessimism, he just doesn't sugarcoat it the way so many recruiting writers fluff it up, which then makes it seem like he's being harsh because of how few folks are willing to say such things. To me it seems Magnus is that tough but fair teacher/coach you had in high school who gives you that constructive criticism and tells you what you have to work on to get better.
August 4th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Also isn't line play his forte? I'd rather hear an honest informed opinion. I think Seth has gotten better with this but I felt like he used to be too optimistic on guys sometimes. Although that could also be reticence to criticize a guy on what's now a major platform so that's understandable.
You can do this with just about anyone, but I stumbled upon the Hutchinson scouting report a while back and... not great:
He’s not on par with Donovan Peoples-Jones or even Ambry Thomas from the 2017 class, but he’s got some skills as a football player.
On the negative side, Hutchinson’s probably not going to create a ton of pass rush off the edge. He’s limited with his speed, so he’ll have to be more of a technician and bull rusher.
I’m reminded of Dan Rumishek, whom some of you might remember from the early 2000s. Rumishek’s best career year was 2001 when he made 42 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, and 7 sacks
Without the explosiveness of someone like Chris Wormley, his ceiling is limited, but he can still be a very good college player.
Point being, it's useful to read through multiple reports so you don't fall into 1 person's opinion or the other. I always check Magnus' posts on recruits and use it as a data point when I look elsewhere as well.
Damn! That's all I have to say
In fairness to myself, Hutchinson improved quite a bit between his junior and senior seasons. You can see a marked difference between his junior film - where he stood straight up as a defensive tackle - and his senior film, where he was a terror off the edge and playing tight end.
Here's a link to his junior film (LINK). It's still not that impressive.
I also talked up Hutchinson as the #1 player in the state when Michigan fans were upset about not landing Kalon Gervin, Marquan McCall, etc.
Hutchinson ended up as an all-timer, and I'm certainly not saying I called that. Nobody predicted he would be the #2 pick in the NFL draft someday.
All that being said, this probably doesn't really even matter if Don Brown were the defensive coordinator through 2021. Hutchinson is very, very lucky that Mike Macdonald was hired and the coaching staff saw something in him to make him a stand-up defensive end, because if he were still playing a 5- or 7-tech like he did under Don Brown, the Rumishek numbers probably would have been eerily accurate. Notching 7 sacks was more than Rashan Gary ever did at Michigan (he maxed out at 6.0 sacks in 2017).
Sure, and like I said you can pretty much find any person who scouts having multiple big misses over the years. It's just a statistical likelihood.
Just pointing out that while I enjoy your content specifically, I use it as part of my education when looking at the recruiting class. 1 data point that I value more highly than most, but not gospel.
User name checks out.
OTs were desperately needed in this class. We were definitely missing Link in this class.
I’ll show myself out…
As a jazz and funk musician, it warmed my heart to see Magnus use the “solid but not creative” musician analogy for Link.
Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk were both great improvisers, but Miles famously told Monk to lay out when he soloed because he didn’t like Monk’s chord accompaniment, feeling like Monk wasn’t skilled at the basics of accompanying horn players. In the absence of elite skill, you can do very well with someone who’s very good at the basics and can allow others to shine.
So if Evan Link is the athletic equivalent of, say, Red Garland and not Monk, that is still a fantastic player who will contribute to excellent results.
The guy whose dad played in the high school band with Gerry Mulligan logged in just to upvote this.
I heard the guys from Spinal Tap talking about jazz recently. They’ll improvise like the jazz greats, but they do it intentionally.
I'll say it every time, but my bar for tackles with limited athleticism is Erik Magnuson. Eventually made 1st team All-Conference and even had a short stint in the NFL. While by no means a slouch, at no point was he considered elite, either. He just did exactly the best he could possibly do, on every play. ID'd the right guy, got in the best possible position, and took the best option. He couldn't pave D-linemen or shut down pass rushers, but he was also very difficult to fool. Basically, the kind of guy who racked up half-points and no minuses in UFR.
I remember seeing plays where all he could do was just give an edge rusher a good shove on the way by. But even if that was all he could do, it was plenty! The shove would take them off the path to the QB, so they'd have to loop around deep in the backfield, but that bought the QB precious time he wouldn't have gotten otherwise if Mags tried to square up only to get blown by.
I take it from all this that Link won't be elite, but if he can be Mags, he won't need to be. We've lived through O-lines (ogod those horrible O-lines) when things were so bad, we couldn't care less about talent as long as they just did the right thing. That's basically 90% of being a lineman right there, and we've had good O-line coaching for a while now.
August 4th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
So you need a solid rhythmic backbone player for the Davises to really shine. Otherwise you have 2 excellent freelancers but end up with a cacophonous mess.
Exactly, Golden section.
Just as a matter of personal taste, I'll be pulling for Link to be more Bill Evans than Red Garland - who definitely fits the "good at playing chords" description!
Hello Doug Neidermeyer
Pledge Pin - DON'T DO IT!
Well Magnus rates and likens him to Nolan Ulizio. And both he gave higher grades than he gave McNamara.
August 4th, 2022 at 11:52 AM ^
There are two kinds of incoming tackles; tight end types who bulk up, and at weight incoming who either make the weight room transition or don't.
In general, the first type is the one that does best if they can bulk and keep their athleticism. You can't lift your way to agility, and Taylor Lewan was of this mold and bulked up with rage for good or bad. If I were recruiting tackles, I would pay close attention to high school basketball, as you can't hide footspeed there so much. Players like Eric Fisher and Joe Staley from Central are also prototypes of why the MAC plays such a role in developing NFL tackle talent. The Power schools don't take those kind of chances.
Evan is the second type; he didn't play basketball, it looks like (his prep school has quite the website), and did not play tight end (apparently.) He doesn't have a gut, is at weight, needs muscle, and is academically solid. Grant Newsome is a good comparison. Stephan Humphries is a natural compare with this kind of stellar academics who found a way on the inside after starting on defense. The offensive line relies on teamwork and brains (know your assignment and when to release and move on.)
Michigan is in need for the class, but Lind has time. I like his chances, but it will come down to how much he wants to be on the field and how he meshes with his teammates. He should see enough high-end talent early on in practice to get a taste of what it takes.
I love these hello posts; they frame my impressions for years to come as I watch and rewatch every play in the games. It is only the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, Lind jells. He will likely be successful either way which is always a good place to start. He doesn't need football to make that point.
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