UTC's new wrestling room.It will be a couple of years before he arrives, but the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has secured a commitment from Alcoa High School wrestler Sammy Evans.
The sophomore won a state title last year as a freshman, pinning Signal Mountain's Micah Pressley in the Class A/AA championship match for his weight class.
"It's new ground for Alcoa wrestling," Tornado coach Brian Gossett said. "Sammy is the first to commit, and we've hardly ever had anybody recruited."
Evans was one of three Alcoa champs in February as the Tornado finished second by eight points to Hixson in the traditional tournament in Franklin.
"Sammy is wrestling 24-7. He's one of those kids that can tell you everything there is about every kid in the state and who they've wrestled and who they haven't," Gossett said. "If you say you're going to practice five days a week, he's looking for a way to get in a sixth day."
Evans finished fourth in his age group in the cadet and senior nationals this past summer at Fargo, N.D., in Greco-Roman but was unable to compete in freestyle after suffering an ACL injury.
By then the 220-pounder -- he's projected to wrestle heavyweight in college -- had pretty much decided on his wrestling future. If UTC wanted him, Chattanooga is where he wants to be.
"Heath (Eslinger, UTC's head coach) came up and did a summer camp for us, and I think Sammy realized then that UTC was where he wanted to go," Gossett said. "He is Heath's kind of kid -- Heath's ethics, how he has built his program and his care for the kids.
"I think those are great reasons for Sammy to be there. He'll get a great wrestling atmosphere and he'll get Heath, who's great at helping kids become men, learning from their mistakes and becoming better people."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.