By Al Muskewitz
Oxford’s Mitchell, Merriweather bet on themselves, come up big winners with their future
OXFORD – Miguel Mitchell and Nick Merriweather sat side-by-side on the gym floor of the Oxford Sports Arena getting ready to sign papers for the college football teams of their choice.
They were about to embark on journeys to different teams on different levels in different states, but they both arrived where their feet were Wednesday by the same way.
Both took a gamble on themselves at some point in the process and both hit the jackpot.
Merriweather transferred to Oxford from Alexandria for his senior year and didn’t know if he’d have any chance of playing for the Yellow Jackets or not. He turned out to be a valuable and versatile weapon on both sides of the ball and it landed him a spot to play at Faulkner.
Mitchell had committed to Vanderbilt, de-committed shortly before the December signing period and almost pulled the trigger on Northwestern, then rolled the dice for an even bigger offer in an age when the transfer portal was sucking the life out of high school recruiting.
But those offers did come — in bunches — especially after he blew up the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game, and Wednesday he signed with Florida.
“It was just a chance I was willing to take,” Mitchell said. “I just believe in myself that much that I took a chance.”
Advisors suggested he wait it out as well and it turned out to be the perfect move. After getting a pick-six and fumble and being named the Alabama all-star team’s MVP, new offers poured in from coast to coast. There was Tennessee, Southern Cal, Oregon and LSU; Oklahoma was interested.
If you connect the dots on the coaching carousel you can see how it circled back to Mitchell. The Florida coaches had recruited him for Louisiana and when some things didn’t stick on their new recruiting board, they came back to him.
“It’s been kind of a wild ride with him,” Oxford coach Sam Adams said. “It’s very unique that he blew up this late in the process. I’ve seen it happen quickly before, but never that quickly and that late.
“We were kind of scratching our heads trying to figure out why hadn’t this already happened. I know the reasons why, it’s back related to the transfer portal and all that kind of stuff. I wasn’t surprised at any offer he got. We were kind of surprised how late a lot of them came.”
Mitchell admitted the process was “definitely stressful,” but he stayed the course and couldn’t be happier he did.
“The biggest part was the early signing period because most of the time you really don’t know,” he said. “You’ve got guys who could sign early but they sign late and they end up going someplace they really don’t deserve to be at.
“I was just really debating then should I wait it out and trust God and trust my ability and better myself and see what comes up. Eventually, God blessed me with a great opportunity with some great schools.”
Mitchell is a high-level baseball prospect as well, which made the Vanderbilt pick a natural. Tennessee was going to let him play both, but he said he would just concentrate on football when he gets to Gainesville.
Merriweather let his faith guide him through the process, both in the transfer to Oxford and the pick of Faulkner. He ended up being a starting linebacker for the Yellow Jackets and got some snaps at running back. He’s expected to be a running back in college.
“I prayed every night and He answered my prayers,” Merriweather said. “When I first moved here I didn’t even think I was going to get a chance at playing, but I trusted in God, prayed, put in work and 10, 12 months later here we are.
“I would sort of consider it a gamble because when you move to a new school you never know if you’re going to play or not. But when you have faith and you just put in the time and the work it really shows. It changes how everybody looks at you.” [**read more]
