2023 Penn State football snapshot profile: No. 5 Omari Evans
Going into the 2023 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster. Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for James Franklin this season.
Continuing this effort is a look at wide receiver Omari Evans. The sophomore came to Penn State with a good amount of potential and he was probably the biggest spring game winner out of the Blue-White Game. Could that be a preview of things to come this fall as Penn State’s offense begins getting to work with a new starting quarterback?
Preseason Player Profile
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Hometown: Killeen, TX
Height: 6-0
Weight: 189
247Sports Composite Ranking
Syndication: York Daily Record
[3-stars] | [No. 78 in Texas] | [No. 77 overall wide receiver]
Class of 2022
Class in 2023: Sophomore
Penn State wasn’t just looking to establish recruiting pipelines in the southeast under James Franklin. The state of Texas has long been a key recruiting state Franklin wants to tap into with more success, and Omari Evans is one of the latest pickups from the state. Evans committed to Penn State over offers from Rutgers, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and more.
After receiving an offer from Penn State in June 2021 on an unofficial visit to the campus, Evans made an official visit that September and committed just a few weeks later. He then signed with Penn State in the early signing period in December 2021 and enrolled the next month to get started.
Career Stats
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Games | Receptions | Yards | Touchdowns | |
2022 | 13 | 5 | 55 | 1 |
Not surprisingly, Omari Evans did not have the ball thrown his way much at all in 2022 as a true freshman. With the starting wide receiver corp locked in with established veterans and a number of other backups getting first cracks on the field before Evans, there was never going to be much production to be gained on the field from Evans in 2022, although he did appear in all 13 games played by the Nittany Lions last season.
Evans scored his first career touchdown against Ohio on a 32-yard pass from last year’s backup quarterback Drew Allar, who is the expected starter in 2023 for the Nittany Lions.
Depth Chart Overview
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
The wide receiver position is a bit of a question mark for the Nittany Lions going into the 2023 season, but not one without potential pieces in place for a solid season. And after a strong spring, Omari Evans could be more of a contender for a significant role than originally expected.
After losing two wide receivers to the NFL in Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley, Penn State addressed the wide receiver position through the transfer portal in the offseason. That resulted in the addition of Malik McClain from Florida State this spring and will deliver Dante Cephas from Kent State. Cephas is widely expected to take over one of the starting jobs on offense for the Nittany Lions, but the other vacancy is still to be filled (KeAndre Lambert-Smith returns this season and will remain one of the three starting wide receivers).
Evans may have made a strong case to be considered for a starting job, if not a pivotal role in the receiver mix this fall. The final starting job should boil down to Evans, McClain, and Harrison Wallace, a redshirt sophomore in 2023. But if the spring game carries enough stock to sway a decision, that should lean in favor of Evans.
