Mitch King

ToughJ.Riggins

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Nov 19, 2006
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Very pathetic that King wasn't drafted. What is the NFL's excuse for the lack of white DTs? Elite whites on average would seem to have more qualities that would make a top DT.
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dwid

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Feb 17, 2008
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I wish the Saints would have picked him up, we are extremely thin at the DT position, we could have used him.

Brian Young was released because he had another surgery on his knee. They might let him be a coach for a year and maybe come back if he heals up (shucks isnt that nice of them) He, like Ellis, even though are 3-techs demanded double teams quite a bit and he was good to have in the rotation and when Ellis went out last year and Young was the main starter we actually had better D-line play, we held Adrian Peterson to like 30 yards or something low like that


Hollis Thomas while fat and out of shape most of the time was decent sometimes at NT. He was released too.

We should have had Ellis at the NT (even though he doesnt have prototypical size he can handle it and still get penetration) and Young at the 3-tech. I was hoping to get Mitch King to do something similar.Edited by: dwid
 

Don Wassall

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King gets praise from, among all people, none other than Mel Kiper:
<H1>King tall in stature</H1>
<H2>Undrafted tackle passed up other teams to earn shot with Titans</H2>


Mitch King is hungry. He's angry. Furious.


The former Iowa defensive tackle waited two days to be selected in the NFL Draft  all for naught.


"Everybody says I'm too short," said the 6-foot-2 King, who expected to be drafted between rounds three and five.


Nobody called.


"That's probably why I wasn't drafted," he said. "But it makes me have a little bit bigger chip on my shoulder."


King turned down bigger signing bonuses and thinner defensive line rotations to sign with the Titans as an undrafted free agent. The Titans have one of his football idols in defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch as well as defensive line coach Jim Washburn, whose reputation for developing atypical players is well known.


King could be the next free agent defensive lineman to make the Titans' roster in training camp. Dave Ball did it last summer, rebounding from a year out of football.


After all, King is accustomed to knocking that chip on his shoulder off, and around, in the form of tackling ball carriers.


In the Big Ten, King was revered as a non-stop ball of energy, tough to block. He amassed 228 tackles and 171¼2 sacks in his career with the Hawkeyes, drawing comparisons to Iowa predecessors now in the NFL  Aaron Kampman (Green Bay) and Jonathan Babineaux (Atlanta).


Problem is, he is also considered a tweener  too short to play defensive end, too small to play defensive tackle  on the typical NFL defensive line. NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said he expects King to "beat out" the Titans' second-round pick, defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks.


"I think he's more than a great college player with limited pro potential," said Kiper, who has covered the draft for ESPN since 1984. "He has a chance to make that team. ... I think Sen'Derrick Marks was a little overrated going in. With a defensive line coach down there that knows how to develop players, that's a great situation."


Marks played more than half of last season at Auburn with an ankle injury, and finished with 32 tackles in 11 games.


"I couldn't really get full strength back because I was still out there practicing," Marks said the day after he was selected 62nd overall. "I tried to wrap it up real tight. I had to go out and practice on it and then play. Sometimes I felt like I didn't want to go because I felt like I was going to let the team down by not being able to go 100 percent, but if the coach was counting on me and the team was also counting on me then I just had to go out and give it my all."
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The Titans return defensive tackles Tony Brown, Jason Jones and Kevin Vickerson from last season. Ball plays both tackle and end. Newcomers also include former Vanderbilt standout Jovan Haye, who last played for Tampa Bay.
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With All-Pro Albert Haynesworth's departure in free agency, the Titans might decide to keep more than their normal stable of defensive tackles. After all, their belief is you can never have too many fresh bodies to play the position most responsible for disrupting offensive game plans.


Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said he plans to keep King at defensive tackle "if we can bulk him up a little bit ... but we want him to maintain his quickness."


King said he met Vanden Bosch on Friday morning. Vanden Bosch is still a big deal in Iowa. Born in Larchwood, he played at Lyon High School before leaving for the University of Nebraska.


"His way of playing up here is unprecedented," King said of the two-time Pro Bowl selection. "You look up to a guy like that. You just hope and pray you can play like that some day."


About 20 teams showed initial interest in King, with Tennessee, Indianapolis, Seattle and Philadelphia the finalists for his services. When the Titans offered, King was ready to sign.


"I felt Coach Washburn and his staff here would give me the best opportunity to come in, showcase my abilities," King said. "Me and his mind-set mesh pretty well. I felt good about how many guys they have and I felt good that I'm going to come in and compete."full article: [url]http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20090504/SPORTS/9050 40347[/url]
 

whiteCB

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Apr 14, 2005
Messages
2,282
Mel Kiper was surprisingly all over the Mitch King bandwagon right after the draft was over on ESPN. Kiper was going on and on how King is one of the best guys out there for a team to pick up and that he should have been drafted. All of this from a guy who I thought would view King as an "unathletic overachieving farm boy from Iowa". Well I guess Mel does have a little tiny weeny spot in his heart for white players after all. lol
 
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