Evan Hull (born October 26, 2000) is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
for the
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL). He played
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
at
Northwestern and was selected by the Colts in the fifth round of the
2023 NFL Draft
The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29, ...
.
Early years
Hull was born on October 26, 2000, in
Maple Grove, Minnesota.
He attended
Maple Grove Senior High School
Maple Grove Senior High School (MGSH) is a public grade 912 high school located in Maple Grove, Minnesota, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Osseo School District (279). Its feeder schools are Maple Grove Middle School and Oss ...
and was one of the best
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
s in the state, posting over 2,100 rushing yards in one year. He is Maple Grove's all-time leading rusher, and additionally was a top athlete in
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
and
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
.
He set numerous team rushing records, including rushing yards in a game with 398.
A three-star recruit, Hull committed to play
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
at
Northwestern.
College career
Hull appeared in four games as a true
freshman
A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions.
Ara ...
, preserving a
redshirt
Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi
* Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...
.
He still managed to post 286 rushing yards and four
touchdowns
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...
, the latter of which placed second on the team. His best game of the season was a 220-yard, four score performance against
UMass
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
. The following year, he appeared in seven games and recorded 209 yards on 25 rush attempts, scoring two touchdowns in a season impacted by
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
Hull became a starter in 2021, and recorded 1,009 rushing yards, placing sixth in the
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
.
He also scored seven rushing touchdowns, which ranked eighth in the conference, earning at the end of the year honorable mention All-Big Ten from the league's coaches and media.
He additionally gained 264 receiving yards off 33
receptions, scoring two more touchdowns through the air.
Hull appeared in all 12 games during the 2022 season, posting 913 rushing yards and five touchdowns, with an additional 55 receptions for 546 yards and two scores.
He decided to enter the
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
following the season, and finished his stint at Northwestern with 488 rush attempts for 2,417 yards and 18 touchdowns, as well as 94 catches for 851 yards and four touchdowns in 35 games.
Professional career
Hull was selected in the fifth round (176th overall) of the
2023 NFL Draft
The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29, ...
by the
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...
. He was placed on
injured reserve
The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...
on September 12.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hull, Evan
2000 births
Living people
American football running backs
People from Maple Grove, Minnesota
Players of American football from Hennepin County, Minnesota
Northwestern Wildcats football players
Indianapolis Colts players