Reading, Writing, and Super Bowls: The saga of Malcolm Mitchell

Thursday afternoon, our Georgia Public Broadcasting team gathered inside a Fulton County library on Metropolitan Avenue to meet an accomplished 32-year-old University of Georgia graduate. Malcolm Mitchell is the focus of our GPB program “Georgia Legends.”

Caption

New England Patriots' Malcolm Mitchell catches a pass in front of Atlanta Falcons' Jalen Collins during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 51 football game Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017, in Houston.

Credit: AP Photo/Elise Amendola

The Valdosta native, a former Bulldog All-SEC wide receiver, NFL Super Bowl champion, author, poet, keynote speaker, and literacy advocate, travels the country on behalf of his nonprofit, Share the Magic Foundation.

Mitchell is a charismatic figure with an incredible life ahead of him and behind him.

The Mitchell story is stirring, single parent Valdosta household, a heroic, inspirational mother struggling to provide for Malcolm and his siblings.

As a young man, a standout athlete, recruited to play football at UGA, soon discovers his reading skills, not good enough to succeed academically, then does something about it, elevating himself, reading better, eventually graduating in Athens and earning a Patriots Super Bowl ring.

More in the weeks ahead when we share our conversation on video.

Today’s blog tells the unlikely NFL journey toward Super Bowl LI, perhaps the most famous championship game ever.

Hullinger: “All through our conversation, you’ve used the words hope and inspiration, it’s almost divine providence here, you would be a major factor in the Super Bowl defined by hope and inspiration——the always unbelievable 28-3 game.”

Mitchell: “ Okay, I'm going to tell you this story. At halftime, you always have about five minutes at the beginning to kind of do your thing. Whether it's eat, hydrate, use the restroom, and you do have the luxury to check your phone. Now you can't respond to any messages or posts, right? That'd be terrible. But you can look. And for me, during that Super Bowl halftime, I checked my messages and what did I see? I had hundreds and I mean hundreds of messages from friends, family saying things like, better luck next year. Sorry for the loss. Maybe you'll get another chance with Brady. (Laughter) Well, after the rally, the victory, I took a photo with the Lombardi Trophy and texted everyone back with my picture and the trophy (laughter)."

Hullinger: “I was in Houston, and in the fourth quarter was on the phone with 11Alive talking about where I would be for the Atlanta celebration parade (laughter)."

Mitchell: “Okay, it didn't look like it would work out. Two weeks before the Super Bowl, the Patriots brought in Michael Floyd from Arizona to replace me. Wow. There's this theory called the Rookie Wall. It's essentially burnt out, you know, for rookies. Two weeks before the big game, I have the worst practices of my life. The absolute worst. I mean, it was terrible. I don't think I caught a pass that week. Michael Floyd, great guy, started to get my practice repetitions and as we get ready to fly down to Houston, the week before the game, Tom Brady comes up to me with a note card. and he says, Malcolm, I want you to read this card every time you feel an ounce of negativity. And on the card it said, my name is Malcolm Mitchell, I catch every pass. I run every route. I can't be stopped. I'm the best. And I get an opportunity to play in what will go down as one of the greatest super bowls of all time.”

In Super Bowl LI, Malcolm Mitchell caught six passes for 70 yards, including all five thrown to him by Brady in the pivotal fourth quarter, and converted four of those into first downs.

A Super Bowl of legend and Malcolm Mitchell had a major fingerprint on the outcome. Life would never be the same for the Valdosta native again.

Have you noticed, not once, did I mention the Patriots opponent by name in this blog?

You are welcome.