FAU football recruit recap: John Mitchell

Part 10 of our weekly series highlighting each of the 19 players that signed with FAU on National Signing Day

Max Jackson

Head football coach Charlie Partridge claps as his team comes off the field after its 33-17 loss to Marshall on Oct 17, 2015. Max Jackson | Staff Photographer

Brendan Feeney, Sports Editor
March 9, 2016

Lawton Chiles High School senior John Mitchell is making Florida Atlantic football history before ever playing in a collegiate game.

When Mitchell finally steps foot on the grass inside of FAU Stadium, it will mark the first time an FAU player was coached by a former FAU player prior to his college career.

Mitchell’s high school coach, Garrett Jahn, quarterbacked the Owls’ inaugural game in 2001.

“It’s pretty cool,” Mitchell said. “Just making history.”

Jahn is taking the Lawton Chiles football program in a positive direction, according to Mitchell.

“He kind of turned it around a little,” Mitchell said, noting the program wasn’t that good before Jahn. “They’re on their way.”

Mitchell helped start Lawton Chiles’ turnaround, giving Jahn a reliable pass-catching threat that recorded the seventh most receiving yards in the entire state of Florida — third most in class 7A — during his senior season. He was also selected to play in the North versus South Florida All-Star Game.

“It’s crazy, I never even thought about doing something like that,” Mitchell said. “When I found out [midseason], it was shocking and it made me want to keep getting more yards every game.”

He continued, “[The All-Star Game] was really fun, I met a lot of really good football players. I was honored to be selected.”

Mitchell hopes to bring that success with him to FAU, which he said immediately felt like home.

“First off, the first thing I noticed is the campus is one of the nicest I’ve been on,” Mitchell said. “Then I noticed how caring and how cool the coaches were, they’re all just really fun people. When you go down there it’s kind of like a family, they coach you more than football.”

On the football field though, Mitchell wants to immediately contribute to new offensive coordinator Travis Trickett’s fast-paced system.

“We are going to a new offensive [with Trickett],” Mitchell said. “I want to give us that extra threat, I have a variety of things to add to the passing game.”

Thanks to his 6-foot-4 frame, Mitchell believes he brings the same style of play that Calvin Johnson had.

“I’m obviously not as good as Calvin, yet. But I will be.”

Brendan Feeney is the sports editor of the University Press. To contact him regarding this or other stories, he can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter.