Although Mitchell decided it would be in his best interest to enter the portal so he could find a new home for his final year of collegiate eligibility, he didn’t want to abandon his current team as it competes for a national championship.
“I've been grinding with these guys for the past five years now. So it's very important to me,” Mitchell said at Thursday’s Peach Bowl media day of finishing out the season with Ohio State. “This is a brotherhood. We put in so much work this past offseason. And I feel like it's important for me to finish where I started.”
Initially, it appeared as though Mitchell wouldn’t be able to play in the Peach Bowl if he was going to preserve his redshirt, which he needs to take this year to have a sixth year of eligibility for 2023. Having played in four games this year, Mitchell would have burned his redshirt if he played in any more games during the regular season.
Thanks to a blanket waiver passed by the NCAA earlier this month allowing players to play in bowl games without impacting their redshirt eligibility, however, Mitchell can play in the Peach Bowl and/or a potential national championship game and retain his extra year of eligibility, which he has thanks to the NCAA giving all players another year of eligibility in 2020.
“It was exciting,” Mitchell said of the NCAA passing the waiver. “I'm glad I'm able to play these playoff games and help my team win.”
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“It's just important when you’re in the facility, all my efforts are toward the goal at hand. Then when you leave the facility, I can focus on that,” Mitchell said. “But like I said, when I’m with the guys, I’m locked in on Ohio State. I’m a Buckeye right now, I’m a Buckeye forever.”
Re: Steele Chambers and Tommy Eichenberg were fixtures in the first-team defense at linebacker
Just sayin': This kind of tells me he knows that both Steele (who already announced) and Eichenberg are returning next season.
