Hough High running back Evan Pryor a star on the football field and humble off of it
Hough High School junior running back Evan Pryor is the No. 5 recruit at his position nationally in the Class of 2021.
He has scholarship offers from almost all the big-name programs, from Alabama to Georgia to Ohio State.
But the one thing Evan Pryor works hard not to have is any sign of ego.
“It’s humbling, actually,” he said of his national ranking and his college offers, “because you look around and not everybody has them. So it’s like, all right you have two options: You can run around cocky and flaunt and be like, ‘I got this and I got that,’ or be level-headed, keep your faith in God, keep grinding and pray for more.”
At 5-10 and 193-pounds, Pryor has true sprinter’s speed and carries that over when he puts pads on. He has finished in the top 10 of the past two N.C. 4A state championship 100-meter races, and he ran 40 yards in 4.42 seconds at a camp at Alabama this past summer.
As a sophomore at Hough last season, Pryor ran 146 times for 912 yards and 10 touchdowns. He caught 24 passes for 277 yards and four scores.
This season, Pryor is averaging more than 8 yards per carry. He has run 49 times for 404 yards with four touchdowns and caught 10 passes for 90 yards and a score.
Hough (2-3, 1-0 I-MECK 4A) was considered a state-championship contender when the season started, but the Huskies suffered a season-opening 21-10 loss to Butler, then beat Providence 38-14. But over the next two weeks, the Huskies decisively dropped showcase games to a pair of regional powers — falling 44-7 to Byrnes (South Carolina) and 68-21 at home to Myers Park.
But after last week’s 54-0 win over Hopewell, Hough will look to beat rival Mooresville (3-2, 1-0) Friday night and remain in first place in the conference. All of the Huskies’ goals, despite the slow start, are still attainable. So Friday’s game at Mooresville is important.
Pryor said that Hough and Mooresville, less than 15 miles apart, have developed quite a rivalry. Hough opened in 2010, and Mooresville whipped a young Huskies team 62-12 and 31-0 in the first two meetings.
Since then, Mooresville has won just once. Hough has won the past four games, including a tight 12-7 win last season at home.
Pryor expects another battle Friday. He said that’s always the case in the I-MECK conference, generally considered the state’s best.
“Man, every week you’ve got to bring your stuff,” he said. “You may be playing Mooresville, but they will smack you in the mouth. You don’t look at those teams like Mallard Creek and Vance, but ... you play them in conference every week and it’s like, ‘OK those dudes are bringing their stuff.’ Every week’s a dogfight.”
To get ready, Pryor spent the offseason adding weight and strength. He wanted to be more durable and when he began to hear the college recruiters tell him he was a three-down back — meaning he didn’t need to come off the field in special situations — he knew he was getting closer to his goal.
And he plans to keep working toward that — and staying humble.
“I’ve been working on my explosiveness,” he said. “Last year, everybody knew I could get around the end, but this year being able to run through people has taken my game to the next step, and I think a lot of people are going to have to watch out for that. I’m a lot stronger.”