Greg Newsome II ready to go with long-time friend, new Browns teammate Cameron Mitchell

MENTOR — It wasn't Cameron Mitchell's first conversation when he got drafted by the Browns in the fifth round last Saturday. However, it didn't take long for Mitchell to have a conversation with the one person in the organization most excited to have him coming to Cleveland.

"He said, 'Let's go,'" Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II said Monday at the Girls High School Flag Football Championships the team hosted at Mentor High School. "'It's starting right now.' I mean, he has a great opportunity in front of him. He has a loaded room where it is a bunch of talent where he can learn and truly develop. So, yeah, I just said, 'let's go.' I was just ready for him to get to Cleveland."

Why would Newsome be so excited about the addition of another player at the same position? There's a multitude of reasons, to be honest.

Both Newsome and Mitchell played collegiately at Northwestern, including spending two seasons together in 2019 and 2020. When the former departed to become the Browns' first-round pick in 2021, he bequeathed his jersey No. 2 to his younger teammate.

It goes much further back than that, though.

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The two have known each other since they were still youths growing up in the Chicagoland area, playing 7-on-7 together for the Midwest BOOM organization.

So, when the Browns made Mitchell the No. 142 overall pick in the fifth round of last weekend's draft, it brought a full-circle moment for the two former Wildcats-turned-Browns.

"Our families are really close," Newsome said. "He went to Bolingbrook, which is where my family kind of lives at. So, our families are very close. Then, obviously, on the recruiting trail, I actually talked to Northwestern, 'You need to get him, too.' So, when he got there, obviously I'm his big brother there. As you can see, when I left I wanted him to wear No. 2. He wore No. 2, and did big things from it."

The first moment came, in an interesting twist, at Newsome's expense. After playing four games as a true freshman in 2019, he doubled that total by starting eight games for the Big Ten West champion Wildcats.

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With Newsome sidelined in the Big Ten Championship Game against undefeated Ohio State, Mitchell came in and recorded his first career interceptions off the Buckeyes' Justin Fields. When the two teams played again this past season in Evanston — despite Ohio State being undefeated and Northwestern heading to a 1-11 season — he had another big game despite being matched against Marvin Harrison Jr., breaking up three passes.

"We knew it from the whole season, though," Newsome said. "He was just a younger guy, so he didn't really have the opportunities. But, as you can see, when he was granted the opportunity, he did what he was supposed to do even this past year against a great Ohio State Buckeye team — he held arguably the best receiver in the country to a very minimal day. So I think that shows you exactly where ceiling is."

Mitchell joins a cornerback group in which the Browns have invested significant draft capital over the last several years. Newsome and Denzel Ward are former first-rounders, and third-round pick Martin Emerson Jr. was still the team's first draft pick last season.

Newsome doesn't see that as a crowding issue. He sees it a strength for the Browns.

"We're loaded," Newsome said. "The good thing about it is we got different guys, different sizes, different abilities. So I feel like we're a matchup nightmare for any team out there. We got bigger guys, we got smaller guys, we got shifter, so we got a whole, great group in it."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Greg Newsome II excited to be reunited on Browns with Cameron Mitchell