UL Athlete (1986-89) Brian Mitchell

[NewsCopy]

Brian Mitchell is going to retire from the NFL this week.

That means in five years he'll be eligible for election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Memo to voters: Let him in.

Mitchell, the former Louisiana Ragin' Cajun who led UL to four straight winning seasons from 1986-89, deserves to make history as the first NFL player to ever be enshrined in Canton by virtue of his special teams play.

We're not talking about kickers here. We're talking about players who get hit on every play, and on special teams that means often getting slammed at high speeds.

Mitchell did that for 14 years in the NFL and never sustained a serious injury.

He did it for four different teams, earning a Super Bowl ring in the second of his 10 years with the Washington Redskins before moving on to tours of duty with the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.

The Plaquemine product spent last season waiting for a phone call from a team that needed a special teams spark, and when that call never came Mitchell decided he'd done enough.

Make that much more than enough.

In his 14 years, Mitchell set career records for kick return yards (19,013), combined kick returns (1,070), combined kick return touchdowns (13), kickoff return yards (14,014) and returns (607), punt return yards (4,999) and returns (463) and fair catches (231).

Throw in rushing and receiving and Mitchell piled up 23,330 all-purpose yards as a smallish, durable, elusive and tough performer.

He even found time to play some emergency quarterback and to try a halfback option or two.

The rest of the story

[CRAWFISH61]

Brian Mitchell was the best football player to ever put on a Cajun uniform. The production and wins while he was at UL made this one of the most exciting times in our football history.

[NewsCopy]

Mitchell officially retires with Washington

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - In 14 NFL seasons, Brian Mitchell specialized in returns. So it was fitting that he returned to Washington to retire as a Redskin, five years after a bitter exit.

The NFL's leading career return man signed a one-day contract with Washington, enabling him to retire in the city where he achieved most of his success.

"I had animosity, but I always knew this is what I would do," Mitchell said Wednesday. "The love I received from fans in this area let me know that I couldn't do it any other way. I'd been gone five years, but you would think I still dress in the uniform because they understood what I gave them. I gave so much."

Mitchell, who last played in 2003 with the New York Giants, is second behind only Jerry Rice in combined yardage with 22,330. Rice has 23,546 yards.

Mitchell, who played for Philadelphia from 2000-02, holds 13 NFL records, including kickoff returns (607) and yards (14,014) and punt returns (463) and yards (4,999). He and Jim Brown are the only players who have led the NFL in combined yards four times.

"This is one of the toughest guys I've been around," Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said. "He played tough, he was extremely emotional and he meant a lot to our team."

Mitchell was a fifth-round pick in 1990 out of Southwestern Louisiana, where he had been a wishbone quarterback. He became a running back with the Redskins but spent much of his time as a return man.

The rest of the story