Elon’s Mitchell Grabs National Football Honor

ELON, N.C. – After earning CAA Football’s Defensive Player of the Week recognition earlier in the day, Elon linebacker Corey Mitchell was named the STATS National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Phoenix’s triple-overtime victory over Gardner-Webb.

Mitchell is the first Elon player to earn a national player of the week award since Aaron Mellette in 2012 and the first defensive player to do so since Chad Nkang in 2006.

Mitchell, who hails from Jacksonville, N.C., tallied a personal best 18 total tackles in the Phoenix’s 21-13 win over the Runnin’ Bulldogs on Saturday night. Of his 18 tackles, eight were solo stops. The junior added had one tackle for a loss of three yards and forced a fumble as Elon evened its record at 1-1 on the season. Mitchell also broke up one pass. His forced fumble set up the first Phoenix touchdown of the game.

Through two games this year, Mitchell leads CAA Football with 24 total tackles, including 14 solo takedowns. He has 2.0 tackles for a loss of 14 yards, one sack, one pass break up and one forced fumble.

Elon will open up the home portion of its schedule this Saturday, Sept. 19, against North Carolina A&T. Game time is set for 6 p.m.