For five-star transfer Adonai Mitchell, the decision to depart from two-time national champion Georgia to join Texas was simple. He came back to his home state for two reasons: family and the chance to bring a championship to the Texas Longhorns.
Adonai Mitchell spent the last two seasons playing college football at the University of Georgia, where he helped lead the Bulldogs to a back-to-back national championship win in both 2021 and 2022. Despite this, Mitchell entered the transfer portal after the 2022 season with one destination in mind — Austin, Texas.
According to Mitchell, the biggest pull factor for the wide receiver was his two-year-old daughter, Icylinn, and the rest of his family in Missouri City, Texas.
“That’s honestly been the best part,” said Mitchell when asked about coming home to family. “When I was away, you know, I didn’t get that. I didn’t get that time with my mom. I didn’t get that time with my family, and most of all, my daughter.”
Just like her dad, Icylinn is a big football fan, despite not having a choice, according to Mitchell. But little does she know how talented her father is.
Mitchell is just one of three five-star transfers in the nation in 2023, according to 247Sports, and “AD” has earned it. Mitchell has reeled in 38 catches for 560 yards and seven touchdowns in his two years at Georgia, though most of his time was plagued with injury, missing most of 2022 with a high-ankle sprain. Though at the surface level, his stats don’t seem the most impressive, numbers don’t always tell the whole story.
Mitchell is no stranger to big moments, and the player from Missouri City put that on display during several moments at Georgia. He has four touchdowns in four college football playoff games, but two stand out over the rest.
In the 2022 National Championship game, Mitchell rose and snagged the go-ahead touchdown on a 40-yard pass from former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett. The contested catch gave Georgia the lead with eight minutes left that was never broken by then-opponent Alabama, a familiar foe that Mitchell will play in the second week of the season at Texas.
Fast forward 355 days later, and Mitchell finds himself doing what he does best, making clutch grabs when it matters most. In the Peach Bowl against Ohio State, with just one minute on the clock, Mitchell caught the game winning touchdown to secure a shot at the national championship.
When asked about Mitchell, Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian noted Mitchell’s ability as a deep ball threat, which was his specialty at Georgia.
“These guys (referring to Mitchell, Isaiah Neyor and Johntay Cook) are really great deep ball players,” Sarkisian said. “They have the ability to track the ball and when it’s one-on-one that’s a huge advantage for us.”
As noted by Sarkisian, Mitchell joins an extremely talented group of receivers at Texas.
Georgia’s receiving room last season came into the year with just a combined 1,711 receiving yards. Xavier Worthy alone has amassed 1,741 receiving yards in his two seasons, not to mention the over 2,500 additional yards of experience between Jordan Whittington, Isaiah Neyor and Casey Cain. With the addition of five-star freshman Johntay Cook, Mitchell has surely never played in a more skilled and experienced receiving core.
“They’re all explosive receivers, they all bring different things to the game. I’m just excited to ball with them,” Mitchell said.
Now fully recovered and ready to suit up in burnt orange, Mitchell, alongside the rest of the receiving core, is excited to show what they can do in Texas’ last season in the Big 12.
