New Smyrna Beach’s Evans pleased with showing
Darrynton Evans received a surprise congratulatory phone call Friday night after turning in an impressive showing at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.
San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert, a man who knows about hard work and determination, called Evans to show support for a fellow New Smyrna Beach High product.
“He hit me up after we finished our drills and told me, ‘Congratulations,’” Evans said. “Just seeing him and the things he’s doing just really motivates me to get to that same platform and compete and be the best athlete I can be.”
The most impressive part of the night for the 5-foot-11, 203-pound Evans was a 4.41-second clocking in the 40-yard dash. The time was second among running backs, with Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor’s 4.39 just ahead of him.
“That’s pretty much where I said I’d be, around 4.4 or 4.3,” Evans said Saturday, a day after the running back portion of the combine. “When the real official times come out, it should say 4.3 … I knew I was going to come out and have a good day.”
Evans, who ran for 2,884 yards and scored 25 touchdowns — six receiving — in three years at Appalachian State, also had a vertical leap of 37 inches, a standing broad jump of 10.5 feet and 20 reps in the 225-pound bench press.
“I thought I did good on everything,” Evans said. “I felt like it just solidified the fact that I can compete with anybody and they can stop talking about the small school, big school stuff.”
Evans said he has not really heard much about where he might land in the draft. He said he remains focused on training and preparing himself for the upcoming App State pro day as well as the individual team meetings he will have leading up to the draft.
“It’s definitely big. [The NFL] is something that everybody thinks about growing up and playing football,” Evans said. “But [we’ve] still got pro day and team visits, so [the draft] is close, [but] it’s still far away.”
Evans, a native of Oak Hill, has been inspired by Mostert, the NFC championship-game star who helped propel the San Francisco 49ers into the Super Bowl. Evans knows nothing came easy for Mostert, who was cut by six NFL teams before landing with the 49ers, so it drives Evans to continue to work hard.
Mostert and Evans didn’t see a great deal of recruiting attention from Power 5 schools coming out of high school, but the players would not change a thing about where they ended up.
Evans said he never really considered leaving App State early, after his junior season, but his coaches presented him with his options. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to pursue his dream.
“I never really thought about it until right before I decided,” Evans said about leaving school with one year of eligibility remaining. “My coaches, they helped me out … putting in a draft grade, but that was them telling me I should do it, not me asking them to do it.
“I had my schedule set up, classes, picking up an extra minor and getting ready for my senior season,” Evans said. “My coaches were like, ‘You know, you should really look into this and see how your cards are playing out and see where things are and then maybe consider it.’”
Evans praised his coaches for looking out for him.
“It just shows the type of school App State is,” Evans said. “A lot of coaches want a kid to stay regardless, but at App State, it’s a family and I can truly say that. They really want what’s best for us, and not what’s best for the coaches.”
Several other players with Florida ties competed in Friday night’s events at the combine, with punter Tommy Townsend of Florida turning in an impressive performance as well.
Townsend, a product of Orlando Boone High, was the second fastest punter in his position group, behind only Alex Penchin of Buckner, who clocked a 4.69.
Running back La’Mical Perine, Townsend’s former UF teammate, ran a 40 of 4.62, had 22 reps in the bench press, a 35-inch vertical and 9.8 feet standing broad jump.
FSU running back Cam Akers turned in a time of 4.48 in the 40 and also had a 35.5-inch vertical leap, a 10.1 feet standing broad jump and a bench press of 20 reps.
Running back DeeJay Dallas of Miami ran a 4.58 40, had a 33.5 inches vertical leap, a 119 inches broad jump and scratched on the bench press.