While the attention this year will be on the $4 million Nathaniel Glover Community Field and Stadium on campus at HBCU Edward Waters College, a talented football player with some “upside” got his shot to play on the program as a walk-on.
Mitchell McKinnon, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound quarterback coming out of Palatka High School, will resume his football career at EWC, enrolling at the black college earlier this year. And it’s predicted that big days are ahead of him.
PHS coach Willie Fells said, “They’re going to play him as a walk-on. They encouraged him to come.”
In his only full-time varsity season for the Panthers he passed for almost 1,000 yards in seven games in 2018, completing 56 of 100 passes for 979 yards and 11 touchdowns with only two interceptions, per Palatka Daily News.
Fells said, “They (EWC) showed him what they could offer. He had some things he had to get in line, which he has done and now he’s there. I think they see the athleticism as an upside. He only really played one year of football for us. I wish we’d had a little more time with him. When (college) coaches saw him in 2018, they liked his upside but just couldn’t take the chance on him.”
McKinnon was a three-time all-county basketball player during his time at PHS.
