Keaton Mitchell (born January 17, 2002) is an American football running back for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the East Carolina Pirates and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Ravens after the 2023 NFL Draft.
Early life
Mitchell was born on January 17, 2002, in McDonough, Georgia. He is the son of Anthony Mitchell, who played several years in the National Football League (NFL) and won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens. He attended Eagle's Landing Christian Academy and helped them reach four consecutive state championships, running for a total of 4,347 yards and 88 touchdowns just during his junior and senior years combined, as they won 54 of 56 games. He was a Class A Private Offensive Player of the Year and Class A Region 5 Player of the Year honoree, committing to play college football at East Carolina (ECU) after his graduation.
College career
As a true freshman at East Carolina in 2020, Mitchell appeared in nine games while starting two, and posted 88 rush attempts for 443 yards and two touchdowns, as well as 11 receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown. In 2021, he started all 12 games and recorded over 1,000 rushing yards, becoming the first to do so at ECU since Tay Cooper in 2013. He was a first-team all-conference choice and led the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in both total rushing yards (1,132) and all-purpose yards per game (115.83), while additionally placing high in the conference leaderboards in four other statistics. He posted a total of four 100-yard rushing games that season, including a 222-yard performance against Tulane which was the best all-time for an ECU freshman.
As a sophomore in 2022, Mitchell ran for 1,452 yards and scored 14 touchdowns, while being the national FBS leader in runs of more than 10 yards, with 54. He ran for over 100 yards in nine out of their 12 games, additionally tallying 27 catches for 252 yards and one score. He was named an honorable mention All-American by Pro Football Focus (PFF) and was first-team All-AAC for the second straight year. Mitchell declared for the NFL Draft after the season, and finished his stint at East Carolina with 3,027 rushing yards and an average of 6.5 yards-per-carry.
Professional career
Mitchell was projected to be selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. He was also selected in the fourth round of the 2023 USFL draft by the New Orleans Breakers. On May 5, 2023, Mitchell was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent. Pro Football Focus considered Mitchell to be one of the ten best undrafted free agent signings from the 2023 NFL Draft class. On August 29, 2023, the Ravens announced that he had made the initial 53-man roster, but he was placed on injured reserve two days later. He was activated on October 14. Mitchell made his NFL debut the next day against the Tennessee Titans, exclusively on the special teams.