Keaton Anthony Mitchell (born January 17, 2002) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division ...

and was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the Ravens after the

2023 NFL Draft The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29, ...

Early years

Mitchell was born on January 17, 2002, in

McDonough, Georgia McDonough is a city in Henry County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Its population was 22,084 at the 2010 census, up from 8,493 in 2000. The city is the county seat of Henry County. The unincorporated comm ...

. He is the son of Anthony Mitchell, who played several years in the

(NFL) and won a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

with the

. He attended

Eagle's Landing Christian Academy Eagle's Landing Christian Academy (ELCA) is a private Christian school is located on an 86-acre campus twenty-five miles south of Atlanta in McDonough, Georgia, United States. It ranks 14th in the ''Atlanta Business Chronicle'' of Atlanta's 75 lar ...

and helped them reach four consecutive state championships, running for a total of 4,347 yards and 88

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s just during his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

years combined, as they won 54 of 56 games. He was a Class A Private Offensive Player of the Year and Class A Region 5 Player of the Year honoree, committing to play

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

(ECU) after his graduation.

College career

As a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

at East Carolina in 2020, Mitchell appeared in nine games while starting two, and posted 88 rush attempts for 443 yards and two touchdowns, as well as 11 receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown. In 2021, he started all 12 games and recorded over 1,000 rushing yards, becoming the first to do so at ECU since Tay Cooper in 2013. He was a first-team all-conference choice and led the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(AAC) in both total rushing yards (1,132) and

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing t ...

per game (115.83), while additionally placing high in the conference leaderboards in four other statistics. He posted a total of four 100-yard rushing games that season, including a 222-yard performance against

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

which was the best all-time for an ECU freshman. As a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

in 2022, Mitchell ran for 1,452 yards and scored 14 touchdowns, while being the national FBS leader in runs of more than 10 yards, with 54. He ran for over 100 yards in nine out of their 12 games, additionally tallying 27 catches for 252 yards and one score. He was named an honorable mention All-American by

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

(PFF) and was first-team All-AAC for the second straight year. Mitchell declared for the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

after the season, and finished his stint at East Carolina with 3,027 rushing yards and an average of 6.5 yards-per-carry.

Professional career

Mitchell was projected to be selected in the

. He was also selected in the fourth round of the 2023 USFL draft by the New Orleans Breakers. On May 5, 2023, Mitchell was signed by the Ravens as an

considered Mitchell to be one of the ten best undrafted free agent signings from the 2023 NFL Draft class. On August 29, 2023, the Ravens announced that he had made the initial 53-man roster, but he was placed on injured reserve two days later. He was activated on October 14. Mitchell made his NFL debut the next day against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

in Week 6, exclusively on the special teams in the 24–16 win. In Week 9, he ran for 138 yards on nine carries and scored his first NFL rushing touchdown (he also recorded a -4 yard reception) in a 37–3 rout of the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

. His performance earned him the FedEx Ground Player of Week Award. During the Week 15 23–7 win over the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, Mitchell injured his knee in the fourth quarter after being tackled by Jaguars' safety Andrew Wingard. Mitchell was immediately ruled out and carted back to the locker room for further evaluation. After the game, it was announced he fully tore his ACL and would miss the rest of the season. He was placed on Injured Reserve on December 19, 2023.

References

External links

Baltimore Ravens bioEast Carolina Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Keaton 2002 births Living people American football running backs People from McDonough, Georgia East Carolina Pirates football players Players of American football from Henry County, Georgia Baltimore Ravens players 21st-century African-American sportspeople