Bruins’ Mitchell Running a Quick Out to the NFL

A week after leaving vapor trails through Wisconsin’s defense, UCLA receiver Freddie Mitchell announced his intention Friday to bolt to the NFL a year early.

“I always felt like I could contend in the league and everything, but just now, after having a great game against one of the premier cornerbacks in the nation, it’s like, ‘Wow, you are the real deal,’ ” said Mitchell, whose nine-catch performance in the Sun Bowl upstaged Wisconsin cornerback Jamar Fletcher, winner of the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back.

“That sort of put the icing on the cake,” Mitchell said.

In giving up his senior season, Mitchell also hopes to outrun a rich history of receivers who were stars at UCLA but, for one reason or another, never made a splash in the NFL--players such as Mike Sherrard, Karl Dorrell, Mike Farr and Sean LaChapelle. J.J. Stokes has been a disappointment in San Francisco, especially for a first-round pick. And the jury is still out on Danny Farmer, although his slower-than-advertised performance at the NFL combine is part of the reason his draft stock dropped last spring and he wasn’t selected until the fourth round.

Mitchell is banking on things going smoother for him. Undergraduates who want to test the NFL waters are allowed to petition the league to find out whether they’re projected to go in the early, middle or late rounds of the draft. Mitchell said a letter from the league advised him he would probably be a first- or second-round pick.

“I’m not the receiver with sand between his toes,” he said. “A lot of people forget that I’m from Florida, and I’m a hard-nosed athlete. A lot of people say that at UCLA we get the beach boys, guys with sand between their toes, stuff like that. But that’s just a myth. Everybody thinks that because we’re close to the beach we’re soft boys with surfboards. I think I cleared that up.”

Mitchell was anything but soft during his UCLA career. He overcame a gruesome leg injury as a freshman--he broke a femur, the big bone in the upper leg, while returning a kickoff against Houston in 1998--to become the team’s best player and a finalist for this season’s Fred Biletnikoff Award, presented to college football’s top receiver.

In his three-year UCLA career, Mitchell caught 119 passes for 2,135 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also completed five of six passes for 189 yards and four touchdowns.

At 6 feet, 188 pounds, Mitchell has only average size for NFL receivers, but he says he runs the 40-yard dash in roughly 4.4 seconds and has excellent hands.

“The thing that jumps out at you when you watch his film is his toughness,” said a scouting director for an AFC team who asked not to be identified. Asked in which round Mitchell might be selected, the scout said, “He isn’t a definite first-rounder by any means.”

Ron Caragher, who coaches UCLA receivers, said the most impressive thing about Mitchell is his desire, his willingness to do anything necessary to catch a ball. Caragher and several other college coaches first caught a glimpse of him at a football jamboree, where high school players show off their skills to recruiters in a series of scrimmages.

Mitchell, then a junior at Kathleen High in Lakeland, Fla., went above and beyond to catch a ball that was clearly out of bounds. He dived for the errant throw and wound up sprawled in a long-jump pit. But he caught the ball.

“He came up holding the ball over his head,” Caragher said. “He had to let everyone know he made the catch. . . . He goes after every football thrown in his direction with a vengeance.”

Mitchell also has a flair for the dramatic. Just before he cruised across the goal line on a 64-yard touchdown reception in the Sun Bowl, he turned and gave a you-can’t-catch-me wave to Fletcher. That cost the Bruins a 15-yard penalty for taunting. Mitchell drew another personal-foul penalty for pushing Fletcher.

Even though Wisconsin won, 21-20, Mitchell was named the game’s most valuable player.

“He’s a great big-play player,” UCLA Coach Bob Toledo said. “He’s one of the guys you want to count on when it’s time to win a football game. He makes plays every day that are phenomenal. He’ll dive in the long-jump pit, he’ll go up in the stands. He’ll do whatever it takes to catch the ball.”

One of the most difficult things for many receivers making the transition from college to the pros is adjusting to bump-and-run coverage, getting off the line of scrimmage. Toledo said Mitchell is a step ahead in that department.

“You’ve got to have quickness--and he’s got that--and you’ve got to be tough,” Toledo said. “I’ll tell you what: He’s tough. If you let a DB grab you, you’re in trouble. [Mitchell] will fight you, he’ll slap you in the head, he’ll fight you to get off the ball. You’ve got to be a physical receiver to get off the ball, and he’s a physical receiver.”

If only breaking the bond with his college team were so easy.

“I was pretty emotional about leaving here,” Mitchell said. “UCLA has really treated me well.”

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THE NUMBERS

Freddie Mitchell led UCLA in every major receiving category in 2000:

Receptions 77

Yards 1,494

Long 80

Touchdowns 9

Avg. yards per catch 19.4

Avg. yards per game 124.5

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IN QUOTES

“He’s a great big-play player. He’s one of the guys you want to count on when it’s time to win a football game.”

BOB TOLEDO, UCLA Coach