Anthony Evans III: Texas speedster shows how Georgia football countered negative perceptions on his official visit

Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with 4-star Texas speedster Anthony Evans III. He ranks as the nation’s No. 43 WR and the No. 338 overall prospect for 2023 on the 247Sports Composite ratings.

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Everyone loved David Letterman’s late-night talk show, right? Everyone probably still loves Dave.

There are times when every interview with a big-name recruit yields so much stuff. What usually follows is a need to get that information to the reader quickly.

Quicker than quick. Quicker with the best stuff right off the top.

We do the best we can. Then there are times when we really feel the need for speed. Like the same way a speed demon wide receiver plays the game.

With a nod to ol’ Dave. Minus the funny part.

10. Anthony Evans III heard some negative recruiting about Georgia and its offense and its WRs.

That was the biggest takeaway for Evans from his UGA official. The Bulldogs had to debunk perception versus reality with its offense.

“They know I am a big-time recruit at the receiver position,” he said. “They know what people say. You know what the saying is with Georgia. They really don’t throw the ball at Georgia. That’s what I really think they tried to push for me. That’s what people say.

“Coach [Bryan] McClendon and the offensive coordinator [Todd] Monken were trying to push that to me. They were basically saying ‘If we are up by 30 points going into the second half, then what’s the point of throwing the ball?’ with that.

“They really showed me first-half stats and being that they pulled out the proof. All the stats and stuff like that. They said they have like the third-most receivers drafted in the last 10 years. I feel like that’s a fact that most people don’t really know.”

“It was a great experience for me at Georgia. Coming off that week and the official visit I was just at with Oklahoma. They made a really good impression.”

9. Georgia brought stats to the table to hammer its points home about its offense and WRs

With nine selections, the Bulldogs do have the third-highest total across that span. It wouldn’t be too hard to guess the four programs that are tied for first and second across that criteria. Take a look at the number of receivers each program had drafted over the last 10 NFL Drafts. That’s from 2013-2022.

Check out a few other notables: Michigan 7; USC 7; Florida 6; Penn State 5; Texas A&M 5; Miami 4; FSU 3; Texas 3; Oregon 2.

“Those were some facts about Georgia and their offense,” Evans said. “They made sure to make that known to me on my visit.”

“People in my ear were telling me all they do is run the ball,” Evans said. “Why would you want to go there to Georgia? It is cool they won the national championship but do you want to go to the NFL? Like, do you want that true development?”

“Then coach McClendon and coach Monken pulled out those facts. That really made me think, you know?”

4-star Texas WR Anthony Evans III was a very big official visitor for UGA in June of 2023. (Courtesy photo)

Courtesy photo, Dawgnation

8. The official visit did give Evans that “home” feeling.

Evans said the Georgia visit “checked all the boxes.”

“When I went up there it was amazing,” Evans said. “It felt like home basically. You know with the coaching staff? The meetings. That’s what basically stuck out to me. The coaching staff. The way they bonded with us, the players. It was cool. It was definitely a great experience.”

In the interest of balance, Evans said he also felt that vibe at Oklahoma. He is also taking another official visit to Texas A&M this weekend.

That will probably be in for June for him with OVs. He might, he said, save another official visit for Penn State in August.

He’d like to make his decision before the start of his senior season.

“Early August,” he said. “Mid-August. Late August. Early September. Whenever that time is, that will be the time I will make my decision.”

He’s comfortable at UGA.

“Athens really felt like where I am from. It really felt like I was back here in Converse in Texas. Wasn’t too big. Wasn’t too little. Then they got that big city of Atlanta that was only like an hour away. Which is like where I’m from with Austin. It really feels like where I’m from. It was real nice. Real cool. The people there were real genuine.”

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4-star Texas WR Anthony Evans III was a very big official visitor for UGA in June of 2023. (Courtesy photo)

Courtesy photo, Dawgnation

7. Georgia, Oklahoma and A&M are not the only contenders.

His official visit plan should not be seen as his final contender list. That’s too simplistic, he said.

“That’s not true at all,” the former Arkansas commit said. “I will be dropping my top 10 sometime later this week. It is really between all ten of those schools. It is not down to those two at all.”

Some of his favorites are close to his home in Texas.

“There’s no point in me taking an official visit to those schools,” he said.

RELATED: How does Evans run so fast? He has a 10-piece nugget meal and a chocolate shake before every game and track meet.

6. It was hard to compare the Georgia and Oklahoma officials.

“Both facilities were nice,” Evans said. “It is really hard to try to compare the differences between both of those universities. One of them just won the national championship. The other one, people would argue with it, is Wide Receiver U. So it is really hard to really say what the differences were between the both of them.”

“They both really mixed in what I was looking for. They were both really like all business until like eight o’clock or in the afternoon. Then we went out with the players down there in Athens and Atlanta. Then we went to Norman and then Oklahoma City. It was all fun.”

Georgia freshman receiver C.J. Smith was his host. Evans said he was “excellent.” It was a rare pairing of two humans that can both run 100 meters in less than 10.4 seconds.

“I don’t think he could have done any better,” Evans said. “He made it feel like home.”

5. Oklahoma also gave him a great official visit

“It was amazing,” Evans said. “They couldn’t have done any better. That’s all I am going to say. It was nice. It was pretty good. Georgia’s was as well. I think they will all be like that. The official visit. So I can’t really go off that and those visits when picking a school.”

Evans said Sooners stressed NFL development and their status as the all-time winningest program in college football.

When counting up wins from 1946 on, that is a true statement. The Sooners would rank fifth all-time in both their program wins and winning percentage.

4. His core decision criteria will be based on implementation

What will make up his mind here?

“It really will be based on how I will be used,” Evans said. “Developing me. How can they develop me? How can they help get me to the next level?”

There was a part of the Georgia visit that took his breath away. That was watching the film on Georgia’s wide receivers and the explosive plays it had early in games last fall.

“Then how all of the recruits and all of the players really got along,” he said. “All of us like got that vibe and got that bond as soon as we stepped foot in that hotel. Everybody was instantly cool. Shaking hands. Dapping each other up. It made that visit experience that much better.”

McClendon, he said, plans to continue to show him how he would develop him at Georgia and on to the NFL.

“We are going to like get on another Zoom this weekend or next weekend and go from there,” Evans said. “He always tells me like ‘I’m his guy’ and that is big for me and huge for me,” Evans said. He hits me up probably at least five times per week.”

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3. Quincy Carter has played a part in his life up to this point.

Carter, now a trainer in Texas, has been a mentor to Evans coming up.

The former Georgia QB great was in the group that brought Evans to check out Athens for the first time earlier this year.

“Quincy, that’s my ‘Dawg,” he said. “Being a Georgia legend, he puts the emphasis on they are going to help me. They are always going to be there for me. Especially with all the business connections and the connections being next to one of the fastest-growing cities ever in Atlanta in America.”

“He says they will always have something there that will help me. Especially to help me in my life after football.”

2. Evans has a lot of Georgia fans in his immediate family.

He had a lot of family with him on the UGA official.

“It was my mom, she’s from Georgia, so she loved it,” Evans said. “It was my Dad. It was his first time going up to Athens. He enjoyed it as well. My grandma came. She’s from Georgia. She enjoyed it as well. She already knew what to expect.”

“My uncle was there. He’s a big Georgia fan so he knew what it was already and yeah, that was it.”

The 4-star WR said that his mother and grandmother are also big Georgia fans. His mother, Isabeal, is a Savannah native.

“They are both from there and they both love them,” Evans said of the ‘Dawgs.

What are they saying here? Were they barking on that official visit?

“Nah, they really let me have my space,” Evans said. “They want me to make the best decision for me. They don’t really care how it is going to be for them. They are not going to be at that university for three or four years. They are really pushing that on me like they don’t really care. But I know deep down they are Georgia fans. So that’s where they want me.”

1. Kirby Smart did what Kirby does.

His favorite photo from his photo shoot at UGA was this one.

4-star Texas WR Anthony Evans III was a very big official visitor for UGA in June of 2023. (Courtesy photo)

Courtesy photo, Dawgnation

“My favorite was probably the one with Kirby Smart,” Evans said. “That was definitely one of the live-est ones.”

What did Smart tell him on the visit?

“Kirby was real straight up,” Evans said. “Real straight up. That is all I am going to say. He was nice. He was a cool dude.”

He did let him know he was wanted in Athens.

“Yeah, he did,” Evans said. “He did. Yeah, he really did.”

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