WR Evan Stewart recaps UT visit, talks NIL impact (you might be surprised)
Wide receiver Evan Stewart is one of the country’s most sought-after prospects. He has offers from more than 30 of college football’s top programs, he’s one of the nation’s most explosive athletes, and Stewart has had a busy month of June as he tries to sort through this hectic recruiting process.
Over the weekend, it was the Longhorns’ chance to try to make an impression when they hosted the Frisco Liberty playmaker in Austin on an official visit. According to Stewart, things went well and he likes the future of the UT program under new head coach Steve Sarkisian.
“My host was the highlight, Joshua Moore. He showed me around. And the city of Austin. It was amazing. There’s a lot going on there,” Stewart said. “They’re building a lot (at Texas). You can see the changes coach Sark is making in the program. You can just feel the victories and the winning coming along.”
Stewart said he “most definitely” wants to see the Texas program – particularly Sarkisian’s offense – in action in the fall. He plans to return to the Forty Acres for a game at some point.
Before the dead period kicks in again a week from today, Stewart will take unofficial visits to Alabama and LSU at the end of this week. There was a time earlier this spring when Stewart was hoping to make a decision before his senior season, but he said he’s likely going to stretch his timeline a bit as he continues to sort through his options.
“I’m going to have to slow it down now,” Stewart said.
A one-time Texas commitment, Stewart opened up his recruitment back in March in order to have a chance to compare a lot of schools that were on his list. Unlike most decommitments where the school a player was committed to falls off the radar, the Longhorns have remained a strong contender for the 6-1, 175-pound speedster.
“Texas has never been out of my recruitment. Everybody knows that I committed and decomitted. People think I decommitted because I wanted attention or something, but that just wasn’t it,” Stewart said. “I’ve always explained, I just needed time to go through the recruiting process because I hadn’t seen anything. Texas has always been up there for me.”
Another misconception with Stewart is that he’s looking primarily for a school that will help expand his brand. A social media star of sorts with nearly two million TikTok followers, there’s a belief from recruiting fans that Stewart will place a heavy emphasis on finding a school at which he can take advantage of the new Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rule that will allow college athletes to capitalize on their social media following and open other avenues for income. For Stewart, none of that matters if he’s not first successful on the football field.
“Most people think they can recruit me because of the NIL, but that doesn’t matter to me really. I have to play first,” Stewart said. “In order to do NIL, I have to be on the field. I’m not really going to be focused on NIL if I’m not playing. I want to be the best I can be on the field and NIL will take care of itself.”
On his Texas official visit, Stewart was joined by a large number of other recruits, including several Texas commitments. He said he connected with just about everybody that was in Austin.
“I bonded with everybody, to be real. Me and Shazz (Preston) have gotten a bond now, we feel like brothers. We’ve been (hanging out) on back-to-back weekends together. Maalik (Murphy), me and Maalik are two characters. Any time you put two characters together, they’re always going to have a good friendship. Me and Mani (Armani Winfield) have been through a lot together. That’s my dog. And Trevell Johnson. That was my first time meeting Travell, but he’s a really good guy.”
Stewart figures to take some time working through the rest of the recruiting process, but the Longhorns are a team that should be a factor in this race all the way until the end. The Rival100 member said there was a lot to like about his Texas official visit, and he feels he can be a part of something big should he eventually decide to be a Longhorn.
“There are multiple things that stand out (about Texas). Put it that way. It’s not just one thing about Texas. Texas is a brand. They really can be a very lethal powerhouse,” Stewart said. “If you look at our generation, and a bunch of us communicate, the things that can we bring are crazy.”