A.D. Mitchell explains his thinking on National Championship touchdown grab
Even in the biggest of moments during last season’s run to a National Championship, the moment was not too big for Georgia wide receiver A.D. Mitchell. On 2nd and 18 with 8:15 remaining in the fourth quarter of Georgia’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Alabama, a freshman at the time, Mitchell made one of the biggest catches in Bulldog program history.
Stetson Bennett clapped his hands. Alabama defensive lineman Tim Smith, lined up across from left tackle Broderick Jones, moved and came across the line of scrimmage. Because Sedrick Van Pran was able to get the snap off with him still across – and none of the Bulldogs had moved – Georgia got a free play.
Bennett dropped back, running back James Cook chipped an oncoming Alabama linebacker, Christian Harris, allowing his quarterback just enough time to get a throw off. Down the right sideline, Mitchell was going deep. In contested coverage against cornerback Khyree Jackson, the freshman went up and made the catch, coming down with the ball and going down in Georgia history because of it.
“Yeah, that was the play,” Mitchell told reporters on Tuesday, his first meeting with Georgia media since arriving in Athens. “We just went on a hard count and stayed disciplined. I was able to make a play.”
“I’d say in the moment, I didn’t. Everyone was just doing what they could to try to come out with the W,” he continued. “I was, like I said, playing my role. My number ended up being called. It was a great ball by Stetson, and I was fortunate enough to make the catch. I’d say it was probably afterward (that he realized the magnitude of the play), when I got to my phone, I realized, ‘Oh dang. This is crazy.’”
Mitchell was one of several Georgia freshmen to make plays down the stretch of the Bulldogs’ eventual 33-18 National Championship win over the Crimson Tide, putting an end to a 41-year drought. Fellow true freshman Brock Bowers scored a touchdown on Georgia’s next drive to make it an 8-point game. On the drive after that, redshirt freshman Kelee Ringo intercepted Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young and returned it 79 yards to give Georgia a two-score advantage and seal the deal on the trophy coming back to Athens.
Both of them have been asked about their respective plays too. The overall sentiment from the three of them – all back in the Classic City for 2022 – they don’t want that one play, that one season to define their careers. Instead, they want to continue to grow and develop as players and do their best to make sure Georgia fans don’t have to wait as long for another National Championship.
