BLUE EYE, Mo. — An all-around player who can take his game into the paint or shoot from 3-point range, Blue Eye’s Andrew Mitchell became the first area player in the Class of 2019 to make a college commitment when he announced he was going to play at College of the Ozarks in the spring.

A 6’4 wing player, Mitchell is spending the offseason compering for Storm Elite, a team that features several area standouts, including Eminence’s Trent McBride among others.

“Playing for Storm Elite has been absolutely amazing,” Mitchell says. “They’re a great bunch of guys to play with and Pete McBride is a great coach to be coached by.”

Mitchell says his dad Brian Mitchell has had the biggest influence on his basketball career to date. Mitchell has an older brother who played at Blue Eye and Kansas Wesleyan, as well as an older sister who played NCAA Division I volleyball at Tula. His younger brother Isaiah will be a freshman at Blue Eye.

“I think my dad has a huge influence on my basketball career,” Andrew Mitchell says. “He does my workouts and conditioning and always encouraging me and giving me great advice and I’m very thankful for all he does for me.”

Mitchell says he was a fan of former Duke and NBA standout Christian Laettner, taking inspiration from his toughness.

“I like watching Christian Laettner because of his gritty play and how he’s so aggressive inside, but he can also shoot so he has an inside out game which I try and do when I play,” Mitchell says.

Mitchell says he grew up around the College of the Ozarks basketball program and had a natural comfort level at the school as he attended numerous camps at the school as a kid..

“My college choice involved a lot of discussions with my coaches, my dad, and a lot of prayer,” Mitchell said. “I’m very familiar with the school and the coaches. A factor in my decision was distance from home and if I felt at home with the campus, so when I visited C of O I felt comfortable walking around campus and looking at the classrooms and everything and I felt like I could go to school there and be happy for four years. 

“So after my visit I thought and prayed about it a lot and finally I told my dad that I think I know what I want to do and told him I wanted to play basketball at C of O.”