Jared Mitchell has every right to be bitter, but that isn't his nature.
Mitchell, a fifth-year senior free safety, came to Winston-Salem State with the belief that he would play Division I football. That didn't happen, but Mitchell doesn't pout or talk about what could have been. Instead, he has used football to earn a scholarship to pay for his education.
"We've been through a lot with the losing, the transition to D-I and then going back, so there's been a lot of stuff," Mitchell said. "It's built my character a little bit. I've learned how it is to be down in the dumps and now we are flying pretty high."
Mitchell, who has close to a 3.0 grade-point average as a finance major, has two classes to complete to graduate in December. He's been a leader for the defense this season and plans to be a leader wherever he works after graduation.
He already has had three internships with the State Employees Credit Union, in Winston-Salem, Chapel Hill and his hometown of Durham, and although he learned a lot at those jobs, his goal is to stay in sports. He hopes to one day make it to the NFL … but not as a player.
"I don't want to get to far away from football," he said. "I want to do something in finance behind the scenes, because I can work with money. Maybe I can work with the Carolina Panthers or somebody like that."
For now, Mitchell wants to continue leading a defense that has helped the Rams to a 2-0 record. Next up for WSSU will be N.C. Central in Durham on Saturday -- a game Mitchell is looking forward to.
"Definitely when I go back home to Durham, it's a big deal to me," said Mitchell, who played at Hillside High.
Mitchell also hopes Saturday's game won't be his last in Durham. The CIAA title game is scheduled at Durham County Stadium on Nov. 13, and Mitchell said: "We plan on coming back…."
Mitchell said he thinks a lot about last year's 1-10 record and that this season's turnaround under Coach Connell Maynor is "just us sticking to the game plan."
"When we came into camp," Mitchell said, "Coach Maynor put the whole game plan in and that was to win, period, and to win by any means. And the seniors bought into it and it's just made us that much stronger."
Maynor said that getting the seniors to adjust to a new style is a big reason the Rams are 2-0 for the first time since 2000.
"He's one of our leaders on defense," Maynor said. "He helps these guys line up and helps coach the guys, what a fifth-year senior is supposed to do."
Maynor also said he hopes Mitchell's teammates also think about post-graduation plans.
"It's important for guys to know that education is first and football second, and he understands that," Maynor said.
"He doesn't have his eggs in the wrong basket, so if we can get more kids to think like that we'll be better off."
Mitchell said he's learned a lot since arriving at WSSU and that it hasn't been all football.
"Football teaches you how to get along with people who you might not get along with," he said. "You are here with a team and maybe sometimes guys don't have the best attitudes or don't come from the same background and you deal with different types of people.
"You have to do that in the real world as well."
jdell@wsjournal.com
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