Why this former 4-star recruit left national champion Georgia to join the TCU Horned Frogs

His TCU teammates say Tymon Mitchell’s storytelling cracks them up. They also say his singing is incredible.

His coaches call him an astute student of the game .

And, oh, by the way, he’s the only member of the Horned Frogs who is also already a national champion.

A year ago, the 6-foot-3, 315-pound defensive lineman won the national championship as a member of the Georgia Bulldogs, a role player on the title team that beat Alabama.

Now, a member of the Horned Frogs, Mitchell has a chance to get another one when TCU faces his former team in the CFP championship on Monday at SoFi Stadium.

So what caused him to leave the national champions and come to Fort Worth and play for a team that was projected to finish seventh in the Big 12?

“Mainly the playing time,” Mitchell said during Saturday’s CFP championship media day. “I loved the staff, I love the guys over there, it just wasn’t going to work out with playing time.

“I picked up a lot (at Georgia). Learning how to be a competitor, learning how to grow from practice and learning how to get better.”

He played in just three games over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, totaling five tackles. After playing in six games, in 2022, he knew it was time to move on. So, he packed his championship ring and joined the Horned Frogs, who finished 5-7 in 2021.

A few days later, he declared himself eligible for the transfer portal.

“I was on a plane to Fort Worth the next day,” he said. He was one of several players first-year coach Sonny Dykes added from the portal.

“I took the visit and I saw the guys we had around. A few of them I had heard about before. It was interesting to me because I saw the talent that was here and was curious why they weren’t better. The foundation was there and set during the offseason.”

A four-star recruit ranked the ninth-best prospect in Tennessee in 2018, Mitchell said TCU — then coached by Gary Patterson — did not recruit him when he was at Franklin Road Academy.

He has become a valuable member of TCU’s defensive line, where assistant coach Joe Gillespie said he has had an immediate impact on the field and off of it.

“He had several years to sit there and grow,” Gillespie said. “It was obvious he had been coached very well. The thing that Tymon brings to the table is that he understands the game of football. His IQ of it was a lot larger than we thought.”

“It really came to fruition for us when we started game planning for (season opener against) Colorado. You started hearing him talk about some of the adjustments up front because of how he studied the game ... it made some of the guys’ eyes rise up.”

His teammates immediately embraced him.

“He’s a very smart football player,” teammate Dylan Horton, one of the Horned Frog’s defensive leaders, said. Several other defensive linemen — including Caleb Fox ,George Ellis III and Lwal Uguak agreed with Horton’s assessment.

They also said he brings another talent to the locker room.

“The man can sing,” Uguak said. “I mean really, really sing.”

Defensive line coach JaMarkus McFarland said it would not be rare for Mitchell to start signing in the middle of a practice.

“His personality naturally adapted to the room,” McFarland said. “He just loves football. He walks into the door and he’s dancing and he’s dancing until he leaves. He enjoys practice, he enjoys games. It’s very contagious.”

The prideful and confident Mitchell’s response: “Of course, I can sing, I’m from Music City, baby,” he said, smiling.

He also owns something that his teammates want: a championship ring.

He’s shown his 2022 ring to only a couple of teammates. Uguak said he’s seen it. “I asked to see it.”

On Monday, he will have an opportunity to get another ring and his teammates one of their own. If that happens, they may all be singing at midfield at SoFi Stadium.

This story was originally published January 7, 2023 at 2:25 PM.