COVID-19 forces late signings for M-G stars

Jul. 29—FAIRMOUNT — Under normal circumstances, mid- to late July is a time when incoming college freshman student-athletes are packing their bags for their future homes, which have long since been decided.

But, during the COVID-19 era, times are anything but normal.

Grant Brown and Nick Evans, two Madison-Grant stars who would normally have had opportunities to settle on their collegiate plans much earlier, had to sweat out their senior years and navigate the world of recruiting during a pandemic.

In the end, both found the best fit as Brown will continue his basketball career at the junior college level at Vincennes and Evans will head just north to play baseball at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion.

Brown, the all-time leader in assists and a 1,000-point career scorer for the Argylls, averaged 15.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists last season and shot just under 40% from 3-point range. The 6-foot-3 guard signed Wednesday in a ceremony at Madison-Grant.

"It's been a long journey, and the process of deciding where I wanted to go was long and stressful," Brown said. "But they came along at the end when I was about to commit, and they came along with an opportunity, and I just took it. I'm extremely excited to get down there and get to work. It seems like the best fit for me and opens up so many opportunities for me."

Evans was a key part of the Argylls' baseball renaissance this spring as the team won both the Nick Muller Memorial Baseball Tournament and sectional championships. He posted a 9-1 record with a 2.77 earned run average and struck out 101 batters in 65 2/3 innings. Just about a month after the season ended, he signed with IWU in early July.

"I always have had my eye on IWU. I'm not sure if they always had their eye on me," Evans said. "It's always something that I've kind of worked towards, and it just fell the right way and worked out."

For Evans, the coronavirus issue was twofold. Due to the pandemic, he was unable to showcase his talents during his junior season — the most important year for baseball recruiting — and with many college players taking advantage of an extra year of eligibility, he had to find a roster with a spot available.

"It's tough to just pick up the slack your senior year and make up for it," he said.

Grant County is not a bad place to be for Evans. He will be just a few miles from home, where his younger brother Ty will be playing next spring, and Taylor University is just up the road where his sister Maddi is a star softball player for the Trojans.

"I'm really excited, other than the money and the schooling, which are the two most important things, it's so close to home and to Taylor, too," Evans said. "I can go watch my sister play, and I can go watch my brother play, so it's almost perfect for me. I really believe that."

Brown's connection with Vincennes came about very recently. Like Evans, not having the opportunity to display his skills for scouts in the summer of 2020 hurt his prospects but also finding a school with an opening was difficult as well.

"I'd say a lot of it was because of COVID, the time frame and how it all it all worked out," he said. "Because with summer basketball, it took away a lot of chances and opportunities for me and other recruits who were trying to find places earlier on."

But Vincennes came through at the last minute, offering an athletic scholarship and a redshirt season for Brown to develop and get comfortable with the team and college life, which will be about a three-hour drive from home, according to his mother, Michelle.

Despite being a late-developing situation, Brown feels it is a perfect fit for him.

"That's another reason I chose Vincennes because of the JUCO route, and with the redshirt I get an extra year of development ," Grant said. "That's my goal, to go there and then eventually go to a Division II or Division I school and hopefully get time there.

"Like I've always said, I've wanted to follow my dreams and goals of playing for as long as I can. Hopefully, maybe I'm playing overseas after a few more years of development."

Evans will study nursing at IWU while Brown will work on core requirements and finding an area of focus during his time at Vincennes.

Contact Rob Hunt at

rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com or 765-640-4886.