Myles Mitchell is one of the state’s premier running backs, with a bright future with one of the nation’s best FCS programs.
But the path hasn’t always been easy for the Richards senior, who made his college commitment to North Dakota State official during a signing ceremony on Dec. 4.
“Eighth grade was kind of a COVID year,” Mitchell said. “We had a little bit of football. Then my freshman year, getting hurt, it was hard being away from football. But I feel like that being away from football that’s what made me, at the end of my career, better.”
Playing up on the Richards sophomore team as a freshman, Mitchell suffered a broken leg.
But he returned to become one of the best running backs ever in a program that has had some very good ones.
This fall, he ran 255 times for 1,713 yards and 33 touchdowns as the Bulldogs went 11-2 and reached the Class 6A semifinals. He also caught 13 passes for 139 yards and three TDs, and returned two kickoffs for scores. His rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns were both program records.
“We’ve had some really good tailbacks,” Richards coach Tony Sheehan said. “In the (17) years I’ve been the head coach, it’s him and Leshon Williams.”
Williams started his college career at Iowa and recently transferred to Kansas.
Mitchell is heading to Fargo, N.D., to join a program that had won 17 national championships and 37 conference titles coming into this season.
The recruiting process “was a little rough, to be honest,” Mitchell said. “It was hard trying to find a college that wants me. But at the end of the day I found where I want to be at.”
North Dakota State had been recruiting him since his sophomore season.
“They came up to (Richards), reached out to me a lot,” Mitchell said. “So I knew the bond was going to be built and it was going to keep building forward.”
What made the Bison the right fit for him?
“Just the coaches that believe in me, believe in my talent, that can develop me at the next level,” Mitchell said. “(It’s) somewhere I can learn and play, play for a national championship.
“They have a nice campus, a nice facility (the 19,000-seat Fargodome). But it’s all about the coaches and the relationships within the building.”
Sheehan believes North Dakota State is a good fit for Mitchell.
“They like to run the ball and they’re downhill,” Sheehan said. “And that’s what he’s good at, is running downhill. Kind of a one-cut guy and go. …
“I don’t think he could be going to a better place.”