Mitchell back healthy as QB competition heats up
Temple’s offense this season will be well-tailored to an abundance of dual-threat quarterbacks on the depth chart.
Re-al Mitchell returns with the most live reps of anybody in the quarterback room and is excited about the variations that Owls offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich is installing in the playbook.
“There might be a couple of new nuances within the offense,” Mitchell said during Friday’s media availability. “Obviously we’re kind of operating differently. Kind of more NFL-like coming out of the huddle. I think that’s super cool, especially as a quarterback. You want to get to that level so practicing that now is super cool.”
Mitchell is expected to make a push in an open competition, fighting to start under center come fall. During spring ball, summer workouts and fall practice, he’ll duke it out with Georgia transfer D’Wan Mathis, redshirt freshman Mariano Valenti and freshman Matt Duncan.
Each of the personalities and characters in the quarterback room has meshed well together, according to Mitchell. He said at the end of the day, they’re just trying to make each other better.
“We know what we’re getting out of Re-al,” redshirt junior receiver Jadan Blue said. “But Re-al has some things he has to improve on to become the best version of himself, as we all do.”
And Mitchell understands that.
“Last year was pretty much the first time live bullets were really flying and I got real reps, which definitely was beneficial for my development,” Mitchell said. “So I’m just trying to learn from that as much as possible. If there’s one thing that I could tell someone who hasn’t gotten a lot of reps is it’s really not as scary as you think, being out there trying to execute. I’m just trying to learn from what happened last year.”
During the Owls’ shortened 1-6 season, Mitchell was able to see significant reps following injuries to Anthony Russo and Trad Beatty. The 6-foot, 200-pound Mitchell completed 26-of-52 pass attempts through three games with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Mitchell’s season was cut short after taking a helmet to the knee in Temple’s 38-13 loss to UCF on Nov. 14. He said he was fortunate that the injury did not require surgery. Intensive rehab helped get him back to full strength and allow him to play at full speed for the start of spring ball.
The Owls will need Mitchell back healthy considering their offense is largely predicated on the likes of a mobile quarterback. The Eastville, California native jokingly told reporters he feels confident he’s faster than his competition, including Mathis.
“We are definitely going to utilize that quarterback run to set up either play action or plays off the quarterback run game,” Mitchell said. “Obviously, [last year] Russo was the starter so the offense was really tailored around him. Now everybody in the quarterback room can really run the ball, so it’s easier to transition our offense so it can really fit everything we do well that plays off of that.”
Mitchell added although there are some new additions to the roster and a few departures, the offense has a lot of the same faces. Between the returners, coupled with the new faces, he thinks the offense is “trending upwards.”