Mitch Mustain

Mitchell Stewart Mustain (born February 27, 1988) is an American former football player. He played high school football and baseball at Springdale High School in Springdale, Arkansas. Mustain played his first year of college football at the University of Arkansas in 2006 before transferring to the University of Southern California (USC) in 2007. Under NCAA transfer rules, he sat out the 2007 season and started playing for USC in the 2008 season. Mustain graduated from USC in 2010, and proceeded to have a professional football career in the AFL. He did not play baseball in college, opting instead to pursue a football career. Despite this, Mustain would briefly play in Minor League Baseball in 2012.

Early life Mustain receiving the annual Hall Trophy from high school football legend Kenneth Hall. By the time he left Southwest Junior High School, Mustain was already the object of high expectations; however he did not start for the Springdale High School varsity team until the first game of his junior season.

In 2004 as a junior, Mustain was 139-of-222 for 2,169 yards and 20 touchdowns as Springdale posted a 12–1 record and reached the Class AAAAA semifinals. He threw only five interceptions in 222 attempts and rushed for 350 yards and 14 touchdowns.

In 2005 as a senior, Mustain threw for 3,817 yards and set the state's highest classification single season record with 47 touchdowns and completed 69.3 percent of his pass attempts. Springdale went undefeated with a record of 14–0 and won the Class AAAAA state title, including three wins over nationally ranked opponents and a No. 2 ranking in one national poll.

He was named Mr. Football in Arkansas by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Mustain started at quarterback for the West team in the 2006 edition of U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, where he was awarded the Hall Trophy as National High School Player of the Year. He similarly swept the other major 'national player of the year' awards (Gatorade, USA Today, PARADE) for the season. Scout.com ranked him as the top high school recruit for the class of 2006. Mustain had told reporters he planned to play for either Notre Dame, Tennessee, Alabama, or his home-state Arkansas Razorbacks.

Mustain was the top quarterback in the nation coming out of high school in 2006, and was considered a better prospect than eventual Heisman Trophy–winner Tim Tebow.

In December 2005, Gus Malzahn, Mustain's coach at Springdale, was hired to be the new offensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas; this was widely taken to signal the Razorbacks willingness to shift their offense to adapt to Mustain's style of play. The hiring enabled the Razorbacks to recruit the highly touted quarterback. On January 16, 2006, Mustain informed Malzahn of his decision to commit to Arkansas, but only after Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis opted to offer quarterback recruit Jimmy Clausen a scholarship over Mustain. In addition to Malzahn, Mustain joined six of his high school teammates at Arkansas. helping guide the Razorbacks to 11th in the college football rankings. The offense was oriented around what was considered among the nation's best running back tandems, Darren McFadden (who would be the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy), Peyton Hillis, and Felix Jones; as a result, Mustain's statistics did not match his high school numbers in a more pass-oriented offense.

On Dec 20, Nutt announced that Dick would start for the Razorbacks in the Jan 1 Capital One Bowl against the Wisconsin Badgers; however, he stated that Mustain would also enter the game in the third series. The Badgers beat Arkansas, 17–14.

Mustain finished the season with 894 yards passing, completing 69 out of 132 passes with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Transfer from Arkansas On January 15, 2007, Malzahn announced he was leaving the Razorbacks to join the University of Tulsa. The day after Malzahn's announcement, Mustain requested permission to transfer to another university. It was eventually granted by Nutt. The announcement was one year to the day after Mustain had initially announced his decision to sign with the Razorbacks out of high school. He joined his former Springdale High School and Arkansas teammate, Damian Williams, who had transferred to USC the previous January. Mustain found the West Coast offense run at USC to be appealing; it differed from the spread offense run by Malzahn and appealed to his quarterback playing style.

Mustain became eligible to play again for the 2008 season, with three years of eligibility remaining. During fall camp before the 2008 season, starter Mark Sanchez suffered a dislocated left kneecap while warming up for practice; the injury sidelined Sanchez and threw his availability for the season opener at Virginia (and beyond) into question. As a result, Mustain and redshirt freshman Aaron Corp began alternating repetitions with the first team offense and competing for the possible starting spot. After missing nearly three weeks, Sanchez was cleared to play in the opener on the final day of fall camp; Corp was selected as his back-up because he demonstrated a better command of the offense, however, head coach Pete Carroll stated the competition for the back-up spot would continue through the season. The competition resulted in Mustain regaining the second spot for some games and Corp for others throughout the season.

At the end of the 2008 season, Sanchez opted to forgo his final season and enter the NFL draft, leaving the competition for the starting position in the 2009 season open between Mustain, Corp, and in-coming true freshman Matt Barkley, who like the other two also received major accolades as a high school player. By the end of spring practices, Mustain was placed third in the order behind Corp and Barkley.

After the 2009 season, Corp transferred to Richmond, and after off-season practices, Mustain became Barkley's back-up for the 2010 season. Before the season, Mustain was diagnosed with - and started treatment for - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At the same time, Coach Pete Carroll left to coach in the NFL and was replaced by Lane Kiffin, who stuck with Barkley as the starter.

Mustain was arrested on February 1, 2011, for selling his prescription ADHD medication.

Statistics Year Team Passing Rushing 2006 Arkansas 69 132 52.3 894 6.8 10 9 120.5 13 -20 -1.5 1 2008 USC 11 16 68.8 157 9.8 2 2 167.4 4 -8 -2.0 0 2010 USC 41 73 56.2 348 4.8 1 1 98.0 6 10 1.7 1 Career 121 221 54.8 1,399 6.3 13 12 116.5 23 -18 -0.8 2

Professional football career Mustain was rated the 24th best quarterback in the 2011 NFL draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats Mustain went undrafted in the 2011 NFL draft, and signed a 10-day free agent contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League on June 1, 2011, to see if he could win a backup job. He was unable to impress and was released by the Tiger-Cats on June 10, 2011.

San Jose SaberCats In January 2013, Mustain signed with the San Jose SaberCats to backup legendary Arena Football League quarterback, Aaron Garcia. In April 2013, the Sabercats signed Russ Michna as their new starting quarterback, while Mustain remained the backup and Garcia was traded. Mustain replaced Michna on June 1, 2013, after Michna was injured and was able to make his first AFL start the next week while Michna was out.

Mustain's rookie option was exercised by the SaberCats in the offseason.

San Antonio Talons On January 27, 2014, Mustain was traded, along with Jabari Fletcher, to the San Antonio Talons in exchange for Joe Sykes. After starting the first three games of the season for the Talons, Mustain was placed on reassignment on April 1.

Career statistics Year Team Passing Rushing 2013 San Jose 50 93 53.8 632 11 3 91.33 2 -14 0 2014 San Antonio 49 99 49.5 538 7 5 62.61 3 3 2 Career 99 192 51.6 1,170 18 8 76.52 5 -11 2

Baseball career It was announced on February 9, 2012, that the Chicago White Sox had signed Mustain to a minor league contract. Mustain, who had not pitched since high school, threw a 90 mph fastball at a tryout in front of a White Sox scout in January 2012. While attending USC, Mustain commented to a reporter that he had considered once again pursuing baseball though he never played for the Trojans during his time there. Mustain reported to spring training with the White Sox on March 8, 2012. On June 19, Mustain made his professional debut for the rookie-level Bristol White Sox against the Bluefield Blue Jays. Throwing the 8th and 9th innings, Mustain gave up two hits and recorded two strikeouts in two scoreless innings. The White Sox lost 7–2 in the season opener. Mustain made eleven appearances with Bristol before moving on to the Single-A Kannapolis Intimidators, where he pitched in eight contests. Overall, he pitched in 19 games in 2012, going 2–2 with a 4.63 ERA, 12 strikeouts, and one save.