MITCHELL PLAYS WITHOUT FEAR
Former coach praises Stamps QB
From his office in Cheney, on the Riverpoint Campus at Eastern Washington, Beau Baldwin is reminiscing. Beau on Bo. “It’s so eerily similar to when he was here, watching him play up there now,” says the Eastern Washington Eagles’ coach of his 2011 national-title winning quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. “How he plays the game with no fear. How he just continues to find ways to win, no matter what. That’s what stick with me about him. Resiliency. Mental toughness. Whatever you want to call it.
“When he’s in sync, rolling obviously he’s great. But even if he goes through moments — like all great quarterbacks do — where he doesn’t have his best, he never lets that bother him going into that fourth quarter, into those final drives.
“I think — no, I know — that I’ve never had a quarterback mentally that no matter what just happened, he’s going forward. Always moving forward. And that allows him, in my opinion, to be great late in games.
“It’s impressive. Always fun to watch.”
Mitchell, who leads the Stampeders into the 102nd Grey Cup game at BC Place on Sunday, laughs when Baldwin’s comments are relayed to him.
“It’s kind of a backhanded compliment,” he said. “Because I’ve put myself in a lot of situations where I had to come back. At SMU (Southern Methodist University) there were a lot of interceptions so I had to learn quick to have that Etch-A- Sketch type of memory. Draw up the play, then erase it. Draw up the play, then erase it. Whether it’s a touchdown or an interception.”
Baldwin’s propensity to mentor quarterbacks is well documented. As an assistant at Central Washington, he tutored Jon Kitna, who would go on to play 15 seasons in the NFL. At Eastern, he steered Zak Hill and Erik Meyer to All American status. Both Edmonton Eskimos’ current pivots, Mike Reilly and Matt Nichols, are EWU alum.
Baldwin’s current pitcher, Vernon Adams, is getting a lot of buzz down south. And now, Mitchell. So the man obviously knows the position.
“Bo,” says Beau, “has all the different tools to play at a high level. First off, let’s talk about his arm strength. He can make every throw. Doesn’t matter what throw you want to call, what route you want to call. Whether you want to go to the wide side of the field. He can make both the laser throw and the touch throw.
“He’s incredibly accurate and confident in how he throws the deep ball and that puts fear in a defence. And he doesn’t get enough credit for being able to extend plays.
“He’s one of many Eastern guys who’ve been on our team who play in Canada, so we’re very interested in them and how they’re doing.”
Mitchell is equally appreciative of his former tutor.
“He was really important because he kinda brought me back down to earth. Going from winning the job in my freshman year my head got a little big. Transferring from D-1 (SMU) to D1AA, I probably thought I was going to just waltz in and take everything over.
“When I got there, coach Baldwin just looked at me said: ‘Hey, this job isn’t yours. You have to compete for it. And you have a lot of things to work on.’ And then he started naming those things. On and on. And I’m like ‘Oh, man, what is going on?”
That’s who he is. He knows how to develop a quarterback. And that’s why he’s developed so many. He’s one of the big reasons I’m where I’m at today.”