Hunter
10/9/19
Former Iowa Hawkeye running back Derrick Mitchell Jr has died.
He reportedly suffered severe injuries in a car accident Friday night in St. Louis. KCRG TV reports that Mitchell Jr. was declared brain dead Monday night, with cardiac death declared early Tuesday. He was 24.
Mitchell redshirted in 2013 and had a minor role in the Hawkeye offense over the next three years. He had 339 total yards and three TDs over that time, and was Iowa’s leading rusher in the 2015 Big Ten Championship game.
After dropping back in the rotation in the 2016 season, he landed at Incarnate Word as a graduate transfer in 2017, leading the team with 601 rushing yards.
He was a St. Louis native, graduating from Vashon Public High School there. His coach, Will Franklin, told a local TV station that “he has been nothing but a genuine young man from his days playing now till his first year as offensive coordinator at Career Academy,” adding that “he has done everything you want a young man to do in life.” Career Academy High School is also in St. Louis.
Coach Ferentz Tuesday said Mitchell’s death was “way way too young for something like that to happen.”
