Teradja Mitchell reflects on time with Urban Meyer, who encouraged his transfer to Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Multiple players in Florida’s 2023 transfer class were highly touted recruits coming out of high school. The top one? That’d be former Ohio State linebacker Teradja Mitchell.

Mitchell was one of the best signees in Urban Meyer’s last recruiting class at OSU in 2018. The former five-star prospect was ranked in the top 25 nationally by ESPN, Rivals and Scout.

Mitchell committed to the Buckeyes over Florida State, and Meyer was a big reason why.

“Being recruited by Coach Meyer, it was great, man. He had me sold on Ohio State. I think he’s one of the greatest recruiters ever,” Mitchell told Gators Online.

Mitchell played for Meyer during his final season at Ohio State. He appeared in 10 games as a true freshman and primarily served in a special teams role.

The Buckeyes won their second straight Big Ten title, finishing with double-digit wins (10-1) for the seventh year in a row under Meyer before he stepped down.

“With Coach Meyer, it was genuine. Everything he said was real. He never, never lied to me about anything. He was always 100 percent honest with me about everything and I appreciated that because you don’t get that from a lot of coaches,” Mitchell said.

“So, having that kind of relationship and playing for a coach like that, it was a dream come true. His resume speaks for itself. And me and Urban, we still talk to this day. We have a very close relationship.”

Meyer encourages Mitchell to attend UF

In fact, when Mitchell was looking for a new school after five years at Ohio State, he reached out to Meyer to ask for advice. The former Gators coach encouraged him to transfer to Gainesville.

“I did actually talk to him,” Mitchell said. “He told me Florida would be a great school to attend, so I ended up I’m making that decision and he was happy for me. I told him I was coming, and he was like, ‘Great choice.’”

Mitchell joined the UF program in January and has put himself in position to start as a redshirt senior. Since making the move, he has kept in touch with Meyer and Ohio State strength coach Mickey Marotti, who worked in the same capacity at UF.

“I have talked to Coach Meyer (since transferring),” Mitchell said. “He just warned me about the heat and all these things, him and Coach Mickey Marotti. He was my strength coach and the strength coach here during that time as well. So, they warned me about the heat and then they told me a lot of past stories.”

Those stories will be featured in the new documentary “Swamp Kings”, which debuts Tuesday on Netflix. Mitchell will be tuning in to the four-part series about his former coach.

“Oh yeah, I’m definitely going to watch that,” Mitchell said. “It’s going to be great.”

RELATED: 4 unbelievable stories from the Netflix documentary Swamp Kings

Mitchell played in 43 total games and notched eight starts at Ohio State. He had 45 total tackles, including 4.5 TFLs, as a team captain in 2021 and registered 64 career tackles and 8.5 TFLs.

“I’ve been very pleased with Teradja,” UF coach Billy Napier said. “The physical ability is there, but I think the most important piece here is just the maturity, the leadership, the perspective on things. It’s almost a coach’s perspective. And I think he’s a guy who’s played a lot of football.

“This guy was voted team captain at Ohio State. And you go back to when we made the decision to recruit him and add him to the team, it’s a home run. He’s right in the middle of some really intense competition relative to what is his role, but he’s made our team better.”