Miguel Mitchell settling in at safety, where he will be ‘potent’ for UF

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After making his first career start last year, Florida sophomore defensive back Miguel Mitchell is repping as a full-time starter this spring. However, he’s now playing a different position than the one he started at against South Carolina.

That was the STAR spot, where Mitchell received the nod in place of Tre’Vez Johnson, who started nine of the final 10 games in the regular season before missing the Las Vegas Bowl and transferring to Missouri. Mitchell isn’t taking over for him, however, at nickel.

Jaydon Hill has made the move from cornerback to STAR, where he will compete with Jaddarius Perkins to replace Johnson in 2023. Mitchell, meanwhile, is working with the starting defense as a safety.

“Safety is his position,” Florida secondary coach Corey Raymond said of Mitchell. “STAR is more of a quicker, faster big guy. But he’s so fast and big, he can do all that. But he’ll be potent where he’s at, at safety.”

The 6-foot-1, 222-pound Mitchell also played some safety last season and was one of only five true freshmen to appear in all 13 games. He finished with 15 tackles and a forced fumble.

“That heavy STAR role is pretty physical,” Mitchell said. “It’s 12-personnel kind of deal, so just taking that physicality and taking it back to safety would be pretty good for me.

“I like to play man. I like to play man a lot. So, I like to blitz the quarterback. I like pressure. I don’t like just sitting back. I’m a big go getter.”

The Gators lost their starting safeties in Trey Dean III and Rashad Torrence II, both of whom competed in the NFL Scouting Combine and will be draft picks next month. Mitchell has been repping with Kamari Wilson as the first-team safeties in spring camp.

Mitchell and Wilson were part of Florida’s 2022 recruiting class and bonded as freshmen. Wilson also played in all 13 games and made two starts at safety.

“We got a good relationship off the field. I’m with him pretty much all the time. You can say we’re like always buddy buddy all the time,” Mitchell said of Wilson.

“We try to play like left and right. We both pretty much learned defense pretty much well. So, we just try to communicate and stay on the same page all the time.”

Communication has been key for Mitchell, who didn’t enroll early last year like Wilson. He reported to campus after spring ball and cross-trained at safety and STAR, so his learning curve was steep.

“Especially freshmen, you are coming in and you don’t really know a lot,” Mitchell said. “I got here in May, so I haven’t even been here a whole year. But I feel like it’s been a journey, for sure. I made a lot of progress from when I first got here in May to now.

“I feel good about the playbook. I’ve been making that communication. I feel like I’ve done pretty good so far this spring. … That’s like our main job really, since we are like the quarterback of the defense. That’s one of the big focuses of spring is communication, just getting everyone lined up on defense.”

Mitchell said being a better communicator is one of his biggest goals in 2023, along with stepping “out of that freshman role” and being a leader on defense. He added that tackling is another area of his game he wants to improve, and his work in the weight room should help.

Mitchell is one of six players on the team who can clean 335 pounds, according to UF director of football strength and conditioning Mark Hocke.

“He’s sharp. Big guy that can run, physical,” Raymond said of Mitchell. “He reminds me of some guys that play on Sundays. He’s got a chance to be really good.”