On Monday evening during the coaches show on FOX Sports 640AM, Willie Taggart announced that redshirt senior wide receiver John Mitchell will miss the 2020 season due to a knee injury.

“It is unfortunate, one of our leaders on our football team, John Mitchell, had a knee injury, so he won’t be playing,” Taggart said during his radio show. “We hate that because he has been working really hard.”

In August it was announced that Mitchell was a nominee for the William V. Campbell Trophy, an award given to the collegiate football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and football performance. 

Mitchell was expected to be one of two seniors returning at wide receiver, along with Willie Wright.  

“If there is anybody that can get through this, and be highly successful, it’s going to be John Mitchell,” Taggart said. 

Mitchell played in all 14 games last season, but before last season he had only played a total of 19 games. Mitchell missed the 2017 season due to a back injury. 

In his first 19 games, Mitchell only had a total of 12 receptions, 66 receiving yards, and one touchdown. 

Last season was a breakout year for Mitchell, as he helped lead the offense to another Boca Raton Bowl victory and a Conference USA championship. His biggest game last season came on Sept. 14 against Ball State University. He recorded eight catches for 124 yards and three touchdowns. 

In 2019, Mitchell recorded a total of 38 catches, 488 receiving yards, and five touchdowns. Mitchell and Deangelo Antoine led all FAU wide receivers in receiving touchdowns last season with five each. 

Wright is expected to return to the team this season and he is looking for a year more like 2016 when he recorded over 650 yards. Last season he had 20 receptions for 186 yards and two touchdowns. 

Junior Brandon Robinson is expected to play in his second season as an FAU wide receiver. Last season he only played eight games and recorded 122 yards for one touchdown. 

TJ Chase is a transfer senior from Clemson and is expected to make a big impact for FAU this season. Chase had 18 receptions for 136 yards and three touchdowns in his first two collegiate seasons. Last season he had seven catches for 70 yards. 

Aaron Young, a senior transfer from Duke, is expected to play an even bigger role. Young had 34 catches for 482 yards and four touchdowns in his first three seasons. Last season, Young had 29 catches for 367 yards and three touchdowns. In his game last season against Middle Tennessee State University, Young had six receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns. 

FAU is set to start its season in Statesboro against Georgia Southern on Sept. 19. as kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2. 

Bryce Totz is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @brycetotz.