Tiyon Evans, Tennessee football running back, enters transfer portal

Tiyon Evans, Tennessee football's top running back, entered the transfer portal on Friday.

"After praying to god and giving myself time to think on what's best for me and my family, I've decided to enter the transfer portal and weigh my options," Evans wrote on Twitter.

Evans is Tennessee's leading rusher with 525 yards and six touchdowns on 81 carries. He has battled an ankle injury during the second half of the season and has not played since Nov. 6.

"First of all I wanna thank the Lord above for blessing me with the ability to do what I love to do," Evans wrote. "Secondly, to the vol nation I thank each and everyone of you for the undying support that give, that itself will last with me forever. I wanna thank coach Heupal (sic) and his staff for giving me a chance here at UT to be a vol when he got the position and throughout this journey I have made some friendships that will last a lifetime. To all my Brothers Love."

The Vols (6-5, 3-4 SEC) play Vanderbilt (2-9, 0-7) on Saturday (3:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network) to close the regular season.

The 5-foot-11, 220-pound Evans had three games with at least 100 yards rushing in UT's first six games. He had 156 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries against Missouri on Oct. 2. He rushed for a 92-yard touchdown against the Tigers.

Evans ran for 119 yards on 16 carries against South Carolina on Oct. 9, but suffered an ankle injury in the second half. He did not play against Ole Miss on Oct. 16. He played sparingly at Alabama the following week and had one carry for nine yards at Kentucky on Nov. 6.

He limped off the field in the second quarter against the Wildcats and hasn't played since.

Evans signed with Tennessee in the 2021 class out of Hutchinson Community College. He was ranked as the No. 1 junior-college running back in the 247Sports Composite. He committed to Tennessee in April, then decommitted. He committed again in November despite not having visited Knoxville.

Evans, a Hartsville, South Carolina native, picked Tennessee overs offers from Maryland, Oklahoma State and South Carolina among others.

Tennessee's possible returning running backs are Jabari Small, Jaylen Wright, Len'Neth Whitehead and Dee Beckwith. UT has a commitment from three-star running back Dylan Sampson for the 2022 class.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tiyon Evans, Tennessee football running back, enters transfer portal