Josh Heupel updates Juwan Mitchell status ahead of Tennessee-Florida

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel on Thursday updated the status of linebacker Juwan Mitchell, who has returned to some activities in practice. His status, however, remains uncertain — at least, publicly — ahead of Tennessee’s upcoming contest with Florida.

Heupel has dealt with a number of Tennessee injuries in the past couple weeks, Mitchell presumably being one. Though it’s unclear exactly what’s going on with Mitchell, who was held out of Tennessee’s 56-0 win over Tennessee Tech for undisclosed reasons.

In his first stat-sheet appearance of the season, Mitchell had seven tackles — one of them solo — and one defended pass in a 41-24 loss Sept. 11 against Pittsburgh.

“He’s been able to be out with us on the grass a little bit this week,” Heupel said of Mitchell. “We’ll see where he’s at when we get through tomorrow, and then we’ll determine where he’s going to be.”

Granted, Tennessee was fine without Mitchell last week, it might be a different story this coming week. Tennessee Tech’s offense is nothing special, but the Volunteers’ challenge will be far greater against Florida.

Mitchell joined Tennessee this summer, following two seasons at Texas. He played in 21 games, starting 13 and had 101 tackles on his career. His best season came last season, his junior year, when he started eight games and led the team with 62 tackles (32 solo tackles) and ranked 15th in the Big 12. Mitchell also added a quarterback hurry, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery to his the campaign but later opted to enter the portal.

Out of high school, Mitchell joined Butler Community College in Kansas, where he was named an all-conference linebacker and was given a three-star rating by most recruiting websites, placing him firmly in the top-ten of JUCO linebacker recruits.

After two years in Austin, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker entered the transfer portal, in part due to academic issues, according to reports.

Mitchell eventually committed to the University of Tennessee via social media last May, just about two months after declaring his intention to enter the portal.

Mitchell clarified that he picked Tennessee for a myriad of reasons, including the coaching staff, and commented on the transition — one that he labeled as smooth.

“Well I really picked Tennessee because of the coaching staff, the conference, a lot went into it, but the transition was smooth,” Mitchell said. “I love the versatility and how offenses are run. I’ve been watching some film. I pretty much look at the SEC like the Big 12 and the Big Ten combined.”

Despite being a senior, Mitchell still has two years of eligibility including his COVID-19 exempt year.