SOUTH BEND — This isn’t the first time wide receiver Kris Mitchell of Notre Dame football has linked up with a talented transfer quarterback.
Six years before joining forces with former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard, Mitchell welcomed a skinny junior named Carson Beck to Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Fla. Then committed to Alabama, Beck helped the lowly Mustangs go from 2-8 to 11-4 and the first Florida state championship in any major sport in school history.
Knocking off unbeaten Miami Columbus 37-35 in the 2018 Class 8A title game in Orlando, the “Miracle Mustangs” rode 329 passing yards and five touchdowns from Beck. Seven of his 25 completions went to Mitchell, who totaled 118 receiving yards in his high school finale.
Now entering his second year as the starting quarterback for top-ranked Georgia, Beck is a first-team preseason All-American and a Heisman Trophy frontrunner. One of his primary rivals for those national honors this year could be Leonard, who at 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds is the same listed height as Beck and just four pounds lighter.
“It’s going to be crazy,” said Mitchell, a graduate transfer from Miami’s Florida International. “There are similarities as far as leadership and how they take on the role of being a quarterback and how they feel like generals of the offense. I love that about Riley, and I (saw) that in Carson as well back in high school.”
Avoiding scandal:How Notre Dame football plans to learn from gambling scandal that shut down men’s swimming
Despite being the No. 3 receiving option behind Demario Douglas, now with the NFL’s New England Patriots after starring at Liberty University, Mitchell caught 11 touchdown passes as a prep senior.
Beck threw for 3,546 yards and 39 scores in 2018 after transferring in from the smaller, private Providence School of Jacksonville.
In parts of four seasons at FIU, Mitchell totaled just 1,663 receiving yards and finished with the same number of touchdowns as he managed in his one year with Beck. The two stay in touch, Mitchell said, and congratulate each other on social media “when I see him doing something good or he sees me doing something good.”
Beck went 13-1 and passed for nearly 4,000 yards and 24 touchdowns last season after following back-to-back national champion Stetson Bennett. Leonard’s passing totals in parts of three seasons at Duke were 4,450 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
“To have Riley now, it does remind me of having an alpha male quarterback,” Mitchell said. “I haven’t really had that in my college years. So having Riley is nice to have and I’m just very grateful to have another quarterback like that.”
Mitchell sees crossover in the Southern quarterbacks’ laidback personalities as well.
“They’re definitely homeboys,” Mitchell said, “people I can just hang out with day to day, have fun with, not talk about football with, just have conversations about life. Getting to know each other more and just laugh and just play the game or be competitive. That’s what I’d say.”