Though fully invested in playing tight end, Clark Evans still scans the field through the eyes of a quarterback.

Evans drew accolades and recruiting calls for his dual-threat potential as part of Southern California’s crop of prep quarterback prospects in 2009 — a group that included a current University of Hawaii teammate and assistant coach.

He transitioned to tight end a year into college but retained the perspective ingrained through calling signals and taking snaps.

"I always come up at the line of scrimmage and look at it just as if I was a quarterback, find the safeties then look at the D-line," Evans said. "I kind of go through my quarterback progression as I go up there as a tight end and that really helps me out identifying the coverage."

Evans initially signed with Colorado as a quarterback but had moved to tight end by the time he transferred to Cerritos College. He picked up the position quickly enough to snag all-region honors and enrolled at UH in the spring of 2012 to help fill a void in the depth chart during the transition to head coach Norm Chow’s system.

Now a 6-foot-4, 245-pound senior, Evans embraces his duties as a protector and potential target for the Rainbow Warrior quarterbacks and has seen the ball come his way with increasing frequency in recent weeks.

"He’s done better. He’s had some struggles … but he’s finally stepped up," Chow said. "He’s a young guy who really cares and that’s what matters. So it’s nice to see him healthy and ready to go."

After catching nine passes in 2012, Evans enters Saturday’s Mountain West Conference game against Colorado State with 17 receptions for 194 yards and a touchdown. He caught a season-high six passes for 77 yards in UH’s loss at UNLV two weeks ago, including a 37-yard gain reminiscent of his punishing runs out of backfield as a high school quarterback.

Evans’ name popped up on national and regional recruiting rankings after throwing for more than 2,500 yards and 22 touchdowns, and running for more than 1,000 yards as a junior at Los Alamitos High School. ESPN.com listed him 31st among quarterbacks in the class of 2009, two spots behind Sean Schroeder, who twice faced Los Alamitos as quarterback at Dana Hills High School.

Jordan Wynn was 41st on the list while at Oceanside High School and at one point both he and Evans were Colorado commits.

Evans ended up signing with the Buffaloes while Schroeder headed to Duke and Wynn to Utah. They eventually reconnected in Hawaii as Evans now catches passes from Schroeder with Wynn in the coaches booth as a graduate assistant.

"It’s nice because we’ve been going through the same stuff, going to quarterback camps together and we’ve known each other for a while now," Evans said of Schroeder.

"We’re the same age … just talk about plays. And Jordan is good about talking to us and getting us to know what we’re trying to do."

Evans also lettered in basketball in high school and said some of those skills carry over into working to get open against a linebacker.

There are times he misses throwing the ball, but feels right at home in his current place on the field.

"(Playing) quarterback at this level they don’t let you hit people any more," Evans said. "They make you slide and do stuff like that and I wasn’t really about sliding. I just thought I wanted to hit people still."