Three-star tight end Evan Jansen verbally commits to IU

Evan Jansen expected to be wooed to come to IU during his visits here, but last week, he saw IU support in a different spot: his grandfather's retirement party.

Jansen, a tight end from Moeller High School in Cincinnati, said that side of his family is from IU, and though he didn't expect to commit before his senior year of high school, the family influence won him over. Jansen verbally committed to IU on Tuesday.

"It's good to know that everybody else in the family wants me to go there as bad as I did," Jansen said. "I realized, OK, maybe I should go through with it."

Jansen becomes the second member of IU's 2013 recruiting class. He joins fellow three-star recruit Isaac Griffith, a wide receiver from Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Ind. Griffith committed June 11.

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Jansen last visited IU on June 12 and has visited other schools since then, but he ended up choosing IU. He had offers from Air Force, Harvard and Western Kentucky, among others.

He said the coaching staff was a major component in his decision, especially the resumes of Offensive Coordinator Seth Littrell and IU Head Coach Kevin Wilson.

Littrell coached now-NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski at Arizona before coming to IU, and Wilson's offenses at Oklahoma impressed Jansen.

Jansen is rated as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and has had IU as his top school for a while, but didn't expect to commit quite yet.

"I never thought I'd be committing before my senior year," Jansen said. "Most schools told me they couldn't offer because I didn't have enough film, so I always figured that maybe I'll pick up an offer after the season when I had more film."

Jansen only caught five passes for a total of 90 yards during his junior year, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. However, Jansen said he put on some weight and impressed coaches with his ability to both block and run routes.

"Now that I've put on a lot of weight and gotten a lot bigger," Jansen said, "I think the biggest thing is to maintain speed, quickness and build on it."