ATHENS — Primarily a defensive player until his senior season at Valdosta High, Malcolm Mitchell is making his presence felt on offense at Georgia.
The freshman wide receiver caught five passes for 60 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s 24-10 victory over Mississippi State, and for the season he leads Georgia in catches (22) and receiving yards (312).
Suffice to say, he’s looking comfortable at his new position.
“All throughout high school until my senior year — and even before high school, playing Little League — I was a defensive back,” Mitchell said Saturday. “The only time I played on offense was just [occasionally] to go out for a long pass or something. But I had a new coach my senior year at Valdosta, and he changed the whole program around.”
One of Valdosta coach Rance Gillespie’s changes was to shift Mitchell, ranked the nation’s No. 1 cornerback prospect by rivals.com, to wide receiver.
“He thought I could be a playmaker,” Mitchell said. “So I only played about 20 snaps on defense my senior year, and as I played offense, I grew to love having the ball in my hands.”
Georgia is coming to be pretty fond of having the ball in Mitchell’s hands, too.
His first catch Saturday, which he considered his finest of the day, was a 13-yarder “with the DB all over my back.”
His second was a 6-yarder for a touchdown, which, with the extra point, gave Georgia a 14-3 lead late in the first quarter.
Mitchell also helped set up Georgia’s final touchdown of the game with a 15-yard catch late in the second quarter, recovering his own fumble at the end of that play at the Mississippi State 25-yard line. Two plays later, tailback Carlton Thomas scored on a 7-yard run for a 21-3 halftime lead.
Like the rest of Georgia’s offense, Mitchell was quiet in the second half. The low point of his game was failing to catch a potential touchdown pass on a third-down throw late in the third quarter. Georgia settled for a 28-yard field goal by Blair Walsh on the next play.
“I’ve got to catch that one, got to hold it,” Mitchell said. “I probably waited too long to tuck the ball. I had it in my hands, and the DB, [Johnthan] Banks, a great defensive player, did what he had to do — hit it out of my arms.”
Mitchell said that as Georgia was recruiting him, coaches gave him the option of coming to Athens as an offensive or defensive player, although offensive coordinator Mike Bobo made his preference clear.
Mitchell said he played only about 20 snaps on defense in his senior season at Valdosta. On offense, he caught a Valdosta-record 77 passes for 1,419 yards.
“After I was recruited, I had to think about the decision I wanted to make, offense or defense,” he said. “I talked to my mom, and I prayed about it. And then I told the coaches I wanted to play offense.”
Now, as one freshman (Isaiah Crowell) emerges as Georgia’s leading rusher, another emerges as the Bulldogs’ leading receiver, at least statistically.
“I feel comfortable,” Mitchell said. “I feel like [quarterback] Aaron Murray trusts me enough to throw me the ball, and I feel confident in what the coaches have taught me and that I can get open.”
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