Texas Football: Juwan Mitchell leaves the team early in spring ball

Another offseason storyline that involves junior Texas football linebacker and former JUCO transfer Juwan Mitchell has to do with him leaving the team. According to a report from Horns247 on March 24 (paid content), Texas “could be without” Mitchell for the rest of spring camp, or even longer.

Mitchell reportedly told his teammates that he’s leaving this Longhorns team, but the reason for his absence at the moment is not confirmed. And it’s also not confirmed when his return is due for the Longhorns, or if he’s ever coming back to the team.

For now, we’ll leave the speculation to on-field matters concerning the Longhorns. Nonetheless, this is still detrimental news to a Texas defense that is scary thin on linebacker depth even before this Mitchell news dropped in the midst of the first week of spring ball under a completely new coaching regime.

Texas was already without senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who is missing spring camp while dealing with a shoulder injury. Other key losses this offseason at the linebacker position for the Longhorns include junior Ayodele Adeoye (entered the NCAA Transfer Portal) and star junior Joseph Ossai (entered the NFL Draft).

This is the second straight offseason that Mitchell looked like he was leaving the team at some point. Last offseason, Mitchell put his name in the transfer portal, only to return by the start of fall camp to the Forty Acres.

Impact of the absence of Juwan Mitchell on the Texas football defense

Newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff are going to have to start looking to younger players and maybe even the transfer portal for more help at the linebacker position. New defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and linebackers coach Randy Choate are going to be put in a tough position right away.

Texas already had to turn to the transfer portal this offseason to land the likes of former Notre Dame Fighting Irish edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo, LSU Tigers linebacker Ray Thornton, and Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Ben Davis. They are also reportedly looking into the possibility of targeting the former Michigan Wolverines linebacker Jordan Anthony out of the transfer portal at this point of the offseason.

What Texas will be missing from Mitchell, in particular, is their leading tackler from last season, and one of the more experienced and proven players returning on this entire side of the ball in 2021. Last season, Mitchell registered 62 combined tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, no sacks, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery, in nine games played.

But it’s not just Mitchell’s production from last season that was important for the Longhorns to get back in the fold this year. He was a key producer at linebacker for the Longhorns in each of the past two seasons. And he needed as much practice this offseason as he could get since he was about to learn a new scheme for the third time in three years under yet another new DC.

For his career in two years playing for Texas, Mitchell registered 99 combined tackles, eight tackles for loss, three sacks, five pass breakups, and one fumble recovery.

Texas began spring drills on March 23 under a new head coach in the former Alabama offensive coordinator and reigning Broyles Award winner Sark. But the Longhorns are already down a number of players, now including Mitchell.