- May 2, 2024
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Marcus Mitchell Jr. has always been known as Little Marcus. His dad was Big Marcus.
Little Marcus is now a 5-foot-8, 225-pound junior running back at Flagler Palm Coast High School.
He is following in his father’s footsteps. Big Marcus was also a running back at FPC who graduated in 2008 with the Bulldogs’ all-time rushing record.
Marcus Mitchell Sr. died in a motorcycle accident in 2019 when Marcus Jr. was 12 years old.
Marcus Jr. wants to become the all-time rushing leader at FPC. In 2016, Que’Shaun Byrd broke his father's school record of 2,793 yards. Byrd, who went on to play for Bethune-Cookman University, ran for 3,402 yards in his high school career.
Marcus Mitchell Jr. has rushed for 2,061 yards in two and half seasons, including 671 yards in his first four games this season.
He has wanted to surpass his father’s mark since he began playing tackle football. Now he also wants to become his school’s all-time rushing leader.
“His biggest goal is to beat his dad’s record,” Mitchell’s mom, Brittany Curry, said. “Then he wants to take the record back for the Mitchells.”
He is hoping to top his father’s total this season. But after carrying the ball 95 times in the Bulldogs’ first four games, he was held out with a hamstring strain against Ponte Vedra on Sept. 29 and played sparingly at Eau Gallie on Oct. 6, running the ball five times for 24 yards.
“Carrying the ball 25, 26 and 27 times (in successive games) took a toll on him,” FPC coach Daniel Fish said. “We’ll probably keep him to 15 to 18 carries when he’s back to 100%.”
Mitchell’s running style can take a toll on his opponents as well as his own body.
Little Marcus is much bigger than Big Marcus was when he was wearing the green and white. And Marcus Jr.'s running style is quite different than his father's, said Robert Paxia, who played with Marcus Sr. for four years at FPC and coached Marcus Jr. the past two years as the Bulldogs’ head coach before taking the head coaching position this year at Winder-Barrow High School in Winder, Georgia.
“If you look up power running back in the dictionary, young Marcus’ picture is going to show up,” Paxia said. “You look up scatback, and his dad’s picture is going to show up. His dad was lightning fast.”
He's very tough to bring down. He’s very good at breaking tackles and when he finds that hole and he finds that seam, he'll take off. And even if you do catch him, you are still not going to bring him down.” — DANIEL FISH, FPC coach, on Marcus Mitchell Jr.
Marcus Jr. started playing flag football when he was 5. He switched to tackle at age 10.
“I got really good at flag. And then my parents finally let me play tackle, and I excelled a lot in that too,” he said. “Flag football helped me with my hands catching the ball.”
He’s always played running back.
“He was great in flag, but once he started tackle he never wanted to go back,” Curry said.
He helped his Pop Warner team get to nationals. As a freshman, he rushed for 341 yards and four touchdowns in five games. As a sophomore last year, he rushed for 1,025 yards and 12 touchdowns despite two high ankle sprains that bothered him all season.
His best game was in this year’s Potato Bowl on Sept. 15 when he rushed for 288 yards and scored four touchdowns in a 28-9 win against Matanzas and was named the Florida High School Football Player of the Week by MaxPreps after receiving more than 33,000 votes.
“He's a kid that has amazing vision and amazing willpower when he runs the ball,” Fish said. “He's very tough to bring down. He’s very good at breaking tackles and when he finds that hole and he finds that seam, he'll take off. And even if you do catch him, you are still not going to bring him down.”
While he’s been striving to pass his father’s yardage total by season's end and then take on the school record next season, he’s a team-first player, his coaches say.
“He’s not just a guy that's going to try hard when he gets the ball,” Fish said. “He's going to try hard no matter what he's asked to do. He’s a complete package, and that includes blocking and pass protection. He’s a true team player through and through. He’s a great kid off the field, and obviously a very, very special talent on the field.”
FPC assistant coach Mike London played with Marcus Sr. for two years and sees some similarities in their running styles.
“He reminds me of his father in some ways with his balance and quick twitch muscles,” London said.
But the real resemblance is in their personalities, friends say.
“They both have a smile that can light up the room,” Paxia said. “Marcus’ dad was always an exremely happy guy, always had a great, infectious energy. Little Marcus, he flashes that same personality. I would say there’s a lot of his dad in him.”
Fish said Mitchell’s smile and up-beat personality “can change the mood of anybody.”
London said he and Marcus Sr. always kept each other laughing.
“He was just a funny guy, a very funny dude,” London said. “It broke my heart when he passed away. He was a dear friend of mine.”
Curry said her son began to have a love-hate relationship with football after his father died.
“He had a really rough time when his dad passed away,” she said. “Little Marcus was always looking up to him. He played football because of his dad.”
Once he started playing football for FPC, joining his father in the school record books became more important to him.
“I really want to beat it this year,” he said earlier this season of breaking his dad's mark. “I'm striving and I'm trying my hardest every game to get as many yards as I can. I’d prefer to get it this year because that'd make it a lot easier on me.”
FPC offensive coordinator Jake Medlock said reaching his father’s mark this season doesn’t seem likely at this point, but he doesn’t doubt his running back.
“If he does what he did against Matanzas in three straight games, it might be close,” Medlock said. “We’ve asked a lot out of him, which he can handle. We have to a better job of pre-hab and rehab with ice baths, massages, banded work and the right stretching to protect his body. He’s capable of carrying it 30-plus times.”
London, who coaches on the defensive side of the ball, is looking forward to see what Mitchell can accomplish the rest of this season and next.
“It’s going to be awesome when Marcus breaks the record,” he said. “I hope he keeps the football. I hope we win, and I just hope the kid can do great things for the FPC family.”
