Ticats quarterback Dane Evans hired by University of North Texas as graduate assistant for 2020 season

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The University of North Texas has hired Dane Evans as a graduate assistant with the football team.

The current Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback shared the news on Twitter.

Evans completed 298 passes for 3,754 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions during the regular season in 2019. He went 10-2 as a starter and beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in July in relief of an injured Jeremiah Masoli.

The 26-year-old started strong in the post-season, throwing for 386 yards, one touchdown, and one interception against the Edmonton Eskimos in the East Final. That success didn’t translate to the Grey Cup, Evans threw for 203 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and fumbled three times in the 33-12 loss.

Evans dressed as a backup quarterback in all 18 regular season games for the Ticats in 2018, seeing action in four of those contests. He completed 26-of-42 passes (61.9 per cent) for 383 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions while adding 12 carries for 34 yards. He remains under contract with Hamilton through 2021.

Evans’ CFL debut and first career start in Canada both came against the Montreal Alouettes last year – August 3 in Montreal and November 3 in Hamilton. Evans threw for 315 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on 22-of-37 passing in a two-point loss to the Als in Week 21, the final regular season game for the Ticats. 

The six-foot-one, 218-pound native of Sanger, Texas, spent five years from 2012-2016 at the University of Tulsa, registering 904 pass completions on 1,577 attempts for 11,680 yards, 84 touchdowns and 47 interceptions in 46 career games for the Golden Hurricane.

Evans went unselected in the 2017 NFL Draft, but inked an undrafted free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. He played in three NFL pre-season games, throwing for 243 yards while completing 23-of-43 passes, one touchdown and three interceptions. Evans was waived among the final training camp cuts in Philly and signed with the Ticats in October, spending the final month of the 2017 season on the practice roster.

With a degree in both education and exercise sports science as well as a minor in sports administration, Evans is set up to follow his father Damon into coaching — despite the fact that his old man tried to talk him out of it.