The path from junior college to the SEC is a path few are able to complete, but one that Nehemiah Mitchell has travelled.
Mitchell has come a long way from his California roots to find a new home as a starting outside linebacker for the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Early years
Initially, Mitchell dreamed of being of being a star basketball player, since he was bigger than all his classmates. Football was not yet on his radar.
“All throughout my childhood, I had wanted to play basketball,” Mitchell said. “You can’t be a 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 center in the NBA, so in high school I just tried out for the football team, and the coaches said, ‘You could become something really special.