Final Season: Kevin Mitchell
by Cory Howard
Brian Schapper, BODOGSPORTS.COM
football environment and figure out the
mentality that was needed to play at this
level so that when I did play the next
year I was prepared for it.”
Over the last 4 years no one has
contributed more to the Oregon football
team than Kevin Mitchell. His numbers
speak for themselves. Mitch has started
35 games over the course of his career and
he has recorded 341 total tackles which
recently moved him into 6th all-time on
the Oregon career tackling lists. He only
needs 13 more stops this season to pass
Chris Cosgrove for number five all-time.
If the Ducks make it to a bowl game
Mitchell could have a shot at knocking
off number four all-time, Darrel Mehl, who
had 373 career stops. Whether he ends up
at number five or four doesn’t really matter
that much. Either way Mitchell’s career
numbers make him one of the best Oregon
defenders of all-time. The Oregon football
program has been lucky to have a guy like
Kevin Mitchell over the last four years. He
is a shining example of what it means to be
a successful student athlete. The following
is his response to some of the questions
that I had for him.
Mr. Consistency
On my way into town each day
I can’t help but to notice the large Oregon
football billboard in the corner of my
eye. The billboard features Oregon’s
senior linebacker Kevin Mitchell amongst
a bunch of throw back football players. In
big letters the billboard reads “Old School”.
The term “Old School” fits Mitchell per-
fectly. He plays the game the way the game
should be played. He keeps his mouth
shut and lets his actions on the field speak
for themselves. Those who are close to
Mitchell know that he is a leader by
example and that’s why they respect him
as much as they do. His position coach
Don Pellum had this to say about Mitch:
“Heart — a 5’ 11”, 215-pound heart that
just keeps beating, a big frickin’ heart
muscle, just going boom, boom, that’s
what he is. He’s the most instinctive player
that I’ve ever coached. Instincts means
being able to see things develop, the ability
to look at a formation and see all the little
keys like a heavy hand, a light hand, the
eyes of the running back and to meet the
play at the line of scrimmage. He’s able
to see heavy or light, the fullback’s eyes
over there and anticipate the play and be
right about 95% of the time. That’s pretty
impressive! He’s the best I’ve ever coached
at doing that. He is also one of the best
I’ve had who studies and just loves foot-
ball. All guys like football and love it to
some degree, some more than others, but
he ranks up there with probably the best
guy I ever coached, Paul Jensen, at studying
and knowing what was going on, he was
just frickin’ nails. Sirmon was that way too.
“Old School” is appropriate when talking
about him. He’s a tremendous competitor.
Just a wonderful, wonderful person, very
sincere. Everything is important to him
and he’s not a rah-rah guy. He’s one of the
few that I’ve had who doesn’t really care
about being the leader. He doesn’t want
the spotlight on him; he just wants to do
his job. In this day and age it’s unusual.
Most kids want the spotlight; they want to
be the guy. He’ll come in and watch film
when no one else is around and be embar-
rassed to say it because he doesn’t want
the other guys to feel bad because they
didn’t. That’s very unusual. He doesn’t
want the attention or care about being
the captain. He just wants to play football
and get out there and have fun. It’s like
the little kids in Pop Warner who just
want to go out and play, that’s him. So,
I’m going to miss him. Kind of like Jensen
and Sirmon he’s going to leave the other
guys with some things. How he handles
himself, how he prepared himself, his
approach to the game. He prepares
for every game like it’s the national
championship. He will leave as a great
example for the younger guys. It used
to be, that’s how Sirmon did it. Now it’ll
be, ‘that’s how Mitch did it.’”
Background
Like many of the Oregon football
players Kevin is a product of the southern
California area. He was born and raised in
Orange, California which is basically an
extension of the L.A. area. Kevin said that
he knew he wanted to be a football player
at the age of nine. Growing up he also
played soccer, basketball and baseball.
6 NOVEMBER 13, 2003
DucksIllustrated
DI: Describe how you felt when you first
ran out of the tunnel at Autzen?
KM: I was scared, I was very nervous my
first game.
DI: Describe your first tackle as a Duck?
KM: We were in our goal line defense; it
was a short yardage situation. They ran
M ORE A BOut
KEVIN
“Mitch” has set an example during his four years, which many young players should follow.
By the time he reached high school Kevin
had narrowed it down to football and
baseball. Mitchell chose to attend football
super powerhouse Mater Dei for his high
school years. “My older brother went to
the local high school, but I didn’t really
want to go there, I kind of did but I kind
of didn’t. I wanted to see if I could play
at Mater Dei. I took a chance and it
worked out perfectly.” Kevin said their
academics were pretty tough, but it really
prepared him for when he got to college.
While at Mater Dei Kevin shined on the
football field as a stud fullback and line-
backer. He accumulated 211 tackles,
18 quarterback sacks and 6 interceptions,
2 of which he took to the house. His
talents did not go unnoticed on a team
that was full of talent and finished the year
ranked second in the United States. I asked
him if he could pick out one game that
was really memorable for him and he said
“I played in front of 20,000 plus people in
6 games in the L.A. Coliseum and Anaheim
Coliseum, we played De La Salle and Long
Beach Poly, I only lost 2 games in high
school.” Kevin was named to the all-CIF
Division I football team three times. In
addition, he earned first-team all-Orange
county acclaims and 2nd team all-state
awards. Mitchell was good enough to be
recruited by basically everyone despite
being somewhat undersized for an inside
linebacker. Ultimately, he chose Oregon
over Arizona State because he felt more
at home in Eugene. “I just felt really
comfortable at Oregon, I liked the guys
and I knew some of them from back home
so that was nice.” In the summer of 1999
Kevin packed his bags and headed for
Eugene to become the newest member of
the University of Oregon football team.
I asked Kevin if he expected to play his
freshman year and he said “NO”. “The best
advice that I got was to come in, keep your
mouth closed and your eyes and ears open
and you’ll learn a lot and I did. I learned
a lot from Peter Sirmon my redshirt year.
I think that redshirting allowed me to
learn from him. If I had a question he
could always answer it.” Mitchell believes
that using his redshirt year was very
beneficial. “I was difficult to sit out, but
it allowed me to get used to the college
Favorite Pro Athlete:
Any linebacker
Favorite Food:
Fetticine Alfredo
Favorite Movie: The Outsiders
Favorite TV Show:
Too many to list
Favorite Music: Metalica
Dream Play: 4th & goal at the
one... I jump over the pile &
meet the running back head
on to win the game.
Players I miss the most from
last year: Dave Moretti &
Garret Graham
Career after Football:
Teacher or Law Enforcement
Most Influential Person: Father
If I was stranded on an island,
I’d like to be with... : My wife
Teams I Enjoy Beating the
Most: OSU & Washington
Funniest Guys on the Team:
Dave Martin & Brent Haberly
Team Not on the Schedule
I’d Like to Play: Virginia Tech,
Nebraska or any Florida team.
On my wall I have a poster of:
Nothing, I’m married.
Hobbies: Wakeboarding