Offers pour in for Mitchell, Georgias top QB
LaGrange coach Steve Pardue has the most concise response prepared when asked
who's recruiting his star quarterback.
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"Who isn't?" Pardue counters with a laugh before reeling off
seemingly minutes of top Division I programs in pursuit of Blake Mitchell.
The line for Mitchell doesn't figure to get any shorter entering the summer
camp scene. Heralded as the top quarterback in Georgia, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound
all-state selection has already garnered an impressive group of scholarship
offers.
Among the schools to make it official are: Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, LSU,
Maryland, Auburn, Kentucky, USC, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, East
Carolina and Middle Tennessee.
Miami and Florida State have also made recent inquiries and personal visits
to LaGrange.
"Just about everyone who's seen him has offered," Pardue said. "And if they
haven't, we expect most, if not all of them, to before long. I don't think he's
really got it narrowed down just yet."
Mitchell led LaGrange to the Class 3A state championship as a junior,
completing 145 of 234 passes for 2,986 yards and 23 touchdowns. For his career,
he's completed 273 of 494 attempts for 4,101 yards and 41 touchdowns.
He's been starting for Pardue since the second game of his freshman season.
"I just saw a kid with unlimited potential," Pardue said. "He was tall and
rangy, a strong arm, a good athlete, and had a great understanding of the game
even at that age. He's just continued to build on that to where he's one of the
best quarterbacks in the country now."
Improved footwork (4.7 forty), overall strength (230 bench) and decision-making out of LaGrange's shotgun package have
been recent pluses for Mitchell, according to Pardue.
Pardue added that Mitchell is a fine student who is expected to be fully
qualified.