What Texas is getting in AD Mitchell according to Georgia players
NASHVILLE — When Texas landed Georgia wide receiver transfer AD Mitchell, the Longhorns added a difference-maker who recorded clutch performances on the sport’s biggest stages. Mitchell, originally from Houston but who committed to the Dawgs from a Nashville area high school, caught touchdown passes in each of UGA’s four College Football Playoff games during their run of back-to-back national championships.
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Mitchell has already become one of the top receiving threats for Quinn Ewers despite being on campus for fewer than six months. His catch radius and hands have helped him excel at the boundary wideout position, something that came as no surprise to his former Bulldog teammates.
“AD, he was one of the twitchiest dudes I’ve ever seen,” UGA All-American tight end Brock Bowers said on Tuesday. “He could take one step then be heading the opposite direction at full speed. He’s just an impressive player. I’m just hoping for the best for him at Texas.”
Mitchell is part of a wide receiver corps that includes Xavier Worthy, Jordan Whittington, Isaiah Neyor, Casey Cain, Johntay Cook, and DeAndre Moore. That’s a group with arguably as much talent as any other in the country, and one which will be difficult for opponents to defend.
One of the players who was charged with defending Mitchell on a near-daily basis provided a description of the 6-foot-4, 196-pounder that made it sound like the transfer could be the best of the bunch.
“AD is a great player,” said Bulldog defensive back Kamari Lassiter. “I had the luxury of guarding him day in and day out. We went to battle. We battled for two years. He’s a really good player. Really shifty. Really dynamic. Really good catch radius. Overall, just a really good player.”
[SEC commissioner Greg Sankey talks more Texas law than Texas Longhorns at Media Days]
Mitchell only had nine catches for 134 yards and three scores all last season due to nagging injuries. When he was on the field, he gave his teammates and opponents fits. He’ll look to do that again in 2023, this time with the Longhorns.
A coach talks about the Horns!
With Greg Sankey focusing on the subject of name, image, and likeness, there wasn’t a ton of time for him to talk about Texas and Oklahoma joining the league to bolster the “super conference” in 2024.
One coach, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, was asked Tuesday about Texas and Oklahoma. Lea’s Commodores will host the Horns in 2024. Even with the recent development of Lea signing an extension with Vandy, he had an opportunity to discuss the upcoming additions to the Southeastern Conference.
“I’m excited about the way the league is expanding,” Lea said. “I think obviously to add Texas and Oklahoma is a statement, and as a competitor, no matter where you are, if you’re a real competitor, you’re looking to measure yourself against the very best. That’s what our league allows us to do.”
A few other players from around the league fielded questions about the Red River Shootout participants over the first few days, including a couple of Aggie players. Most of the current student-athletes present in Nashville, Aggies included, have aspirations to be in the NFL by the time the 2024 season rolls around, so they didn’t have anything juicy to relay about the addition of the Longhorns.
So Lea’s statement along with a few brief mentions by Sankey was all the real oxygen Texas and Oklahoma took up over the first two days of the four-day event. Considering the Longhorns and Sooners are a season away from joining, that should come as no surprise.
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Notes on hand signals, 2024 SEC Media Days in Dallas, SEC curiosity
+ A staple at recent Big 12 Media Days, a question about whether or not Horns Down would be a penalty, made it to the SEC edition in Nashville. John McDaid, the SEC coordinator of officials, was asked about the manual diss.
“There’s a difference between a player giving a signal directly in face of an opponent, as opposed to doing it with teammates celebrating after a touchdown or on the sideline,” McDaid said. “To net all that out, every single occurrence is not an act of unsportsmanlike conduct.”
+ One of the things Inside Texas observed during a two-day stint in Nashville was how, with good reason, most of the media members covering the SEC (specifically those on radio row) were largely unfamiliar with the Longhorn football program. Those living in the Nashville, Birmingham, or Atlanta area may hear IT on the radio airwaves soon enough whenever there’s reason for interest in Longhorn sports from those markets. IT offered to be the go-to source for those stations and they gladly accepted because they hadn’t found the need to build those connections quite yet. They want to know what’s going on in Steve Sarkisian‘s program, but like Sarkisian’s program they are all focused on 2023.
Inside Texas would like to thank Michael Bratton with That SEC Podcast for helping introduce IT in earnest to fans within the Southeast.
+ If attention to Texas and Oklahoma joining the league wasn’t present in 2023, it for sure will be in 2024 when SEC Media Days is set to take place at the Omni Hotel in downtown Dallas. Sankey said “the SEC will light up the Dallas skyline with the colors of the Southeastern Conference.”
That statement may have been lost on a number of media members who aren’t familiar with the Omni. It isn’t just going to be yellow and blue adorning the well-known hotel that sits at the foot of the Dallas skyline. There will be a legitimate SEC logo all over the building thanks to all the lights that adorn it. Reunion Tower will likely do something similar.
The SEC will be planting a flag in Dallas, not far from the Big 12’s offices in Irving or where it hosts its football championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. There’s good reason for the league to head to DFW considering Texas and Oklahoma are joining the conference, plus the relative proximity of Arkansas and Texas A&M to the Metroplex. Whether it’s a part of a rotation with other large cities within the SEC footprint remains to be seen.
In about a year, SEC institutions Texas and Oklahoma will be the talk of a town the SEC wants to claim as its own.
IT will happily show everyone around.
