Evers The Latest To Pledge to IU Football

Bloomington – As far as stature goes, Indiana has landed its biggest commitment of the summer for the 2010 class.

Six-foot-four, 317-pound Appleton (Wis.) offensive guard Cody Evers is the latest player to add his name to Bill Lynch’s growing commitment list. Evers becomes the 11th member of the class and the second offensive lineman, joining Springfield (Ill.) product Marlandez Harris.

While Harris will need to add some weight to his 255-pound frame, Evers will arrive at IU with all the size necessary to compete at the Div. I level. The Little Chute H.S. product was on the Bloomington campus in mid-June for a one-day camp, and subsequently earned a scholarship offer – his first – a couple of days later.

Ever since IU came through with the offer, Evers has been thinking about accepting and bringing the recruiting process to a close. That happened today, as he committed after coming to town along with his parents to visit with the IU coaches and to tour the campus.

“We went through the stadium, checked out the facilities and just liked everything we saw,” Evers said. “I thought I might (commit) when I came to town, and had been thinking about doing it for a while.”

Other programs expressing interest in Evers included Marshall, Iowa, Northwestern, Southern Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Illinois State.

One of the things that was holding back many schools from offering Evers was the fact he’s relatively inexperienced on the offensive line. He played on the defensive line as a junior, but was being recruited by programs to make the switch at the collegiate level.

“I was thinking for a while that offensive line might be a better fit for me (at the college level),” Evers said. “I’m more quick off the ball as opposed to having flat-out speed. I’m not as fast as (collegiate) defensive linemen, so offense is a better fit.”

Indiana agrees, and after worked him out in mid-June the coaches were convinced he was worthy of a scholarship offer. That was a very big deal to Evers, who admitted he was getting anxious to get his first offer.

“It was a dream come true,” Evers said. “It felt like it took forever.”

Many of the schools that were looking at Evers had hoped to wait and evaluate his senior film since he expects to play some more offensive line this season. Depending on how he performs, he knows there’s always a chance a program could try to get him to re-evaluate his college choice.

But Evers said that won’t happen.

“It’s a relief to have it done, to not have to talk to any more schools – now I can just focus on (Indiana),” Evers said. “I’m completely done – no matter what I’m sticking with Indiana.”