The meteoric, improbable and perhaps-never-to-be-duplicated rise of Quinyon Mitchell
-
Pete Thamel, ESPN
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.”
-
Billy Tucker
Not every five-star recruit from the 2024 ESPN 300 was inserted into a starting role as a true freshman last fall, despite what their ranking might suggest. Numerous variables can take precedent over pure talent, and it often takes a year of seasoning or depth-chart movement before elite prospects break out in their second season.
Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Alabama’s Ryan Williams became instant superstars as true freshmen in 2024, and we have a strong list of super sophomores ready to emerge in 2025, following the path of Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, who made this list last year.
Note: These rankings omitted any player who started more than two games last season.
A heralded quarterback recruit in 2024, Sayin has the physical tools, poise and supporting cast in Columbus to be one of the top passers in the country. Yes, we understand he still has to win the job, but we are doubling down on the former five-star recruit. Sayin, who was the No. 2 QB behind DJ Lagway in the 2024 rankings, possesses outstanding arm talent, both in strength and accuracy, and he can move the chains with his legs. He is seasoned and polished, with arguably the best receiving corps in the country. We project he will win the job, opening the season with steady production and developing down the stretch into one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten.
We got a taste of what Marshall brings to the table at the ReliaQuest Bowl. The No. 7 back in the 2024 ESPN 300, he went for 100 yards on 23 carries in the first and only start of his young career. The former Ohio Mr. Football will team up with Alabama transfer Justice Haynes in the Wolverines backfield. Early in preseason camp, it appears the reps will be shared, with Haynes as 1a and Marshall 1b. Marshall is elusive in tight quarters, fast in the open field and powerful on contact with a low center of gravity. He boasted the top verified shuttle (5-10-5) out of high school with 4.1 seconds, which would have been second among running backs at this year’s NFL combine.
While many expected greater impact from Robinson as the No. 1-ranked player in the ESPN 300, Georgia’s defense had three players selected in the first round of the NFL draft. Even this season, Robinson is not projected to start on the outside, but he’ll see plenty of meaningful snaps at nickel and has the skills to take over the perimeter as a lockdown corner at any point. Word from Athens is that the light has come on. Robinson is seeing the game more clearly, allowing him to play faster. Reminder: Robinson possesses a rare blend of length, speed and ball skills. He just happens to be part of a defense where that’s the norm.
Miami fans may have expected more from Trader a season ago as the No. 6 receiver in the ESPN 300, but he was part of a very experienced and productive receiving room. He had only six receptions on the year but did start the Pop-Tarts Bowl and made three catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. That flash will become more consistent this year for the Canes. Trader is 6-foot-1 with smooth, fluid movements and quick hands to pluck the ball on the run for big gainers. He’s a legitimate three-level threat. Trader will team up with tight end Elija Lofton to give Miami two breakout stars on offense for Carson Beck to work with.
Yes, we are hedging our bet with this pick. We expect Matthews or Staley to break out this year as a top SEC receiver. Who that will be depends on who stays healthy, as both have been injury prone. They both have flashed as well. Matthews is as expected. Sudden and elusive after the catch, the No. 5 wide receiver in the ESPN 300 headlined the Vols’ No. 15 class. Staley was inside the top 300 but as the No. 21 receiver. A former state champion in the 200 meters and triple jump, Staley, who redshirted last season, has excellent short-area quickness, explosive movements and elite ball skills. This WR room needs to produce for the Vols to return to the College Football Playoff.
Lopa has one of the best blends of size and range of any back-end defender in the country, and the Ducks have production voids to fill at safety. The No. 13 safety in the 2024 ESPN 300 had limited reps last season, but in the Big Ten championship game against Penn State he was in third-down packages matching up with All-America tight end Tyler Warren. Lopa is 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds but covers ground fast with his long stride. He will come up inside the box and tackles soundly as well. In high school he played both sides of the ball, tallying four interceptions and 16 receiving touchdowns. Lopa will need to develop as the season progresses with his reads and recognition, but we project he will begin to reach his potential this fall.
There may not be a more highly scrutinized job in college sports than the starting quarterback at Notre Dame. Carr, the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, has been well prepared on and off the field and will be ready for the challenge. Carr is still locked in a battle with Kenny Minchey for the starting job coming off a strong spring practice, but we think he will be handed the keys before Week 1. Carr was ranked as the No. 2 pocket passer in the class of 2024 in part because of his great accuracy and acumen. With running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price returning and an experienced offensive line, the Irish might not need Carr to break out with huge production. But he will need to anticipate, get the ball out and push it downfield to his targets. All of this is within his skill set, which is why he’s on this list.
Wisconsin didn’t dip into the portal to help replace Tawee Walker and Chez Mellusi’s production; it felt good about the underclassmen still in the running back room. So do we. Jones arrived in Madison with SEC offers and blue-chip skills. The No. 8 running back in the ESPN 300, Jones ran through his high school competition, and we project he’s ready to do the same in the Big Ten. He’s got an impressive size-to-speed ratio and good change-of-direction skills. Jones isn’t just a classic bruising back that Badgers fans are accustomed to. He can also hit the home run and make tackles miss in the open field. It’s a good RB unit and Jones won’t have to carry the load, which should keep him fresh and healthy as the Badgers look to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 season.
Expectations are sky high in Austin as Texas ranks No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 for the first time in program history. While the roster is loaded, there is turnover at key spots — and offensive tackle is one of them. Baker was a highly touted 2024 prospect (No. 2 OT in the ESPN 300) and was in a battle to start this season. Unfortunately for Texas, Andre Cojoe recently went down with a season-ending injury, which means Baker has more than likely won the starting spot. He has improved his strength this offseason and has worked hard at the technical points of the position. He will be tasked with protecting the most anticipated player in all of college football in Arch Manning.
The 11th-rated pocket passer in the ESPN 300, Brown saw limited action last year and was able to preserve a redshirt season. He is a winner above all his great physical traits. He’s the only quarterback from national power Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California) to win two state championships. He threw for more than 8,000 yards and 100 touchdowns, and now has the challenge of leading Stanford back to its storied levels. While young, he will have one of the better quarterback tutors in Frank Reich and a GM, Andrew Luck, who knows a thing or two about winning in Palo Alto. Brown has pro-style skills that fit well in Reich’s scheme. While experienced sixth-year transfer Ben Gulbranson was just named the starter in a close battle, we still expect Brown behind center early this season.
Boise State lost Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty to the NFL, but the Broncos have another under-the-radar recruit ready to emerge. Gaines was ranked the 45th running back out of high school and originally projected as a linebacker. He combines great downhill power and physicality between the tackles with 10.9 100-meter speed and polished receiving skills. He has gone from 6 feet, 195 pounds to close to 220, and early reports indicate he looks ultra-fast and explosive as he regains his form from an injury that kept him out most of last season and this spring. We got a glimpse of what he can do when he ran for 110 yards and added 44 yards on three receptions in his collegiate debut against Georgia Southern. Boise barely made the cut in the preseason AP Top 25 but Gaines could help them climb the poll.
-
Max Olson
The University of Kansas has received an unprecedented $300 million gift from donor David Booth, believed to be among the largest single gifts in the history of college athletics and the largest in school history.
Kansas plans to allocate $75 million of Booth’s gift toward launching the second phase of its ongoing transformation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and construction of the surrounding Gateway District, Kansas athletic director Travis Goff told ESPN.
Though school officials have not revealed a timetable for construction and completion of Phase 2, the funds will allow Kansas to move forward with renovating the east side of the stadium after the 2025 football season.
The remainder of Booth’s gift will establish an annual additional revenue stream for Kansas athletics, Goff said.
“I’d say it’s transformative and a game changer,” Goff told ESPN. “This gift makes an immediate impact on our top priority in a profound way, and it also provides us with an incredible revenue stream that gives us a chance to really invest in unique ways in the future of Kansas athletics.”
Kansas has already invested $450 million in the first phase of the Gateway District project, which included an overhaul of the southwest, west and north sides of the stadium and a major renovation of the Anderson Family Football Complex. Stadium construction got underway at the end of the 2023 football season and will be completed in time for the Jayhawks’ season opener later this month.
The second phase of the Gateway District project would also bring the development of a new hotel, outdoor event plaza, student housing, retail and restaurant spaces and parking located east of Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The total cost of Phase 2 — finishing the stadium and the mixed-use development — is estimated to be $360 million. Lawrence city commissioners voted Tuesday night to approve a package of financial and tax incentives worth around $94 million to support the project.
Kansas Memorial Stadium was named after Booth, a KU graduate and founder of global investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, in 2018. The Lawrence, Kansas, native previously provided a foundational gift of $50 million in 2017 to kick off renovations of Memorial Stadium, but the university didn’t move forward with renovating its more than 100-year-old stadium until Goff and chancellor Douglas Girod announced plans for the Gateway District in 2022.
“One of life’s greatest privileges is being able to give back to the people and places that gave so much to you,” Booth said in a statement. “KU and Lawrence are a big part of my story, and it means a lot to support the community that invested in me. Philanthropy, like investing, pays dividends over time. Each gift compounds, creating opportunities not just for today, but for years to come. This is really about the future we’re building.”
After playing their six home games in the Kansas City area during the 2024 season, the Jayhawks will open the season with their first home game inside the renovated Kansas Memorial Stadium on Aug. 23 against Fresno State.
NASCAR says it has no plans to limit driver celebrations in the aftermath of Xfinity driver Connor Zilisch‘s fall in Victory Lane and subsequent broken collarbone.
Mike Forde, NASCAR managing director of communications, addressed the incident on the series’ “Hauler Talk” podcast released Wednesday, saying that some Victory Lane precautions would be put into place but that no new policies were being implemented.
Zilisch had recorded his series-leading sixth victory Saturday at Watkins Glen International when he climbed onto the roof of his No. 88 Chevrolet to celebrate. He slipped after apparently getting his left foot caught in the driver’s side window netting and tumbled awkwardly onto the asphalt.
The 19-year-old was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a broken collarbone.
“Very grateful to be able to walk away from that, and I guess I didn’t walk away, but I’m very grateful to be walking today and to just be all right,” Zilisch said during the USA broadcast of the NASCAR Cup race Sunday.
Forde said NASCAR wouldn’t tell drivers not to climb on the door in Victory Lane.
“We have not put in any policies or best practices or anything like that,” Forde said.
At the same time, NASCAR will take some new precautions to avoid the specific circumstances that led to Zilisch’s fall.
“I think that was part of the problem that the window net was flapping on the outside,” Forde said. “I think Connor even said that may have been a problem, and one of our safety guys actually mentioned the same thing. So we may do just sort of a check to make sure that if that’s inside the car, it’s one less thing you can slip on.”
Zilisch underwent surgery Tuesday, and it is unclear whether he will recover in time for the Xfinity Series’ next race at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 22. Zilisch missed a race earlier this season because of a back injury from a crash at Talladega Superspeedway, for which he received a waiver.
Forde did not say whether Zilisch would receive a waiver for the playoffs if he misses the Daytona race.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike