The NFL’s Mike Evans and his UTEP “Connection”

A strange thing happened that made me think I completely missed something.

Mike Evans, a Super Bowl-winning wide receiver on the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, went to UTEP?

The short answer is -- no.

BUT...

There is a story here.

It was this tweet in response to a debate on a podcast with the Kelce brothers -- could any NFL player right now play in the NBA.

But hold up -- when did Mike Evans get a full ride to UTEP and "couldn't cut it."

A fact check was in order and the tweet is false, but it does bring to the forefront a little-known fact about Mike Evans.

Here is what I found:

It turns out, Mike Evans was primarily a basketball player in high school. He didn't even play football until his senior season. According to this profile on him, Evans "received extensive attention as a versatile forward who had the likes of Houston, UTEP, Texas Tech and Virginia Commonwealth interested in his ability to shoot a basketball rather than catching a football."

So there was A POSSIBILITY Mike Evans could've been a student-athlete at UTEP, but it would've been on the basketball court and not the football field.

And wait, there's more!

Despite Evans never coming to UTEP on scholarship, he did cross paths with the Miners. FOOTBALL, that is.

After his one season of high school football, he garnered enough interest to get a scholarship to play at Texas A&M.

Fast forward to 2013, the Miners traveled to College Station and took on Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans.

Evans (4 REC, 46 YDS, TD) and Johnny Football got the better of the Aaron Jones-led UTEP team that day, 57-7.

So there you have it, Mike Evans' almost-kinda-sorta close connection to UTEP. Check out his induction into the Texas A&M Hall of Fame below!