Georgia transfer WR Adonai Mitchell commits to Texas

A Texas Longhorns wide receiver room that certainly could benefit from an injection of talent got exactly that on Friday night, with recent Georgia Bulldogs transfer Adonai Mitchell joining head coach Steve Sarkisian’s program.

The news comes just twos day after Mitchell entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, and he was reportedly on campus on Thursday. So, of course, things moved especially quickly between he and the Horns, a fairly impressive outcome considering Texas doesn’t currently have a wide receivers coach.

In any case, when that hire is ultimately made — presumably in the coming days — Texas latest receivers coach will take control of a room that returns Xavier Worthy, Jordan Whittington, ideally a healthy Isaiah Neyor, a healthy crop of young talent, and now, Mitchell.

Mitchell went to Fort Bend Ridge Point before transferring to Antioch (Tenn.) Cane Ridge as a junior and eventually signing with Georgia over 19 other offers, including Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, LSU, Tennessee, Texas, as a consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 383 prospect nationally and the No. 63 wide receiver, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

After landing at Georgia, as a true freshman Mitchell appeared in all 15 games for the Dawgs, starting in 12, finishing with 29 catches for 426 yards (14.7 avg.) and four touchdowns. Notably, Mitchell contributed during the national championship run with two catches for 34 yards with an 18-yard touchdown catch against Michigan and two catches for 50 yards with a go-ahead 40-yard touchdown catch against Alabama.

In 2022, Mitchell suffered a high ankle sprain in September and was out until the College Football Playoffs started, once again contributing in crucial moments with the game-winning, 10-yard touchdown reception to beat Ohio State and a 22-yard touchdown catch against TCU.

Although Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian doesn’t typically prefer tall wide receivers, Mitchell is unusual because although he’s listed at 6’4, he’s not a big-bodied possession receiver — instead, Mitchell has quick feet and an understanding of how to take advantage of his change-of-direction ability to win one-on-one matchups against defensive backs.

With 38 career receptions, there’s still not a large sample size with Mitchell, but he has shown strong hands and the ability to make contested catches in addition to rising to big moments.

Burnt Orange Nation’s Daniel Seahorn further detailed what Texas is getting with Mitchell:

Mitchell is a big, athletic vertical threat at 6’4, 190 pounds and he showed early on in Athens that he can be headache to cover down the field. Mitchell missed most of the 2022 season due to a high ankle sprain, but just like he did as a freshman he showed up in the playoffs.

Despite being a bigger receiver, Mitchell has shown that he can get in and out of his breaks like a smaller receiver and has shown he can put high end defensive talent in a blender with his route running ability.

Mitchell’s size and movement ability reminds me of what Texas was getting in Neyor last year prior to the injury in camp and the plus side with Mitchell is that he already has some production at the Power 5 level as an underclassmen. Mitchell provides Texas with size on the outside that has the ability to play “above the rim” and displays the ability to make adjustments while tracking the ball down the field. He also shows good hands and shows he can catch the ball away from his body and not have to rely on body catching.

Mitchell provides an excellent complement to Worthy and Whittington heading into 2023 in the Longhorn receiving room, and if Neyor is able to get healthy that gives you another talented big body receiver for Quinn Ewers to utilize.

Texas needed to add another receiver or two this offseason in my book and after being very patient that landed one of the best ones to hit the market this offseason so far.