Joe Mixon’s Decision to Turn Pro Is Best for All Concerned
By Chip Rouse
Redshirt Sophomore running back Joe Mixon has made the decision on his future that the Oklahoma football program, fans and the media have been waiting for. He has decided to end his college career and move on to professional football.
This news probably isn’t as big as some might think, especially after the release of the disturbing video showing the highly talented Sooner all-purpose star striking a female student with a damaging right hook to the face.
Mixon advised Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma coaches on Thursday that he was going to declare for the 2017 NFL Draft. He had two years of collegiate eligibility remaining, but came to the decision that now is the right time to make the move to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL.
The former five-star running back could have elected to come back and join Baker Mayfield and several of his teammates who have announced they are forgoing the draft and returning next season. Without question, Mixon would have been the featured running back, and he might also have benefited by putting another year of model behavior between him and the regretable incident.
But returning could also have put him at risk of an injury, which would negate all of the reasons for staying another year at Oklahoma.
According to Ryan Aber of the Oklahoma City Oklahoman, Pro Football Focus lists Mixon as No. 24 on the NFL prospect list. There are some NFL general managers, according to Aber, who believe the OU star running back is “undraftable” because of his violent history.
Aber reported that Mixon said he received a first-round grade from the NFL Draft advisory board.
If the feedback Mixon is receiving is accurate, he should leave now and take his chances at the next level. It also literally distances him from all the controversy and fallout in and around the University of Oklahoma and the proximity of the incident.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t anything he or anyone associated with the University of Oklahoma could do not to have the subject brought up every time Mixon took the field representing the Sooners.
Mixon’s decision to move on also enables the Oklahoma football program to get the issue behind it. What’s done is done. There’s nothing that can be done to change the past. What matters now is how such matters are dealt with from here on out.
It was bad enough to hear and read about the incident that occurred in the early morning hours of August 14, 2014, outside of Pickleman’s Café, a popular night spot in Norman. When the video finally surfaced, those mental images became horribly real.
The public reaction was almost immediate, and the outrage may have been even greater than it was immediately following the actual incident two years before.
After the release of the video, Mixon wasn’t the sole subject of the public criticism. There were widespread accusations that head coach Bob Stoops should have taken sterner measures in dealing with the situation but was more interested in protecting a star player than doing what many perceived to be the right thing by dismissing the player.
Mixon and his legal counselors were hopeful the release of the video would clear the air once and for all and allow the redshirt sophomore to move on. The video preceded by several days a press conference in which the California-native, Mixon, publicly apologized to the assault victim, Amelia Molitor, her family and others affected by the incident.
It may have been egregiously late in coming (Mixon says he was advised not to saying anything because of pending litigation), but his comments and words of regret and apology at the press conference seemed very sincere and from the heart.
Had the video been made public earlier in the timeline of this regrettable situation, perhaps time, coupled with a sincere and sustained display of solid character and superlative personal behavior, might have cooled some of the enormity of the public disgust toward Mixon. But coming two years after the fact, all the video release did was pour gasoline on a still smoldering fire.
Coming as it did, just a week before the Oklahoma football team left for New Orleans and the Sooners’ date with Auburn in the Sugar Bowl, the issue came front and center all over again in the coverage leading up to, diring and following the Super Bowl.
Longtime network play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger even found himself caught up in all the controversy surrounding Mixon with comments the ESPN sports broadcaster made during this year’s Sugar Bowl game.
As reported by USA Today and hundreds of media outlets across the country and heard live by all of us who tuned in to Monday’s Sugar Bowl coverage on ESPN, Musburger made this controversial comment in the second quarter of the game:
"“Let’s hope this young man (referring to Mixon) makes the most of his (second) chance and goes on to have a career in the National Football League.”"
That comment struck a giant nerve on social media, which caused devices to begin pinging continuously from coast to coast, like rippling thunder following a lightning bolt.
As a result of the firestorm created by Musburger’s comment, he attempted to clarify his remarks later in the game:
"“Let me make something perfectly clear: What he (Mixon) did with that young lady was brutal, uncalled for…he’s apologized, he was tearful. He got a second chance from Bob Stoops. I happen to pull for people with second chances, okay?“Let me make it absolutely clear that I hope he has a wonderful career and teaches people with that brutal, violent video, okay?”"
So get set for a new chapter in the Joe Mixon story. Unfortunately, his off-the-field actions will forever marr an otherwise stellar college football career. Mixon finished the 2016 season with 1,274 yards rushing and 2,027 for his career at OU, which puts him 29th on the Sooner career rushing list. That list is now topped by his teammate, Samaje Perine, with 4,122 career yards on the ground.
Mixon also was a sure-handed receiver out of the backfield. He was the Sooners No. 2 receiver this season, with 37 catches and five touchdown receptions.
His 180 all-purpose yards (91 rushing and 89 receiving) in the Sugar Bowl win over Auburn should won’t hurt his NFL Draft consideration, either.
We’ll have to wait until April 27-29 to see how NFL teams weigh in on Mixon’s future as a pro prospect.
It is interesting to note that the Kansas City Chiefs took a chance with Tyreek Hill, who had a domestic violence issue in his past, selecting the NFL rookie sensation in the fifth round of the 2016 draft.
All Hill did this season is catch 61 passes, second most on the playoff-bound Chiefs’ team, for 593 yards and six touchdowns; pick up 253 yards on the ground and three rushing TD; return one kickoff for a TD, and two long punt returns for touchdowns.
The next chapter for Joe Mixon is yet to be written. I, like Brent Musberger, hope he continues to turn his life around and does well at the next level.