Indiana added another member to the 2021 class early Sunday morning when New Zealand punter James Evans announced his commitment. Tom Allen and the rest of the IU staff now have a seven-man recruiting class in 2021. Evans discussed why he felt Indiana was the best fit for him.
Despite COVID-19 halting many programs ability to recruit around the country, Indiana's Tom Allen continues to excel on the recruiting trail and that continued this weekend. His ability to build relationships and make recruits and their families feel comfortable with him due to his ability to connect far past just the football field is a testament to who he is as a person. That resonated with James Evans.
"The relationship I built with the coaching staff and Tom Allen over the phone really made me feel welcome and excited to be apart of the team and the culture," Evans told TheHoosier.com. "They genuinely cared about not only myself but my family and my background. They made me feel very valued not only as an athlete but as a person."
Evans, who has yet to make a visit to the United States, couldn't be more excited to get to Bloomington and be part of the Indiana program.
"I'm really excited to be a part of the program," Evans said. "The culture that Coach Allen has built in his first few years as head coach led by the mantra of LEO to me is arguably the biggest indicator of such continued success. To have a sense of brotherhood within the team is massive and Coach Allen has definitely helped build that his first few years as head coach."
On the field itself, Indiana is coming off of one of the better seasons in program history. Evans believes the program is set for new heights in the coming years and is really excited about the commitment the University has made to the development of the football program.
"The team had a great season last year and I think moving forward the program will just go from strength to strength," Evans added. "Some of the moves the school has made recently show their commitment to continued success whether it be renovating the stadium, committing to Coach Allen long term or hiring the New York Giants head strength coach."
Evans is not the first international punter to make the move to Indiana, however. IU's current punter Haydon Whitehead made the move a few years ago and was a major part in Evans' decision to come to Bloomington. Both trained at ProKick Australia under the same trainers. Evans talked about his relationship with Whitehead.
"Yeah, I've spoken to Haydon over the phone a few times now. He's been really helpful in helping me understand what life as a student athlete will be like at Indiana," Evans explained. "I think both Haydon and hopefully mine later this years first actual trips to the USA were actually on official visits to IU. So he's helped a lot in me understanding what life will be like living in Bloomington."
"Obviously there's a lot of cultural differences between Australia and NZ [New Zealand] and the US so he's definitely been helpful in me understanding them." Evans added.
As for Tom Allen and the rest of the staffs reaction? It was a good end to the weekend.
"The coaches were really stoked," Evans added. "They were very happy."
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