ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 23, 1995 TAG: 9512250024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
AFTER SIX YEARS of special teams work, Washington's Brian Mitchell finally rewarded.
If Monica Mitchell of Centreville has gifts to go back to the mall the day after Christmas, her husband probably will volunteer to do it.
After all, Brian Mitchell is great at making returns.
In a third straight season of discontent for the Washington Redskins (5-10), Mitchell has put his team in field position to score more than a few times. He's going to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl for the first time in his six-year career. He probably should have been selected a year ago, too.
The Redskins lead the NFL in kickoff and punt returns, and Mitchell has taken special teams coach Pete Rodriguez's schemes and run with them. He's also been very productive as a backup running back. He's the club's No.2 rusher and receiver entering Sunday's season finale against the Carolina Panthers at RFK Stadium.
It seems Mitchell has done everything for the Redskins with the ball this season except play quarterback. Well, he could. In his rookie season, he did, guiding the 'Skins to a touchdown on his only series behind center, in the now-infamous 1990 ``Body Bag'' game in Philadelphia when Stan Humphries and Jeff Rutledge were injured.
Mitchell was an option quarterback at Southwestern Louisiana, where he became the first player in NCAA history to pass for over 5,000 yards and rush for more than 3,000 in a career. Heath Shuler or Gus Frerotte? Wouldn't Mitchell like to take a few snaps, too?
``Not really,'' he said earlier this week after a practice at Redskin Park. ``I've been running the option since I've been in the NFL, just from different positions.''
You can make more than one argument for Mitchell being the Redskins' MVP. He and linebacker Ken Harvey are the club's only Pro Bowlers. Mitchell is on the verge of some numbers no one in the NFL's 76-year history has posted, too.
He could become the first player to lead the league in punt returns in back-to-back seasons. With 155 yards of all sorts today, he would be the first NFL player to reach 2,400 in all-purpose yardage two years in a row.
``I thought I had done a pretty good job on returns my first few years,'' Mitchell said. ``Since Pete got here [as part of Norv Turner's staff], we've taken it up a notch. I've learned a lot. Pete's taught me how to get a jump on a ball before the return, when it's in the air, instead of waiting to make the catch, then reading what to do.
``He's also studied my style of running and incorporated that into our scheme. I've always been pretty much a straight-ahead runner, and what we do is attack the outside guys [of the kicking team], and put our bigger people on them. From there, it's all by design, but I do know we're running returns to the outside less than we did before.''
Mitchell leads the NFL in kick returns with a 25.5-yard average, and he's second in punt returns (12.4) to Minnesota's David Palmer. With 29 more punt return yards, he'll surpass Mike Nelms' Redskin career record of 1,948.
The running back already owns 11 team records, but perhaps his most incredible number is a zero - in kickoff returns for touchdowns. Then, the Redskins have only one kick-return TD since 1979, by Joe Howard-Johnson in 1989.
``Hey, I'm trying,'' he said.
Mitchell has 12 returns of more than 35 yards this season, but it isn't only with booted balls that he's gaining ground. As Terry Allen's backup, Mitchell owns a 6.5-yard rushing average on 43 carries. The last NFL running back to finish a season with that kind of average and more than 40 carries was Bo Jackson, with the 1987 Raiders.
Mitchell has runs of 36, 21, 20, 20, 19 and 15 yards. He also has career highs of 316 receiving yards on 37 receptions.
``I'd like to carry the ball a lot more,'' Mitchell said. ``I understand where my value lies to the team though. I have a position, and that's what's important, and I'm primarily a special teams guy on a team that considers special teams special.''
He understood that when he signed a three-year, $4.2 million contract with the Redskins last summer and headed to training camp. Allen, a free agent signee with two reconstructed knees from Minnesota, wasn't exactly certain of gaining the 1,217 yards he has. Still, Mitchell knew his place.
``I can't be a full-time running back, because if I run 25 times a game and return punts and kicks, I'll be 170 pounds by the end of the season and I won't be any good to the team,'' Mitchell said one July day in Frostburg, Md.
He still has 220 pounds on his 5-foot-10 frame. He only wishes the Redskins had more than 12 wins in their last 47 games.
``It's very frustrating to keep losing and keep playing close games, especially after being part of a Super Bowl team [1991],'' Mitchell said. ``All I can do is keep doing what I'm doing and hope I play well enough. I can't give any more than my best.''
Mitchell is a blue-collar star. He's also a survivor in a franchise that's had too many turnovers on and off the field. A fifth-round draft choice in 1990, he already ranks fifth in seniority on the club behind cornerback Darrell Green and offensive linemen Ed Simmons, Jim Lachey and Ray Brown.
And he won't be 28 until next July. From the Redskins' 51 draft picks over five years (1988-92), Mitchell is the only remaining Redskin.
``Some days I wonder where everyone's gone,'' Mitchell said. ``I just tell the younger guys, when they ask me about something, to keep pushing. I really don't say a lot. I'm not like that. I like to lead on the field. Every time I touch the ball, I try to show them where I'm heading.''
He wasn't just talking about Hawaii.
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Washington's Brian Mitchell leads the NFL in kickoffby CNBand punt returns and is headed to the Pro Bowl for the first time in
his six-year career. color.