Meet Mr. Football
Linebacker Kevin Mitchell is a
force for the Ducks, but it took a
tragic offseason event to
change his perspective on life
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
This is a story about a guy who
loves football.
He loves football so much, this
guy, that there was a time when his
life was only football. He let other
things like family, school and life slip
away through his linebacker gloves.
This guy was — still is — a good
player. Fierce. Competitive. He’ll
take your head off if you look at him
funny. He’ll put you on the ground
and bounce up, point to the sky. He
loves the rush.
He’s the guy who said before the
season started that he “couldn’t wait
to hit somebody.”
But during the offseason, this
guy was hit hard himself. He was
hit harder than any fullback could
ever hit him. And bouncing back
from that hit has been the most
challenging, and most rewarding,
play of his life.
This is the story of Kevin Mitchell,
the toughest guy on the football field.
The linebacker who, last March,
gained some perspective on what it
all means — this football, this thing
called life.
Kevin Mitchell’s grandfather used
to come to all of Mitchell’s games.
Whether it was at Mater Dei High
School — the national powerhouse
from Los Angeles — or Oregon,
Gary Granville was usually there.
Even when he started having
heart trouble last fall, Granville
saddled up in a wheelchair and
rolled himself to the Rose Bowl to
see Mitchell’s Ducks play the UCLA
Bruins. Granville always wanted
Mitchell to play football, and he ul
timately wanted him to play at
UCLA, where Granville once
Adam Amato Emerald
Linebacker Kevin Mitchell has won all but five games in his seven years of football.
"When his grandpa
died it made him...
think about what's
important
in his life "
Jason Fife
Oregon quarterback
taught and many other family
members graduated.
“The first time I played in the
Rose Bowl, he wasn’t going to miss,”
Mitchell says. “I wanted to cry right
there. He said, ‘I wouldn’t miss this
for the world.’”
Ml
Granville wasn’t just watching his
grandson at the Rose Bowl that day,
he was watching his investment.
When Kevin’s parents couldn’t afford
to send him to the private, catholic
Mater Dei, Granville paid the tuition
because he knew Mitchell had a pas
sion and a talent for football.
But his grandfather was much
more than an open wallet to Mitchell.
“It’s the little things he did which
meant more to me than him paying
for high school,” Mitchell says. “The
little things like letting me drive
when I was 13. Or on Christmas
morning, Mom would get up and
make eggs and orange juice, right?
Turn to Mitchell, page 15
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