college route. He accepted a football scholarship from Eastern Arizona Junior College in Thatcher, Arizona. Playing career Mitchell played on both the offensive and defensive lines at Eastern Arizona. He was named a Junior College All-American in each of his two years in the program. More significantly, he added of muscle to his frame in the school's weight training program, which was an amenity his high school lacked. Even with the added bulk, he showed no appreciable loss of speed. He also earned an associate's degree in social work from Eastern Arizona. Based on his junior college performance and increased bulk, Mitchell was recruited by several major college programs, but he originally committed to John McKay at the University of Southern California. While on the golf course with University of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, McKay casually mentioned that he had received a commitment from an Alabama native. McKay assumed that Bryant wouldn't be interested in Mitchell because he was black and Alabama had no black players on their roster. Bryant swooped in and recruited Mitchell aggressively. Although Mitchell originally was a bit nervous about the reception he would receive at Alabama, as well as the amount of playing time he could garner, his family encouraged him to return home and accept Bryant's scholarship offer. Besides his family's encouragement and Bryant's assurances that his race would not be a problem, Mitchell's opinion that Alabama's School of Social Work was an easy route was a big factor in his decision. In 1971 Mitchell, along with Wilbur Jackson, became the first African-American to play football for the Crimson Tide. He started all 24 games in his two seasons at Alabama, during which time the team compiled a 21–3 record and won two Southeastern Conference championships. In 1972, Mitchell became the first African-American to be named a co-captain at Alabama. The same year he was named an All-American by the American Football Coaches Association. He was selected to the All-SEC team in each of his two seasons at Alabama. Mitchell earned a B.S. in social welfare, completing his degree requirements a semester early. The San Francisco 49ers selected Mitchell in the seventh round of the 1973 NFL Draft. Although he played primarily defensive end in college, he was once again considered undersized to fill that role in the pro game; the 49ers wanted to make him a linebacker. He signed a contract with