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| Position | Center | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1974-01-29)January 29, 1974 (age 52) Dallas, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 300 lb (136 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Clearwater (FL) Countryside | ||||||||
| College | Florida | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1997: 5th round, 134th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Jeffrey Clay Mitchell (born January 29, 1974) is an American former professionalfootball player who was acenter in theNational Football League (NFL) for nine seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Mitchell playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators, where he was a member of a national championship team. Thereafter, he played professionally for theBaltimore Ravens and theCarolina Panthers of the NFL.
Mitchell was born inDallas, Texas in 1974.[1] He attendedCountryside High School inClearwater, Florida,[2] and playeddefensive tackle for the Countryside Cougars high school football team. Mitchell set a school career record with seventeenquarterback sacks and earned an honorable mention fromUSA Today, and garnered All-State Class 5A first-team honors.[3] Mitchell was named the county player of the year by theTampa Tribune[4] and All-Suncoast Defensive Player of the Year by theSt. Petersburg Times.[5] He is the older brother of formerNFL defensive endClint Mitchell.
Mitchell accepted an athletic scholarship to attend theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coachSteve Spurrier'sFlorida Gators football team from1992 to1996.[6] As a true freshman in 1992, the Gators coaching staff decided toredshirt him. During his four seasons as a Gator, Mitchell was a starter for three seasons and the Gators won four consecutiveSoutheastern Conference (SEC) titles in1993 through 1996 and theBowl Alliance national championship in 1996.[3] Mitchell earned academic honors for four consecutive seasons.[6] As a senior team captain in 1996, he started eight games at center for the Gators' offense that averaged 503.9 yards per game.[6] As a junior in1995, he was a first-team All-SEC selection byFootball News. During his junior year, he started every game at center and was named the team's Comeback Player of the Year after missing spring practice followingarthroscopic surgery. In the 1996 game against theGeorgia Bulldogs, he suffered a broken right ankle, forcing him to undergo surgery and ending his season.[7]
In one of a series of articles published in 2006, the sportswriters ofThe Gainesville Sun rated him as the No. 41 all-time greatest Gator from the first century of Florida football.[8]
TheBaltimore Ravens selected Mitchell in the fifth round (134th pick overall) in the1997 NFL draft.[9] He played for the Ravens for four seasons from1997 to2000.[10] He saw no action as a rookie in 1997, but became a regular starter in 1998.[1] Mitchell earned aSuper Bowl ring with theBaltimore Ravens in 2000, starting at center for the Ravens in their victory against theNew York Giants inSuper Bowl XXXV.[11]
Mitchell was the veteran anchor on the Carolina offensive line for five years, from2001 to2005.[10] He led the Panthers offensive line that allowed only twenty-six sacks in 2003, a team record for fewest sacks allowed in a season, and helped Panthers rush for a team-record 2,091 yards, including a team-individual mark of 1,444 yards byStephen Davis. Mitchell joinedJordan Gross as the only Panthers offensive linemen to start every game in 2004.[12]
Mitchell was a starter in 118 of 119 regular season NFL contests in which he appeared during his eight-year professional football career.[1]
During the off-seasons, Mitchell served as the Vice President of Client Relations for Threadfin Business Solutions. He currently holds that position on a full-time basis.
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