Evan Tengesdahl

Evan Tengesdahl is the quiet developmental win in this class. Cincinnati signed him out of Wayne High School in Huber Heights, Ohio, as a three-star in the 2023 class, redshirted him, and used him in a reserve role for two seasons before he won the starting left guard job in fall camp ahead of 2025. He then started every game, logged 735 blocking snaps across 13 contests, and allowed zero sacks with two hits and nine hurries on 408 pass-blocking snaps. PFF ranked him the second-best returning guard in college football, and he was the best run blocker among Power Four guards in 2025 and one of the top guards in the country overall. He was among the most valuable Power Four guards returning to school. He posted clean sheets on 56 snaps at Oklahoma State and 61 snaps against Iowa State, anchoring a front that gave up seven sacks all year, second fewest in the country, and the Associated Press named him a third-team All-American. The projection concerns are physical rather than performance based. His arms run short and the build is squatty, which caps the length-based wins NFL guards lean on, and the timed athleticism is average for pulls and second-level range. He returns for 2026 already cross-training at multiple spots, the staff's own bet that interior flexibility completes his case.