Mitchell loves being the early bird
Monday through Friday, sophomore point guard Sheldon Mitchell (Waxhaw, N.C./Cuthbertson) climbs out of bed like every other high school kid in America. The difference is Mitchell rises with the early birds. “I wake up around 5:40 and I basically get up brush my teeth and grab a Gatorade and head to school,” Mitchell said. “I get there about 6:05 and I shoot and workout until 7:45.”
There are plenty of players working out in the morning, but more than one college coach in the last month commented about the attention to detail and intensity with which Mitchell approaches his workouts. One even caught him working in a back gym in a pre-workout before the actual workout in front of college coaches.
“I try to run up and down a lot and work on one-dribble pull-ups, right-handed floaters and the things I need to stay consistent with,” Mitchell said. “I work on ballhandling and try to use moves I use in games to have it down pat. I want to be as good as I can be. My dad always told me that the ones who work the hardest get the most out of it. I love being in the gym by myself, able to work out and get better.”
Head coaches from Wake Forest, South Carolina and Charlotte laid eyes on him during the period. Assistants repping Clemson, VCU, Virginia Tech and Memphis stopped to check on the 6-foot-2 point man. North Carolina’s 2014 class is laced with talent and Mitchell’s one season away from receiving fitting high-major attention; his time is on the horizon. He’s a little different than most in-state kids who grow up raised on the ACC. Mitchell’s changed allegiances a lot, mainly because of his location. “Growing up in Washington and near Seattle (my dream school) was probably Washington because I was good friends with Venoy Overton and Terrence Ross and I knew Tony Wroten in seventh grade. Now, I don’t really know.”
If my hunch is correct, he’s on the verge of becoming a favorite of a lot of teams.