Another sequence of bad luck for Jaden Mitchell.Β
During his weekly press conference leading up to the Arizona Wildcats' season opener at Utah, UA head coach Kevin Sumlin said the redshirt freshman wide receiver will miss the year with a knee injury.Β
Sumlin also added freshman running back Frank Brown will miss 2-3 weeks with an MCL injury. Both Mitchell and Brown posted photos on Instagram of them wearing crutches and knee braces over the weekend.Β
βSo many emotions and not a lot of words,β Mitchell posted. βJust know this is gonna be a hell of a story.β
Mitchell's latest setback is on his right knee; He suffered a left-knee injury in his senior year at Las Vegas' Desert Pines High School in 2017, which delayed his start at the UA until Sumlin's first season in 2018. The 5-foot-9-inch, 175-pound Mitchell also tested positive for COVID-19 during the summer and said he lost 14 pounds during his four-week quarantine.Β
Brown, on the other hand, is out for Arizona's game at Utah and will most likely miss the home opener against USC and the possibly the following week at Washington.Β
"It wasn't planned, but it's a part of the story now," Brown said on Instagram. "Boy I tell ya, this (gonna) be one heck of a story."Β
The 6-foot, 200-pound Houston native, who was the UA's highest-rated prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, impressed coaches and teammates during Arizona's preseason training camp over the last month, and emerged as a possible contributor to this season's running back group along with Gary Brightwell, Nathan Tilford, Michael Wiley and fellow freshman Jalen John.Β
While Brown posted back-to-back 1,000-plus-yard seasons as a sophomore and junior at Sterling High School, he showcased his pass-catching talents with 42 receptions for 1,104 yards and 15 touchdowns, while rushing for 848 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior.Β
