LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti told reporters at Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday that starting left guard Drew Evans has been fully cleared for fall camp.
Evans went down with an Achilles injury during a practice leading up to IU’s game against Michigan last season.
The former Wisconsin walk-on followed his position coach Bob Bostad to Bloomington before the 2023 season. He went two full seasons without playing in any games before starting IU’s 2024 opener against FIU and remained a fixture in the lineup until his injury.
He was IU’s highest-graded pass-blocker with a 81.7 grade, per Pro Football Focus, and didn’t allow a sack or quarterback hit on 282 pass blocking attempts over nine games.
“He’s full go, he’s cleared,” Cignetti said. “We’ll manage him somewhat early in camp, I expect him to be out there.”
Redshirt freshman Adedamola Ajani spent the entire spring working with the first-team offense in place of Evans.
He would give IU three-returning starters from last year’s line alongside left tackle Carter Smith and right guard Bray Lynch. The Hoosiers landed Notre Dame center Pat Coogan out of the transfer portal to replace Mike Katic and have an open competition at right tackle that includes Colorado transfer Kahlil Benson and Ohio State transfer Zen Michalski.
Benson, who also missed camp with an unspecified injury, played mostly right guard last year for Colorado. Cignetti said there’s ongoing discussions about where he best fits on line.
“We’re keeping all options open, you want to put the best five guys on the field,” Cignetti said. “You have a good competition over there with Zen, Benson and some of those guys. Benson has played both, but played more right tackle with Bob more than anything. We’ll let it play out in camp.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: ‘Full go’: Indiana football starting offensive lineman Drew Evans has been cleared for fall camp
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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