Former Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell is a Rocket by school and a moon shot by career arc.
In an NFL draft green room Thursday night filled with players from time-tested brands such as LSU, Alabama and Ohio State, Mitchell is the lone player among the 13 invitees to hail from a program outside a power conference.
His path there is remarkable, rising from a three-stoplight Florida town with a population of less than 3,000.
In this most transient era of college football, Mitchell’s story stands out as a testament to permanence. He received so little recruiting attention that he courted Toledo by rapid-fire liking the Twitter posts of a staff member, the social media version of a suitor throwing pebbles at a window.
He stuck with his plan to go to college when he didn’t qualify out of high school, stuck with Toledo after initially decommitting and stuck around the MAC when lucrative offers came from higher-profile leagues.
In a pre-draft process spent being asked by teams and media why he never chased bigger opportunities, Mitchell flipped the script with his answers. Why would he leave coach Jason Candle’s program after everyone there all stuck with him?
“Facts,” Mitchell said with a laugh in a phone interview last week. “I feel like Toledo was loyal to me. They gave me that second chance. I feel like I got to develop so much. They made me the person and player I am today.”
As much as Mitchell’s feel-good, small-school story will resonate Thursday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC) when he projects as the first cornerback off the board, it might reverberate even more as the years go on. No player from the Group of 5 or FCS got picked in the draft’s first round last year, and Mitchell is the only one projected this season. (There were four players picked from outside power leagues in 2021 and in 2022.)
This follows a greater trend of talent moving up thanks to the NCAA passing NIL rules and the overhaul of transfer restrictions, both of which began in 2021.
The top football talent has been moving to high-profile schools, per data from ESPN Stats & Info. Since 2015, the proportion of NFL combine invites from power-conference schools grew from 75.2% then to 86.6% this year, with invites from the other FBS leagues dropping from 15.4% to 8.4% over that time. (FCS invites dropped from 8.6% to 4.7%.)
Candle bristles at the notion that Mitchell is the last small-school NFL draft star to go so early. He knows a one-year rental for a big school can’t replicate the reciprocal power of what Toledo poured into Mitchell and Mitchell poured into Toledo.
“His situation is very unique in the sense he had such strong relationships here” said Candle, who has had nine players drafted since 2017 heading into this year. “He really appreciated his development during his time here. To risk that development and growth when you only have seven months to play, is that worth rolling the dice for?”
Instead of a gamble, Mitchell hit the draft jackpot by sticking with the program that stuck with him.
The story of how Quinyon Mitchell ended up at Toledo from tiny Williston, Florida, varies by who is telling it.
In Mitchell’s version, he recruited Toledo by going on the Twitter page of former Rockets staffer Kevin Beard and liking dozens of his posts in hopes of getting noticed.
Former Toledo director of player personnel Ricky Ciccone recalls the kismet of newly hired receivers coach Kerry Dixon needing to remain in Florida after getting hired by the Rockets from the University of Florida because his wife was pregnant. Candle assigned him to recruit Florida in the spring of 2018 so he could stay close in case his wife went into labor. Williston is 22 miles south of Gainesville.
Hank Poteat, Mitchell’s former position coach at Toledo, recalls going into the town barber shop, Country Boy Cutz, where he said a quick prayer with the barber, DC Floyd, about Mitchell’s future. “It’s a small town,” Poteat said with a laugh. “One of those towns where everyone knew each other.”
Williston is remote enough that it helped make Mitchell hard to find. The recruiting services list only a handful of scholarship offers for him, as he said he chose Toledo over places such as FAU and Florida A&M. Mitchell committed to Toledo in June 2018 and decommitted a few months later when interest began to build. He said an offer came from Arizona State, and there’s a listed Illinois offer. Mitchell said Florida flirted but never offered.
But those glitzier schools didn’t matter once he didn’t get qualifying grades out of high school in the spring of 2019. Mitchell sat out the 2019 season while getting qualified academically, working out in Williston and focusing on “being around the right people.”
“It was real hard,” he said. “I’d been playing football my whole life, and now I’m watching from the sidelines and the background.”
While all the other schools faded to the background, Toledo stayed in touch. Poteat recalls shooting Mitchell texts throughout the fall and not getting a response. He also tracked his recruiting and didn’t see any activity.
Finally, Mitchell got back to him. And it was Poteat who delivered the news that Mitchell’s grades cleared and he’d be eligible in January 2020.
“He always checked in on me,” Mitchell said of Poteat, who is now an assistant at Iowa State. “He really gave me that second chance to be where I’m at today.”
And while he spent essentially a redshirt year working out in his hometown, the experience fostered an appreciation for how much he loved the game and dictated his level of dedication upon return. And Toledo believing in him forged an indelible bond, which led him to enroll that December.
“When I went through it, it was kind of crazy,” Mitchell said, “I was wondering why I went through it. Looking back, it’s the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It made me not take the game for granted and mature a lot.”
The thunderclap moment that announced Mitchell as a potential NFL draft prospect came during his junior season in 2022. In a 52-32 blowout of Northern Illinois, he intercepted four passes and returned two of them for touchdowns.
Before then, Mitchell’s career had ascended in somewhat traditional fashion — reserve in 2020, starter in 2021 and an all-league star in 2022, when he finished with a school-record 20 pass breakups. Throw in five interceptions that year and he led the country with 25 passes defended.
Mitchell is 6 feet, 195 pounds, and he ran a blazing 4.33 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. Part of the reason he believed he could stick around Toledo in 2023 and reach his NFL goals was that he had seen them achieved at Toledo.
When he arrived in 2020, Mitchell quickly bonded with safety Tycen Anderson and cornerback Sam Womack. Both ended up becoming fifth-round picks in 2022, with Anderson now playing for Cincinnati and Womack playing 23 games the past two years for San Francisco.
“Those two guys took me under their wings,” he said, “and I saw firsthand their businesslike approach to the game on and off the field. They are two great role models I looked up to.”
They also showed him the available path at Toledo. Another former Toledo corner, Justin Clark, left for Wisconsin after the 2021 season and never found his footing there.
With the four-interception starburst, an All-MAC season and his name emerging as an NFL prospect after 2022, Mitchell had no shortage of options. But he didn’t ponder them long, as staying in the same scheme with the same head coach in Candle, defensive coordinator Vince Kehres, corners coach Corey Parker and strength coach Brad Bichey was appealing. “Just try to stay loyal to those who are loyal to me,” he said.
One of the tenets of Candle’s program is a fitting one: “Character Over Image.” Bichey, Toledo’s director of football strength and conditioning, said part of building that character means Candle frequently has frank and honest conversations with players about where they stand.
Mitchell pointed out that his development curve included him playing special teams, working into a partial starter and then a full starter. As he grew into a star, he appreciated how consistent Candle remained at every step.
“Just how real he is with me and what kind of person he is,” Mitchell said of Candle. “He’s a players’ coach, always there for me and my teammates. I appreciate him for both caring and coaching us hard.”
By sticking around, Mitchell helped his stock continue to soar. This past season, he earned second-team All-American honors, established himself as Toledo’s career leader in pass breakups (46) and solidified his trajectory to be Toledo’s second first-round pick, joining Dan Williams in 1993.
He established himself as potentially the draft’s top corner by looking like the best overall player on the field at the Senior Bowl and then running that 4.33 at the combine. He approached the pre-draft season with the same no-flinch mentality he took at Toledo.
Since the combine, he’s been back in Toledo. Bichey observed that when Mitchell is in the weight room, the intensity of all the players working out increases by his presence. Same when he’s working out with the defensive backs.
“The guys behind him, they don’t want to let him down,” Bichey said. “He’s coaching them up and training with them. There’s a lot to be said about that type of selfless behavior. This place means a lot to him.”
And it means a lot to Mitchell to represent Toledo in the green room Thursday, a proud Rocket on the highest trajectory for a full-circle moment of mutual appreciation.
“I’m so proud, so excited to rep the city,” he said. “This is my second home. If I’m not back in Williston, I’m here. I want to represent Toledo and show all the love they showed me.”
TOKYO — Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts will not play in the two-game Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs because of an illness that has lingered for the past week.
Manager Dave Roberts said Monday that Betts is starting to feel better but has lost nearly 15 pounds and is still trying to get rehydrated and gain strength. Roberts added that the eight-time All-Star might fly back to the United States before the team in an effort to rest and prepare for the domestic opener on March 27.
The Cubs and Dodgers open the Major League Baseball season on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome. A second game is on Wednesday.
“He’s not going to play in these two games,” Roberts said. “When you’re dehydrated, that’s what opens a person up to soft tissue injuries. We’re very mindful of that.”
Roberts said Miguel Rojas will start at shortstop in Betts’ place for the two games at the Tokyo Dome.
Betts started suffering from flu-like symptoms at the team’s spring training home in Arizona the day before the team left for Japan. He still made the long plane trip but hasn’t recovered as quickly as hoped.
Roberts said if the team had known the illness would linger this long, Betts wouldn’t have traveled. Betts tried to go through a workout on Sunday but became tired quickly.
Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop this season after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.
LAS VEGAS — Josh Berry raced to the first Cup Series victory of his career, taking NASCAR’s oldest team to victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Berry, in his first season driving the famed No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, had the first victory for a Ford team through five races this season. William Byron opened the year with a Daytona 500 victory in a Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in a Toyota won the next three races.
Berry, meanwhile, had to run down Daniel Suarez following a restart with 19 laps remaining to take control. Although Harrison Burton won at Daytona last summer for the Wood Brothers, Berry’s victory is the first not at a superspeedway since Ryan Blaney won for the team in 2017 at Pocono.
It was the 101st victory for the organization spanning 20 drivers.
Suarez in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing finished second, followed by Ryan Preece in a Ford for RFK Racing. Byron was fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by Ross Chastain of Trackhouse, Austin Cindric of Team Penske and Alex Bowman of Hendrick.
Joey Logano had late control of the race until Las Vegas native Noah Gragson hit the wall with 25 laps remaining to bring out the ninth caution of the race. Berry was in second when the caution came out and second behind Suarez on the restart.
Berry won in his 53rd Cup race and just his fifth race with the Wood Brothers, the team that signed him when Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered at the end of last season.
The 34-year-old Tennessee driver was a 40-1 underdog to win Sunday’s race and his win put the Wood Brothers back into the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
Bell to the back
Bell came to Las Vegas on a three-race winning streak with an opportunity to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races.
But his chance to extend his streak was stymied when Joe Gibbs Racing had to change the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after Bell qualified 13th and the penalty dropped him to the back of the field for the start of the race.
He never recovered in what was an overall subpar day for the four-driver JGR contingent.
Bell, who complained about the handling of his car most of the race, finished a team-high 12th. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.
Chase Briscoe was 17th and Ty Gibbs, who rolled a sprint car Saturday night at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finished 22nd. Denny Hamlin, winner of more than $200,000 over two nights of playing slots in the Las Vegas casino, couldn’t convert his luck to the track and finished 25th.
Up Next
The Cup Series races next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track that had been in the playoff rotation the last three years but has now been moved to a spring race. Tyler Reddick won last October and Bell won in 2023.
LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell will have to start from the back of the field in his attempt to win a fourth consecutive Cup Series race after NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.
Bell had been set to start 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he is trying to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races. But JGR changed the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after qualifying, resulting in Bell forfeiting his starting spot.
Bell came to Las Vegas coming off victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas in Texas and Phoenix. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972. Among those who have accomplished the feat, seven are in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame and six are Cup Series champions.
Bell’s three straight wins are the Cup Series’ longest streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.
His three wins this year tie his career-high victory tallies set in 2022 and matched in 2024. At Las Vegas, Bell has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. He was the runner-up in Vegas’ past two fall races.