Keaton Anthony Mitchell (born January 17, 2002) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the sport, athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA ...

and was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

by the Ravens after the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

Early life

Mitchell was born on January 17, 2002, in

McDonough, Georgia McDonough is a city in Henry County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Its population was 29,051 in 2020. The city is the county seat of Henry County. The unincorporated communities of Blacksville, Flippen, ...

. He is the son of Anthony Mitchell, who played several years in the

(NFL) and won a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

with the

. He attended

Eagle's Landing Christian Academy Eagle's Landing Christian Academy (ELCA) is a private Christian school is located on an 86-acre campus twenty-five miles south of Atlanta in McDonough, Georgia, United States. It ranks 14th in the ''Atlanta Business Chronicle'' of Atlanta's 75 lar ...

and helped them reach four consecutive state championships, running for a total of 4,347 yards and 88

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s just during his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

years combined, as they won 54 of 56 games. He was a Class A Private Offensive Player of the Year and Class A Region 5 Player of the Year honoree, committing to play

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

(ECU) after his graduation.

College career

As a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

at East Carolina in 2020, Mitchell appeared in nine games while starting two, and posted 88 rush attempts for 443 yards and two touchdowns, as well as 11 receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown. In 2021, he started all 12 games and recorded over 1,000 rushing yards, becoming the first to do so at ECU since Tay Cooper in 2013. He was a first-team all-conference choice and led the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

(AAC) in both total rushing yards (1,132) and

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing ...

per game (115.83), while additionally placing high in the conference leaderboards in four other statistics. He posted a total of four 100-yard rushing games that season, including a 222-yard performance against

Tulane The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it be ...

which was the best all-time for an ECU freshman. As a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

in 2022, Mitchell ran for 1,452 yards and scored 14 touchdowns, while being the national FBS leader in runs of more than 10 yards, with 54. He ran for over 100 yards in nine out of their 12 games, additionally tallying 27 catches for 252 yards and one score. He was named an honorable mention

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

(PFF) and was first-team All-AAC for the second straight year. Mitchell declared for the

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

after the season, and finished his stint at East Carolina with 3,027 rushing yards and an average of 6.5 yards-per-carry.

Professional career

Mitchell was projected to be selected in the

. He was also selected in the fourth round of the 2023 USFL draft by the New Orleans Breakers. On May 5, 2023, Mitchell was signed by the Ravens as an

considered Mitchell to be one of the ten best undrafted free agent signings from the 2023 NFL Draft class. On August 29, 2023, the Ravens announced that he had made the initial 53-man roster, but he was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

two days later. Mitchell was activated off of injured reserve on October 14, and made his NFL debut the next day against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

in Week 6, playing exclusively on the special teams in the 24–16 win. In Week 9, he ran for 138 yards on nine carries and scored his first NFL rushing touchdown (he also recorded a -4 yard reception) in a 37–3 rout of the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. His performance earned him the FedEx Ground Player of Week Award. During the Week 15 23–7 win over the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

, Mitchell injured his knee in the fourth quarter after being tackled by Jaguars' safety Andrew Wingard. Mitchell was immediately ruled out and carted back to the locker room for further evaluation. After the game, it was announced he fully tore his ACL and would miss the rest of the season. He was placed on injured reserve on December 19. He finished his rookie season with 47 carries for 396 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in eight games and two starts. On July 15, 2024, Mitchell was placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. He was activated for Week 10.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

References

External links

Baltimore Ravens bioEast Carolina Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Keaton 2002 births Living people American football running backs Sportspeople from McDonough, Georgia East Carolina Pirates football players Players of American football from Henry County, Georgia Baltimore Ravens players 21st-century African-American sportsmen