Tribe Land All-State QB Mitchell
Oscar Smith three-star quarterback Shon Mitchell won't have to go far to play his College Football.
The Chesapeake signal caller has given a verbal commitment to Jimmye Laycock and the nearby William & Mary Tribe of the Colonial Athletic Association. Mitchell picked William & Mary over Charlotte and Navy.
“William & Mary is a great school academic-wise and I take pride in my education," Mitchell told VirginiaPreps.com in the spring. "I’ve developed a really good relationship with their OC and quarterbacks coach, Coach [Kevin] Rogers.”
Mitchell, who excels in the classroom with a GPA right around a 4.3, has been the signal caller for Oscar Smith since his freshman year and owns a record of 39-4 as a starter while appearing in two State Championship games. Last season, he threw for 2957 yards and 22 touchdowns while completing 59.7% of his passes (207-of-347) to earn First Team All-State honors.
“I’m real happy for Shon. He’s a great quarterback and a great academic kid, so I think it’s an excellent fit. He’ll have a great time playing football there and get a great education," remarked Rich Morgan, who coached Mitchell the past three seasons at Oscar Smith and is now the Head Coach at Marietta High School in Georgia.
“Their style is real similar to what we did at Smith as far as concepts and the various things they do on offense. I think it’s a seamless transition for him. He’s very well-schooled on the game, and understands the concepts and defenses, which is why I anticipate him playing early and being able to make an impact.”
Some schools at the next level passed on Mitchell due to his size of being 5-foot-11, 180 pounds. Down the road, that could turn out to be a mistake for others, believes his former coach.
“There’s no question that a lot of people missed on him, but that’s fine. Kevin Rogers is a great quarterbacks coach," Morgan added. "I’m good friends with Kevin and know he’s going to take care of him. Coach Laycock has been there forever. I’m sure he’ll play early and be a big success.”
In his career with the Tigers, Mitchell has thrown for for 8109 yards with a remarkable 94-28 touchdown-to-interception ratio. That puts him in hot pursuit of some Virginia High School passing records.
Entering his senior season, Mitchell sits 2617 yards away from breaking the VHSL record of 10,725 passing yards held by Oscar Smith alum Phillip Sims, who graduated in 2010. He’s also 25 touchdown passes away from tying Sims’ career state mark of 119.
“It’s definitely in my mind, but I don’t play the game of football to break records. I wouldn’t say it’s a goal. It’s more of an aspiration," Mitchell stated.
“When you’re looking at me, you’ve got a guy who can put his team on his back, be a leader, guys can come to when it comes to on and off the field, and I like to win. I hate losing more than I like winning.”
Given his family's history, Mitchell's ascension to being one of the top triggermen in Virginia should be no surprise. His father played at the University of Nebraska Omaha. One of his uncles played basketball at Cincinnati, then transferred to Nebraska-Lincoln. Also, his cousins were highly regarded basketball players in the state of Nebraska.
“We’re definitely a sports family,” Mitchell said. “Actually, my first love was baseball, believe it or not. But when I was introduced to football, I fell in love with it. I stopped playing baseball once I got to High School so I could focus on perfecting my football craft.”
After falling just short in a triple-overtime thriller against Westfield for the 6A State Championship last December, the Tigers are plenty motivated to get back to that point and capture the title. They enter the 2016 campaign with a new Head Coach in Bill Dee, who won four state titles at Phoebus High and was hired in April after spending five seasons as an assistant at Old Dominion (see more on that here).
Oscar Smith opens the season at home on August 26 against perennial powerhouse DeMatha (MD). Mitchell has high hopes as well as some areas of his game he'd like to improve before beginning the college journey.
“I definitely want to start throwing my guys open and just doing the little things as far as my mechanics," the QB noted. "Making sure my back foot is underneath me. I’ll be running the ball a little bit more this year, so adding a new level to my game and perfecting that as well.”
Matthew Hatfield has covered football and basketball since 2004 for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a staff writer for Tar Heel Illustrated. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.