Hampton QB shows leadership

By Marty O'Brien, Daily Press

Hampton University coach Joe Taylor always urges his players to leave everything on the field during a game. Quarterback T.J. Mitchell took him at his word in the Pirates' 31-24 season-opening win on Saturday at Howard.

While running the ball during the first half, Mitchell had a chance to go out of bounds and avoid being hit. Instead, he kept going to try an get an extra yard. He got the yard, but he also got hit. So hard, in fact, that he threw up on the Greene Stadium turf after returning to the huddle.

"T.J. told his teammates to huddle around him so no one could see what was happening," Taylor said. "But he never asked to come out and he didn't miss a single play.

"That sold me on his toughness right there. He really impressed me with his leadership."

Mitchell recovered from the hit to finish the game with a flourish. He completed 6 of 9 passes in the fourth quarter — including touchdown strikes of 38, 78 and 19 yards — as the Pirates broke a 10-10 tie to pull out the victory.

Mitchell, a 6-foot-3, 189-pound sophomore, finished 19-of-36 passing for 310 yards to earn Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. He's the first Hampton quarterback to throw for more then 300 yards in the past 30 games.

"What I liked most about T.J. was that he was making play suggestions to the coaches," Taylor said. "That shows me he not only knows what's going on with us, but that he's aware of what's happening on the other side.

"He has a chance to be something special for us."

HU NOTES
Junior cornerback Jackie Bates missed the Howard game with a hamstring pull, while starting tailback Kevin Beverly sat out the second half with an ankle sprain. Taylor said that both might be sidelined for Saturday's game at North Carolina A&T. …

Harry Galbreath, the Pirates' offensive-line coach last season, was hired in late August as the strength and conditioning coach at Tennessee.

Galbreath left Hampton in April to become the offensive line coach at Howard, where his former Tennessee teammate Carey Bailey is now head coach.