Mitchell Bobbitt was once just a kicker.
Now, he’s Blue Ridge’s own Swiss-army knife.
Bobbit, a senior for the Tigers, began his varsity career as a freshman — almost exclusively the team’s extra point and kickoff guy. He’s added a few more bullet points to his resume since then.
Bobbit still serves as the team’s kicker. He’s on the field for every kickoff and extra point. But he’s the punter now, too. He’s a defensive back and safety when needed. Bobbit was a kick returner last season. He expects to add punt returner to his arsenal this year.
To top it all off, last year, Bobbitt was Blue Ridge’s leading wide receiver in total yards.
You’d have a hard time picking a moment he’s not on the field.
“It’s definitely a lot more pressure being on the field all the time,” said Bobbitt. “But I know all of the work is going to pay off, and I’m going to get my jobs done.”
Bobbitt says he never saw himself playing a role this big for the Tigers. But now that it’s here, he isn’t taking it for granted.
“I grew up, when I was a younger guy on the team, looking up to receivers like [former Tigers] Tucker Massey and Brody Fowler,” said Bobbitt. “I never thought I’d be playing as big a role for the team as those guys did. But now that I’m a senior, that’s sort of exactly what I’m doing.”
Blue Ridge head coach John Boggs remembers when Bobbitt was a much smaller freshman, concerned with nothing but kicking the ball through the uprights. Long gone are those days.
Boggs has watched Bobbitt become a man of many hats.
“He’s matured so much,” said Boggs. “As a freshman, all that kid really cared about was kicking the ball. Now, he wants to do whatever he can to help the team win. Shoot, if we wanted to send him out there to throw the ball, he’d be willing to do that.”
Aside from Bobbitt’s growth attitude-wise, the senior has also shown growth physically. Bobbitt credits Blue Ridge strength coach Cole Armstrong for helping him pack on muscle, in turn improving his kicking game.
“Weightlifting has been huge for me,” said Bobbitt. “Building my leg strength has helped me astronomically. I had the technique pretty much down freshman and sophomore years, but I just didn’t have the strength. We have done pooch kickoffs the last couple of seasons, but there’s no reason this year I don’t kick them all through the end zone.”
Bobbitt, who also plays soccer and runs track for the Tigers, recently attended the Ray Guy Prokicking Top Prospect Camp in Kentucky. Competing against dozens of other kickers across the country, Bobbitt finished among the top three in several key kicking and punting categories.
He hopes to play in college, but first, Bobbitt wants to assure everyone sees the growth in the Blue Ridge program — the same way they see the clear growth in him.
“We need to take some more steps,” said Bobbitt. “We improved last year, but we’ve got more room to go as a team. We’ve been centered this offseason on being a team and working better together. I think that’s what will help us take those steps and give us success this season.”
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