WATCH: Texas assistant Ulric Maligi goes skydiving for Dillon Mitchell's commitment
Texas landing 2022 Montverde Academy (Fla.) forward and On3’s No. 37 overall prospect Dillon Mitchell was a big deal for Chris Beard’s program.
It was celebrated by Beard and other members of the Texas men’s basketball program, probably because of the extreme lengths to land Mitchell’s pledge.
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As Inside Texas’ Gerry Hamilton explained, Florida State, Ohio State, and Tennessee all made strong impressions on Mitchell throughout his commitment. The Longhorn program needed to blow Mitchell away to jump back into the race.
Enter assistant coach Ulric Maligi.
Maligi literally jumped out of a plane in order to win over Mitchell, who took his official visit to Texas on October 16. Judging by Mitchell’s response, he was thrilled to see the drive from one of his future coaches to make Mitchell feel wanted in Austin.
Dillon Mitchell on Texas
Mitchell spoke with On3’s Joe Tipton about why he chose the Longhorn program.
Despite coming in late, Texas made up a ton of ground on Mitchell. The Longhorns didn’t really make a big push for Mitchell until early last month. Mitchell took an official visit to Texas last weekend.
“When I went on that visit man, just the relationship with the coaches and their development is what stood out,” Mitchell said. “I think my biggest thing right now is developing. I know where I’m trying to get and I need a lot more development so when I went to (Texas’) practice I saw how hard they work, how much the coaches push the players…they’re in the gym working all the time. That’s just what I need and it felt like the perfect fit. I knew right after I left in my heart I knew I wanted to be there.”
What’s the No. 1 thing that sold Mitchell on Texas?
“The vibe I got while I was there,” Mitchell said. “It’s just a place I’m gonna wake every day while I’m there and just be happy to be there. That’s just a big thing. Picking somewhere where no matter what, there’s gonna be rough days but I know I have coaches that have my back and that’s going to love me and support me. That’s a big thing to me. Just building that trust and just being comfortable with the coaches. In my heart, I just knew this was the best place for me.”
What was the coaching staff’s recruiting pitch?
“Coach (Chris) Beard doesn’t look at me as like a two, three, or four,” Mitchell said. “He just looks at me as a player. Just a complete player that can do a bit of everything. That’s what I loved about it. That’s another big thing, you know me being so versatile…being able to guard multiple positions, play multiple positions, all those types of things. He likes my versatility and being able to do multiple things on the court and that’s how they want to use me.”
Mitchell is the second commit in Texas’ 2022 class, joining Dallas Kimball’s Arterio Morris.
