4-star cornerback Ondre Evans commits to Georgia football, flips from LSU
Christ Presbyterian Academy cornerback Ondre Evans has flipped his commitment from LSU to Georgia, his guardian Joe Stanford confirmed to The Tennessean.
Georgia was among the 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior's five finalists before he committed to LSU in June. Evans had more than 30 offers including Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Ole Miss and NC State.
"For Ondre, it has nothing to do with LSU," Stanford said Wednesday. "Any kid would be honored to go play there as a defensive back. Dre still feels that way. He has nothing against LSU whatsoever. It was more, for Dre, about a fit at Georgia."
Evans is a four-star athlete in the Class of 2024 and the No. 2 prospect in Tennessee, as well as the No. 15 defensive back nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite.
Stanford said Georgia maintained its contact even after Evans committed to LSU. Evans started to have a change of heart about three weeks ago in conversations with Stanford, who has encouraged the Lions senior to keep an open mind in his recruitment.
"He got to the point, where he felt it was something that he should explore," Stanford said. "I’ve always told him to take every phone call at this point. You never know what could change."
Stanford said Evans was intrigued at the level attention that Kirby Smart pays to the defensive side of the ball. Smart was a defensive back coach (2000) and defensive coordinator (2001) at Valdosta State, a DB coach at LSU (2004) and a safeties coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2006 under Nick Saban.
Smart joined Saban's staff at Alabama as the DB coach in 2007 and was the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator from 2008-2015 before taking over at Georgia in 2016.
"If you’re a defensive back, Kirby Smart is over the DB room and so just having that stability in knowing that my head coach is a defensive-minded coach and he’s going to be on this side of the ball, and we’re going to be a defensive focused football team, and I’ll get coached by one of the best around, that was the main thing for Ondre," Stanford said.
Evans plans to be an early signee on Dec. 20 and is scheduled to graduate from CPA and enroll in college early.
LSU is 5-2 and 4-1 in SEC play. Georgia, the defending College Football Playoff national champion, is No. 1 in the Associated Press poll and 7-0. The Bulldogs are widely expected to be among the top-four teams in the CFP rankings when they're unveiled.
"LSU said they’ll continue to recruit him up until midnight of Dec. 19," Stanford said. "They don’t have any intentions of stopping (its recruitment of him)."
Reach sports writer George Robinson at georgerobinson@theleafchronicle.com and on the X platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ondre Evans flips from LSU football, now Georgia commit
