The missed tackles. Wow! Where to begin? Well, first I will say that this was actually one of Evans better games. He made a couple of good tackles where he came downhill into the gap and ran straight into the RB. He had an INT on a hail mary to end the half where he kept the play in front of him, had great timing on his jump, and high pointed the ball.
But the problem with Evans is the missed tackles. This is not an isolated case. He is a habitual tackle whiffer in the open field. Your safety can't miss tackles, because he is the last line of defense.
Something which has been written in his scouting report is that he is too aggressive. That is completely incorrect. His best plays are when he is aggressive, but far too often he is way too PASSIVE in pursuit of the ball and allows the ball carrier to chew up chunks of yardage.
So, there were 2 plays that stood out vs Alabama that highlight his deficiencies in open field tackling.
This first example is a run up the gut. Evans is in perfect position to make the play here, but he is standing flat footed instead of attacking and taking away the runners angle to make a cut back
On this next cut you can see where his feet are in relation to the hashmark. He has not moved except for slightly backwards (paasive) and the runner literally runs right around him and he doesn't even get a hand on him. There were two other defenders in pursuit and if he would have been able to close in on the RB and force a jump cut the defenders following could have made the play.
And the final result is a huge play down to the red zone and a TD ensued. This is a common image of Evans in pursuit aftee whiffing on the tackle
I've got one more cut up to show of Evans passive play resulting in another Bama TD after this
