
TEMPE, Ariz. — Mickey Mitchell isn’t sure what game it was, but it happened earlier this season. A road game. Maybe at Oregon. The Arizona State senior forward, a month into his return from offseason back surgery, stationed himself in the corner, spacing the court. That’s when he heard it from the opposing bench.
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“Man, you’ve been to like five different schools.”
Normally, Mitchell doesn’t pay attention to such talk, but this stuck with him.
His first thought: “Where do these guys get this?”
His second: “Well, I guess I get it.”
Mitchell this week enters the final regular-season stretch of his college career. Before Saturday’s contest against Washington State, the 24-year-old will be honored along with fellow scholarship senior Rob Edwards. Many, including his father, questioned whether Mitchell would see this day. A two-sport high school star in Texas, Mitchell began at Ohio State but lasted just a season. He planned to transfer to UC-Santa Barbara but that didn’t work out.
In 2016, Mitchell transferred to ASU with 2 1/2 years of eligibility, but a back injury suffered his junior season derailed everything. Even coach Bobby Hurley wasn’t sure whether Mitchell would return. His family insists only Mitchell’s love for basketball pushed him through.
Mitchell comes from a unique family. He has eight brothers and sisters. Six (seven including Mitchell) played sports in college. His dad, Ken Mitchell, pretty much talked his way on to an NFL roster. (Wait until you hear that story.) After his career, Ken Mitchell completed Iron Man competitions and climbed Mount Everest, so it’s not difficult to see from where Mickey Mitchell’s determination stems.
But basketball is just a part of it. When Mitchell’s finished on the hardwood — whenever that may be — he has no intention of stopping. Just like his father, Mickey Mitchell wants to play pro football. Yes, he knows that sounds crazy. But then, look at Mitchell’s journey. Even he admits: “It hasn’t been textbook.”
Mitchell’s hurdles started early in life. He suffered a back injury before high school. During his sophomore year at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas, Mitchell started at quarterback until he hurt his knee late in the season.
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Reported the Dallas Morning News: “Mickey Mitchell, one of the top sophomore basketball prospects in the nation, will miss the remainder of the football season and the entire basketball season after tearing his ACL during a football game last Friday.”
At the time, Mitchell was attracting college interest in both sports. The 6-foot-7, left-handed quarterback had passed for 1,855 yards and 21 touchdowns while rushing for 773 yards and 11 scores. With his brother, senior Mike Mitchell, ranked among the nation’s top outside linebackers, the Mitchell mailbox was stuffed nearly every day.
“I swear there’d be 50 letters in there, sometimes 100,” Ken Mitchell said. “The postman would have to come up to the door. We had just boxes and boxes of them.”
(Something odd: Among all those letters, Ohio State somehow always seemed to be positioned at the top. The Mitchells wondered: How could that be possible? They later discovered the postman was an Ohio State graduate.)
Despite the football attention, basketball was Mickey Mitchell’s first love. At 6 feet 1, he dunked as a sixth-grader, but passing was what made him special. Mitchell could see the court like few his age. This turned him into a YouTube sensation of sorts. In 2011, City League Hoops posted a highlight video proclaiming Mitchell as the nation’s best eighth-grader. The 2-minute video featured several dunks but the most impressive part was Mitchell dishing no-look passes in transition.
Two years later, the grassroots website BallisLife called Mitchell “the NEW White Chocolate,” referencing a nickname given to basketball wizard Jason Williams, who played 12 NBA seasons. The highlight video attracted over 1 million page views. While Mitchell appreciated the attention, he insisted his approach to the game was far less flashy.
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“If you’ve been watching me, I’ve played the same way since probably fifth grade,” he said. “I’ve just always been a team player. Score when I need to, pass when I need to, play defense and at the end of the day — win.”
Ken Mitchell went to UNLV to play basketball and baseball, but in 1970 he decided he wanted to try football.
Coaches initially tried Mitchell at offensive guard, but that didn’t work. Physical by nature, Mitchell, wanting to jumpstart the contact, kept jumping offside. The next season, UNLV moved him to linebacker with a simple instruction: “Just hit anything that breathes and moves.”
Thought Mitchell: “I can do that.”
In 1971, Mitchell was a defensive force, posting a then-school-record 11 quarterback sacks. After the season, he hoped to play in the NFL but did not get drafted. UNLV talked with a couple of teams. No one had interest.
Mitchell didn’t accept this. He called all 26 NFL teams, starting with the Atlanta Falcons because he thought they needed linebacker help. No one returned his call. He tried again, focusing on the Falcons, calling every day, asking for a tryout.
Finally, he got lucky. Instead of a secretary, Tom Braatz, director of player personnel, one day answered the phone.
“Hi, this is Ken Mitchell,” the linebacker said.
“I know who you are,” Braatz answered.
Mitchell told him he wanted a tryout.
“To be honest with you,” Braatz said, “we don’t think you can play a lick of football, but, man, you are persistent. So here’s the deal.”
Braatz offered to fly Mitchell to Atlanta, put him up at the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, feed him, dine him, the works — on one condition.
“You get one shot at this thing,” Braatz said. “And then when we cut you, you have to sign an agreement saying you’ll never call us again.”
Mitchell was thrilled.
“You got it,” he said.
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The tryout went so well, Atlanta invited Mitchell to training camp, where he made the team. From 1972-75, he was part of both the practice squad and active roster. Throughout this stretch, Mitchell played in 28 games. Years later, the Mitchell children did a school project on their father’s football career.
The focus: Why Ken Mitchell deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The joke: Our dad was so bad, everybody he played against ended up in the Hall of Fame.
They even listed names. O.J. Simpson, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris …
“I was so proud,” Ken Mitchell said.
An archives check proves the Mitchell children correct. On Oct. 29, 1974, their father’s photo ran on page A13 of the El Paso (Texas) Herald-Post. The caption:
“WON’T BE STOPPED — Franco Harris drags Atlanta Falcon tackler Ken Mitchell across the goal line for a Pittsburgh touchdown in the fourth quarter of their National Football League game at Pittsburgh last night. The touchdown iced the game.”
Watching Mickey Mitchell on the AAU circuit, then-Ohio State assistant coach Jeff Boals saw one of the nation’s top point forwards. He loved Mitchell’s vision. He loved his flash and confidence.
“Mickey was unique — in a good way,” Boals, today the head coach at Ohio University, said. “He was like the pied piper. People gravitated toward him. Everybody in AAU had a Mickey Mitchell story. He was like an AAU legend.”
A four-star prospect, Mitchell committed to Ohio State on Sept. 11, 2014, a key part of a recruiting class 247 Sports ranked as the nation’s fifth-best. It looked good on paper, but it never materialized on the court. After missing the first month for unspecified eligibility issues, Mitchell played in 23 games, starting seven, averaging two points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists. After his freshman season, he decided to transfer. “I really didn’t feel like they believed in me (becoming) the player I could’ve been,” Mitchell said. Eventually, Ohio State’s entire 2015 class would leave.
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Mitchell returned to Florida, where his family had moved after he graduated high school, and contemplated the next move. An AAU teammate played at UC-Santa Barbara so Mitchell visited the Big West school and committed in the summer of 2016. He shipped all his stuff to California and moved out to the West Coast, excited for a fresh start. The Gauchos were just as thrilled.
“Before small ball was popular, I played a lot of small ball and I thought he was a perfect run-everything-through-him-in-the-high-post forward,” then-UC-Santa Barbara coach Bob Williams said. “We thought he was a potential first-team all-leaguer, maybe an MVP-of-the-league-type guy.”
When Mitchell arrived, however, he learned all his Ohio State credits wouldn’t transfer. He needed to take two courses. Until he completed them, he wouldn’t even be allowed to practice or work out with the team.
“I wasn’t a student. I wasn’t a player. I was just there,” Mitchell said. “I was working out every day on my own at the rec center. I was just kind of in no-man’s land.”
By the time Mitchell passed the courses, he knew he had to move on. He had been staying with teammates, sleeping on couches. His basketball career had stalled. Problem was, he wasn’t sure where he could go. Would another school understand his situation? Or would they just conclude he wasn’t worth the trouble?
Through a friend, he heard ASU might be interested. Mitchell reached out to associate head coach Rashon Burno, who knew Mitchell and his family from time spent on Billy Donovan’s staff at Florida. After talking with Mitchell, Burno went to Hurley and told him: “Listen, this kid is not in the best shape right now — he’s been off for a while — but I’m telling you, he’s your type of player.”
Mitchell became a Sun Devil.
The next three years were hardly rosy. Because of the UC-Santa Barbara mix-up and NCAA transfer rules, Mitchell went nearly 21 months without playing a college basketball game. He was rusty his first season. Then he suffered two herniated discs, an injury that required surgery, and missed most of the 2018-19 season. Ken Mitchell knew his son was in pain; he expected him to retire. Mike Mitchell had gone through a similar ordeal, battling injuries throughout his career at Ohio State and Texas Tech. He called Mickey to offer encouragement, but even he wondered how much his brother could take.
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“I’d call him and he’d be like, ‘Man, I can’t even walk or move around,’” Mike Mitchell said. “I know exactly what that’s like and I’ve had thoughts, too, of, ‘Maybe it’s time to hang it up.’ But Mickey’s such a tough kid.”
After sitting out for more than a year, Mitchell, in his final season, returned Dec. 11 against Prairie View A&M. Since then, he has turned into an unexpected contributor in ASU’s push through the Pac-12. It’s not so much his production — a starter, Mitchell averages just 1.4 points and 2.4 rebounds — but his presence. As Hurley recently said, guys like playing with Mitchell. He’s low maintenance. He moves the ball. He makes the right play.
To Burno, Mitchell’s transfer altered ASU basketball.
“Our practices changed,” he said. “Mickey made people compete. It was his competitive fire. He’s one of those guys — either you’re going to match his intensity or he’s going to overwhelm you. It showed guys the value of practice.”
After his NFL career, Ken Mitchell found other ways to challenge himself. He coached for more than 40 years. He competed in Iron Man triathlons. In 2006, he climbed Mount Everest, reaching 24,000 feet before a powerful storm forced him to turn back. When the family went to pick up Ken Mitchell from the airport, he was so skinny they walked right past him.
Like his father, Mickey Mitchell also wants to challenge himself. After his basketball career, he plans to try pro football. Mitchell explained this after a recent practice, sitting in the film room of ASU’s practice facility. Here’s how the conversation unfolded:
What’s your fall-back option after basketball?
“When I’m done with basketball? I’m going to try and play football.”
You’re kidding.
“No, I swear.”
How are you going to do that?
“I don’t know, but I’m going to try.”
Where would you even start?
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“I’d probably start by gaining 40 pounds of muscle.”
What position?
“Tight end.”
You’re serious.
“I’m serious. Yes.”
Told this a couple of days later, Ken Mitchell laughed. No, he was not aware of his son’s plan, he said. But it makes sense. Mickey Mitchell has overcome obstacles his entire athletic life. After each setback, he has found a way. Like father, like son.
“I think in the back of his mind, he knows I did it that way,” Ken Mitchell said. “He’s kind of a funny kid that way. He’ll tell you something — and then he’ll do it. Mickey’s got no quit in him. I know that.”
(Top photo of Mickey Mitchell against Oregon State: Kevin Abele / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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