Maurice Evans

From NCAA College Football Information & Resource

Maurice Evans

Profile
College	The Pennsylvania State University
Position	DE
Jersey No.	48
Class	Junior
Career	2006 – present
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	264 lbs (119.7 kg)
Nationality	American
B-date	August 14, 1988
B-place
High School	Christ The King Regional High School
Career Highlights
Awards
2007 All Big Ten 1st Team (Media/Coaches) 2007 CFN All-Big Ten Team 2007 Phil Steele All-Big Ten First Team 2007 Scout.com All-American 3rd Team 2007 Ted Hendricks Defensive End Award finalist
Championships
none
Bowl Games
2007 Alamo Bowl 2007 Outback Bowl

Maurice Evans (born Maurice D. Evans on August 14, 1988) is a defensive end for the Penn State University Nittany Lions in the NCAA college football tournament. Coming out of Christ The King High, Evans was already heralded as one of the best bluechip defensive lineman but starting out from scratch at Penn State, the d-end from coach Joe Paterno's hometown had to prove himself all over again. Evans however did not back down from the challenge, in fact, after seeing action as a freshman reserve, he quickly made a transition to becoming one of Penn State's featured lineman on defense. Evans boast of a combo of power and quickness which has made him an elite pass rusher who can make the plays in the backfield and has proven to be someone a team can rely on against the run.

1 Personal Life
2 High School
3 College
4 Career Stats
5 Achievements
6 References

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Personal Life

Maurice is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He is enrolled in the Division of Undergraduate Studies at The Pennsylvania State University.

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High School

Evans attended Christ The King Regional High School in Middle Village, New York where he played defense for head coach Kevin Kelly. As a senior, Evans racked up 92 tackles, four sacks and four fumble recoveries for the Royals who unfortunately despite his effort, only won 3 out of five league games and posted a 5-6 overall record in the 2005-06 season. Nonetheless, Evans still garnered first-team CHSAA all-conference honors for his efforts on defense and went on to be named as a U.S. Army All-American which enabled him to play in the prestigious high school all star game, the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, along with future Penn State teammates Chris Bell, Jared Odrick and A.J. Wallace. Academically, Evans scored a 1370 on his SATs.

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College

A four-star rated prospect who was ranked as the no.6 defensive end in the nation by Scout.com, Evans received a number of scholarship offers from several powerhouse universities such as Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Syracuse, Tennessee, USC, and Virginia but in the end, gave his nod to coach Paterno and the Nittany Lions.

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2006

As a true freshman, Evans had to "pay his dues" and play behind the likes of Josh Gaines and Jim Shaw on the end positions. He saw minimal minutes in his first taste of collegiate action against Akron then earned some minutes to tally his first career tackle for a two-yard loss in the 17-41 defeat at No.4 Notre Dame the following week. In the lopsided win against Youngstown State, he managed to record a season best three stops, including 1 for a five yard loss, before adding another solo stop in the 22-point setback at Ohio State. Against Northwestern, he matched his season high in tackles in addition to another season best and team-leading 1.5 sacks to help the Nittany Lions trounce the Wildcats, 33-7. He also chipped in a tackle each in wins over Minnesota and Illinois before contributing a couple more in the 47-0 shut-out of Temple. He ended his rookie campaign with 12 tackles (seven solo), 3.5 tackles for minus-10 yards and 1.5 sacks in 162 plays all season-long to earn a first team All-Big Ten accolade from The Sporting News.

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2007

During the spring, Evans managed to work his way up of the depth chart and secure PSU's starting right end spot. In his first career start at the season-opener against FIU, he collected a season low two stops including a 6-yard sack as Penn State shut-out the Golden Panthers by 59 points. In wins over Notre Dame and Buffalo, Evans tallied three tackles a piece, including 2 TFLs, a 9-yard sack, and a pass break up against the Fighting Irish, and a 10-yard sack against the Bulls. At Michigan, he recorded a career-best nine tackles, including a game and then career-high four TFL (-8 yards) as the Nittany Lions just came up short of the Wolverines, 9-14. At Illinois, he contributed three stops as PSU recorded a second straight setback, 20-27. Against Iowa, he tallied three hits, with two sacks for 10 yards loss, and a PBU to help PSU limit the Hawkeyes to eight first downs and 194 total yards enroute to a 27-7 win. Against No.19 Wisconsin, Evans chalked up three solos, all for losses totalling 22 yards, with two of those being sacks for 14 yards loss as the Nittany Lions came out victorious, 38-7. At Indiana, Evans turned out a "signature game" when he came up with a crucial play after sacking quarterback Kellen Lewis, forcing a fumble, picking up the pigskin and taking off for a 55-yard gain which eventually resulted in a field goal. He ended that game with an all-around performance, tallying six stops (five solo), including a career-high 3.5 sacks for a loss of 36 yards, 4.5 TFL (minus-38 yards), a PBU, and two forced fumbles both of which led to a PSU FG to earn the Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Week honors.

Against Ohio State, Evans saw action in a season high 76 snaps (equalling his previous week tally at Indiana) and had five assisted stops in the disappointing 17-37 setback. In the Senior Day game against Purdue, he bounced back with six stops, including a pair of sacks for a 9-yard loss, with one forced fumble to help hold down the high-scoring Boilermakers in the 26-19 win. At Temple, the Nittany Lions' D-team delivered another shut-out with Evans contributing two stops, unfortunately in the ensuing game, his same number of tackles were not enough to take down Michigan State, 31-35. At the Valero Alamo Bowl, Evans recorded six tackles (four solo) and forced two fumbles---one of which was recovered at the Texas A&M 11 to set up the tying score in the second quarter---to help the Nittany Lions fabricate a 24-17 triumph over the Aggies. He finished the season as the team's fifth leading tackler (54 tackles), third in the league and 8th in the nation in sacks (12.5 for minus-94 yards, also 4th in the school's all-time single season tally), and second in Big Ten and sixth in the nation in tackles for loss (21.5 for minus-117 yards, also 5th in school history) while playing in 749 snaps in 13 games. In addition, the 2007 Ted Hendricks Defensive End Award finalist and first team All-Big Ten honoree was also second in the conference in forced fumbles (5) and recorded three pass breakups while playing for the PSU defense which ranked 2nd overall in sacks and 7th in the nation in rushing defense.

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2008

With his showing during his sophomore season, Evans has been named to several of the preseason's watch lists for the nation's most prestigious national awards, including the the 2008 Rotary Lombardi, Bronko Nagurski and Hendricks awards, in addition to being named as a first-team and second team preseason All-American by Athlon and Phil Steele, respectively.

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Career Stats

	Tackles				Tackles for Loss			Sacks			Misc
Year	Solo	Asst	Total	Ttl/G	TFL	Yds	TFL/G	Sacks	Yds	Sck/G	PBU	QBH	FF	Blk
2006	7	5	12	1.0	3.5	10	0.29	1.5	3	0.13	0	0	0	0
2007	31	23	54	4.15	21.5	117	1.65	12.5	94	0.96	3	0	5	0