William Scott Mitchell (born January 2, 1968) is a former professional American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He played for the Miami Dolphins,

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, Baltimore Ravens and

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

of the NFL, and also the Orlando Thunder of the World League of American Football. Mitchell played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the University of Utah.

College career

Mitchell played for the Utah Utes.

Statistics

Professional career

Mitchell was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round (93rd overall) of the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Marq ...

. After serving three years as

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. (born September 15, 1961) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. After a successful college career at Pittsburgh and be ...

's back-up, Mitchell became the Dolphins' starting quarterback for the remainder of the 1993 season when Marino was injured in week 6 at Cleveland; the team would miss the playoffs that season. Mitchell was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

by the

in 1994. Mitchell led a Detroit

offense Offense or offence may refer to: Common meanings * Offense or crime, a violation of penal law * An insult, or negative feeling in response to a perceived insult * An attack, a proactive offensive engagement * Sin, an act that violates a known m ...

that included

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

Barry Sanders and receivers Herman Moore and

Brett Perriman Brett Perriman (born October 10, 1965) is a former American football wide receiver in the NFL for the New Orleans Saints (1988–1990), the Detroit Lions (1991–1996), the Kansas City Chiefs (1997), and the Miami Dolphins (1997). He played coll ...

. However, in 1994—his first season as a starter for the Lions—Mitchell struggled. In a loss to the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

, Mitchell went down with an injury, and was replaced by backup quarterback

Dave Krieg David Michael Krieg ( ; born October 20, 1958) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He attended Milton College in his home state of Wisconsin and made the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent. I ...

, who led the team to the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

playoffs. Offensive tackle Lomas Brown, on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

program '' First Take'' later admitted to purposefully missing a block that resulted in this injury, as he was upset over Mitchell's poor play. However, a review of game film and play-by-play logs of the game by football historian Andy Barall fails to corroborate Brown's recollection of what occurred. Mitchell regained his starting position the following year. In 1995, he set single-season records for the Lions in

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

passes (32) and passing yards (4,338), both of which were later eclipsed by

Matthew Stafford John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, where he was a first-team All-American, and was selected ...

. Mitchell's Lions made the

NFL playoffs The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Currently, seven teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs. A tie-breaki ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

. Mitchell stayed with the Lions through the 1998 season, when he lost the starting quarterback job to rookie Charlie Batch. Made expendable after the Lions signed

Gus Frerotte Gustave Joseph Frerotte (; born July 31, 1971) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulsa. Frerotte, who was selected t ...

two weeks earlier, Mitchell was dealt to the Baltimore Ravens on March 16, 1999 for a third-round draft pick that year and a fifth-rounder in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. After not being able to acquire Brad Johnson from the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

, the Ravens settled for Mitchell who signed a one-year $3 million contract upon his arrival in Baltimore. A great admirer of

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

legend

Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Following a career that spanned from 1956 ...

, Mitchell was assigned the uniform number 19 after receiving the blessing of his boyhood idol. He is the only football player since Unitas to compete for a Baltimore-based team wearing that number. Mitchell completed 24 of 56 passes for 236 yards, threw a touchdown pass and was intercepted four times before

Stoney Case Stoney Jarrod Case (born July 7, 1972) is a former quarterback for three teams in the National Football League and three teams in the Arena Football League. High school and college Case played high school football for the Odessa Permian Panthe ...

replaced him as starting quarterback during the third quarter of a 23–20 loss to the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

in a Week 2 home opener at

PSINet Stadium M&T Bank Stadium is a multi-purpose football stadium located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium is immediately adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of the ...

on September 19. He saw no further action with the Ravens and became an unrestricted free agent following the 1999 season. Mitchell signed with the

on March 9, 2000. He was the veteran backup to Akili Smith after

Jeff Blake Jeffrey Bertrand Blake (born December 4, 1970) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. Blake was a member of seven teams during his career, playing his longest stint with the Cin ...

signed as a free agent with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He retired as an active player following the 2001 season.

NFL career statistics

Coaching career

In February 2008, Mitchell was announced as the head football coach of his alma mater, Springville High School in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. He stepped down from his coaching position in January 2012 to spend more time on his software business.

Personal life

In 2014, Mitchell had reached . He was a contestant on Season 16 of the reality competition '' The Biggest Loser'', titled '' The Biggest Loser: Glory Days'', which premiered on September 11, 2014 on NBC. He was eliminated in week 15 as the last player eliminated from "comeback canyon", losing his final weigh in to Howard "Woody" Carter. Mitchell is an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Scott 1968 births Living people American football quarterbacks Baltimore Ravens players Cincinnati Bengals players Detroit Lions players Miami Dolphins players Orlando Thunder players Utah Utes football players High school football coaches in Utah People from Springville, Utah Players of American football from Salt Lake City Coaches of American football from Utah