When Mike Mitchell aced “the SAT of athleticism” and became a national champion, the Prestonwood Christian senior linebacker made the case that he’s the country’s top high school football athlete. And not just in the Class of 2013.
On July 6 at The Opening, a gathering of 150 of the nation’s top football recruits at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., Mitchell won the SPARQ rating national championship with a score of 154.47. Competing in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle, vertical jump and kneeling power ball toss — SPARQ’s four football-specific tests of power, linear speed and agility that produce an overall rating of athletic ability — Mitchell showed an ESPNU audience why colleges are lining up to secure his services.
“This is the highest rating we’ve ever seen in the field,” SPARQ performance analyst Eric Hakeman said.
SPARQ, a division of Nike, has rated about 175,000 football players since 2004. That includes close to 17,000 this year alone.
Mitchell’s “ability to be explosive in the upper and lower body are off the charts,” SPARQ performance director Paul Winsper said. “His linear speed is off the charts. And his agility, both to accelerate and decelerate, are off the charts. We’re talking about a phenomenal athlete.”
That doesn’t tell the whole story for the 6-4, 216-pound Mitchell, who regularly works out at least four hours a day, six days a week.
He was offered a basketball scholarship and may try to walk on for that sport wherever he plays football. His father, Ken, an Atlanta Falcons linebacker in the ’70s, thinks his son could be used at running back and tight end in college, in addition to playing linebacker.
“There’s no doubt about what kind of athlete he is, but the way he plays football sets him apart,” Prestonwood coach Chris Cunningham said. “There’s no SPARQ rating for heart, determination and the way he hits. There isn’t anybody better than him at those things.”
All-Pro comparisons
Asked to compare Mitchell’s rating with those of notable athletes, SPARQ offered two examples: Pro Bowl linebackers Brian Orakpo of the Washington Redskins and Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers.
Both were tested before 2008, when SPARQ replaced the bench press with the power ball toss and started to factor in a player’s weight when determining his rating in the vertical jump. But SPARQ has calculated an estimated range for where both players would score using today’s method. Orakpo’s range was 108 to 125; Matthews’ was 61 to 71.
“Mike Mitchell reminds me of a young, smaller Brian Cushing,” said Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell, comparing Mitchell to the Pro Bowl linebacker for the Houston Texans. “He has the same build, the same mannerisms. He has the same work ethic.”
Some in the recruiting industry take SPARQ ratings with a grain of salt. There are different methods of testing and timing athletes, coaches often want to do it on their own, and the SPARQ testing doesn’t have everything they’re looking for.
“The SPARQ rating is a great measurement of a kid’s athletic ability, but it’s not the total evaluation. … You have to see production on the field,” Texas A&M assistant Brian Polian said. “At all those combines, they’re not allowing college coaches. There is no one there to see them. The best evaluation is one made with our own eyes.”
“When a college coach looks at a player, he’s going to look at him on video and he’s going to see what kind of player he is,” said Randy Rodgers, a former recruiting coordinator for Texas and Illinois who now runs the Rodgers Recruiting Report. “If you’re going to recruit Mike Mitchell to play linebacker for you, then every defensive system has a certain position-related skill that you’ve got to see.”
Ohio State out front
Mitchell, who made 11 sacks and 151 tackles for Plano West last season before transferring back to Prestonwood (the school he played for as a sophomore), is ranked fifth in the state and No. 45 in the nation for the Class of 2013 by Rivals.com. He said Ohio State is his front-runner, but Florida and Georgia expressed interest after his showing at The Opening, and he is also considering Florida State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and TCU. He may announce his commitment in a couple of weeks.
Mitchell clinched the SPARQ title by running a 4.39-second 40-yard dash. That’s a time that’s “very, very rare” for linebackers, Farrell said.
There is some skepticism about Mitchell’s 4.39, considering that Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Robert Griffin III had an official 40 time of 4.41 at the NFL combine. And while SPARQ representatives admit their testing is not fully digital — the timing is a thumb-activated start at the athlete’s first movement before a laser finish — Farrell is still impressed.
“I don’t care if the clock’s fast,” Farrell said. “Say that’s a 4.45. Sub 4.5 for a kid that big, at his position and that tall, is amazing.”
