Meet the Four Horses: Mandarin DBs lead Mustangs into FHSAA football final vs. Columbus

Circle Dec. 8 in orange and green.

In his mind, Jon Mitchell already has. The memories from Dec. 8, 2018, the date of Mandarin's first football championship, will last a lifetime.

"I watched my brother [Kris Mitchell, now at FIU and planning to transfer to Notre Dame] play, and he went crazy in that game," said the Mandarin defensive back, then a seventh-grader glued to every moment as Mandarin edged Miami Columbus 37-35 in Orlando in the 2018 Class 8A championship game.

This Dec. 8, Mitchell isn't just a spectator.

On the five-year anniversary of Mandarin's golden moment, Mitchell takes his place among the Four Horses of the Mustangs' secondary, riding against Miami Columbus in Friday's Florida High School Athletic Association Class 4M final at Tallahassee's Bragg Memorial Stadium.

Welcome to the secondary of the Mandarin Mustangs, where Mitchell, A.J. Belgrave-Shorter, Hylton (Drake) Stubbs and Tyler Jackson might as well signal famine, pestilence, destruction and death for opponents' hopes of passing the football.

No, they're not Notre Dame's fabled quartet, 99 years ago and 830 miles away. But the Four Horses of the Mandarin Mustangs form a defensive backfield like no other on the First Coast, and maybe beyond.

"I think we're the best secondary in North Florida, and not just North Florida but the whole of Florida," Mitchell said.

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Mitchell committed in the spring to play major college football at Penn State. Opposite-side cornerback Belgrave-Shorter likewise charts his future course for Happy Valley. And as for safety Stubbs, the junior can take his pick from a Who's Who of national powers.

On a team that's already loaded with premier prospects — Florida State-committed junior quarterback Tramell Jones, Miami-bound offensive tackle Deryc Plazz and five-star Alabama receiver recruit Jaime Ffrench Jr. among them — the defensive backs head the Mustang stampede.

"Right now, they're living up to what we thought they'd be," head coach Toby Bullock said of his Mandarin team.

Just look at their postseason run, where they've galloped into unbeaten Winter Park, state No. 1 Lake Mary, 2020 state champion Sanford Seminole and rising Broward County power Coconut Creek Monarch as Northeast Florida's first team ever to win four consecutive road playoffs.

Win in Tallahassee Friday, and Mandarin will ride to the home Corral with an FHSAA trophy as the spoils of victory.

"It's been mind-blowing every game," Stubbs said. "We keep executing and keep winning."

JON MITCHELL: FAMILY TRADITION

For Jon Mitchell, victory would continue an orange-and-green family tradition.

Older brothers Kris Mitchell and Nic Mitchell both preceded him on the Mandarin roster on the way to college football, and both were part of the Mustang team that lifted the trophy against Columbus five years ago.

A three-year starter, Mitchell's steady excellence has smoothed the transition for incoming transfers Stubbs and Jackson on a 30-takeaway defense.

"We just mesh really well," he said. "We came together as a team and it's made this program better."

Much better, come playoff time. Winter Park managed only 86 yards against Mandarin's defensive backs. Sanford Seminole barely tallied more yards passing (3) than interceptions thrown (2). Lake Mary QB Noah Grubbs, entering with 3,500 yards and 49 touchdowns, only threw for 155 with no scores on Mandarin in the playoff rematch.

And while Monarch quarterback A.J. Hairston did throw for 391 yards against Mandarin last week, the Mustangs had the game comfortably in hand, winning 51-21. Yards or no yards, they picked off the hosts three times.

Mitchell, as usual, has more than played his part: four interceptions, two forced fumbles, more than 60 tackles and reliable run support on a unit with takeaways, takeaways and more takeaways.

"We're just going crazy this year," he said.

A.J. BELGRAVE-SHORTER: TWO-WAY WEAPON

Like Mitchell, Belgrave-Shorter is heading to Penn State. Like Mitchell, he's a preseason selection to the Times-Union Super 11. And like Mitchell, he sees Mandarin's defense at the top of the Sunshine State.

"We had the goals of locking everybody down, becoming the best secondary and going to state," he said, "and that's what we're doing."

So what distinguishes the 6-foot, 175-pound Belgrave-Shorter from his cornerback teammate? Among other things, it's life on both sides of the ball.

Around the goal line and on two-point conversions, the Mustangs never stop finding new and unpredictable ways to get the ball into Belgrave-Shorter's hands, and it's paid off on the scoreboard: He's racked up 16 two-point tries this year.

On defense, he's broken up eight passes and intercepted four, including a pick-six against Lake Mary that helped the Mustangs avenge their regular-season loss.

"Not many teams go out there, go four times on the road and win four games," he said. "So that's a good experience for us, and we just want to finish it off and win the big title."

DRAKE STUBBS: THE TURNOVER KING

Though he's still uncommitted, it's almost easier by now to name the colleges that haven't offered Stubbs. Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Georgia and Michigan are among more than two dozen programs in pursuit for the 2025 class.

Quarterbacks are finding out why: He's deadly in pass coverage (six interceptions) and might be equally fearsome against the run, charging downhill to finish tackles with fury.

Stubbs never tasted the postseason in his first two years at Oakleaf. Now, in a secondary with future Big Ten corners at the bookends, he's thriving.

"It really let off a lot of stress on my game," Stubbs said. "I feel like I could really focus on my job, do my job and play well. I think that's why I've had one of my best seasons."

Stubbs celebrated a career performance last week against Monarch, intercepting two passes and returning a fumble for an 80-yard touchdown in his first-ever three-takeaway game.

"We were confident the whole time," Stubbs said. "I felt like every team that we played, we found their weaknesses and I feel like we exploited off that."

TYLER JACKSON: THE CHAMPION

Jackson hasn't received the intensity of recruiting buzz as his backfield colleagues, he owns something they don't: an FHSAA championship. Two, to be precise.

Jackson transferred to Mandarin this spring from Trinity Christian, where he had won state titles as a freshman in 2020 and as a sophomore in 2021. With the Mustangs, it hasn't taken long to adapt to his role in the secondary.

"We have a real big connection," he said. "We put in a lot of work and we trust our skills."

Jackson, who has two forced fumbles and 11 pass defenses on the year, pointed to the Mustangs' consecutive September losses to Creekside and Lake Mary as the turning point in Mandarin's year.

"We definitely locked back in," Jackson said. "That was our wake-up call."

He has a chance to become Northeast Florida's first three-time state champion since the Trinity players who lined up during the Conquerors' four-year title run from 2013 to 2016.

"It's my last high school game, so I'm going to play my hardest, so that's really it," he said. "Just going to go out there, give it up and give it my all, take my time in the film room, and the result's going to show on Friday."

MANDARIN'S BIG PICTURE

Practice time. On a Mandarin field with multiple future college players, every practice is a battle.

"It's definitely made me a way better player now, because the competition is crazy… it's great work going against an Alabama five-star receiver every day," Stubbs said.

Practice might be the ultimate evidence of Mandarin's secondary strength. Often, Bullock said, even an Mustang offense with future Florida State quarterback Jones and future Alabama receiver Ffrench can't make much headway in those sessions.

"Throwing on them in practice, in 7-on-7, not the funnest time for the offense," Bullock said. "There's days where we [the offense] just can't do squat."

The best part for the Mustangs: The secondary is just one of many units glowing orange-hot in time for the final.

Quarterback Jones needs only 40 yards against Columbus to become Jacksonville's first 3,000-yard passer since Carson Beck in 2008. Ffrench could surpass 2,000 career yards receiving on Friday. Linebacker Jackson Copeland and defensive end Grant Pettigrew combine for 39 tackles for loss and 15 sacks, leading an improved front seven.

What really distinguishes the 2023 Mustangs for Bullock, who directed the offense on Mandarin's 2018 championship squad, is the running game. Tiant Wyche has 1,709 rushing yards and Deshard Wescott 1,103 behind Plazz, Gavin Barton and their colleagues on a mauling line.

"The two backs and the offensive line, they're the catalysts," said Bullock, a former lineman himself at Marshall. "They make the engine of the car go."

The same Dec. 8 date. The same opponent. Mitchell, and his backfield colleagues, are counting on the same result against Columbus: "It all matches up perfectly."

"We've got to break tackles, we've got to make tackles and we have to play assignment-sound football," Bullock said. "If we do that, we can play with anybody."

Mandarin (11-3) vs. Miami Columbus (12-2)

Class 4M football championship

At Bragg Memorial Stadium, Tallahassee

3 p.m. Friday

Watch it: Bally Sports Sun and the Bally Sports app.

Road here: Mandarin d. Winter Park 29-16, d. Lake Mary 36-10, d. Sanford Seminole 28-24, d. Coconut Creek Monarch 51-21; Columbus d. Miami Goleman 49-6, d. South Dade 34-20, d. Davie Western 31-13, d. Tampa Plant 27-7.

Past titles: Mandarin, 2018; Columbus, 2022.

Key matchup: Mandarin OT Deryc Plazz vs. Columbus DE Willis McGahee IV.

The skinny: Five years after the Mustangs and Explorers played an all-time classic in Orlando, it's time for Mandarin-Columbus II. On top of their sensational secondary, including Jon Mitchell, A.J. Belgrave-Shorter and Drake Stubbs, Mandarin is loaded on offense: quarterback Tramell Jones (164 of 275, 2,940 yards, 31 TD, 7 INT), running back Tiant Wyche (186 carries, 1,709 yards, 25 TD) and receiver Jaime Ffrench (55 catches, 1,139 yards, 12 TD) rank among the best QB-RB-WR trifectas in Florida. But Mandarin isn't the only team with secondary stars. Columbus deploys an interception-magnet defensive back in junior Bryce Fitzgerald in an all-around punishing defense, limiting eight opponents to single digits. Fitzgerald is well into double figures in career picks and the pass rush packs a punch: Nebraska-committed Willis McGahee IV, son of the former Pro Bowl running back, and Miami-committed Daylen Russell combine for 20 sacks. The Explorers' offense might not match Mandarin's star power, but it's steady. James Madison-committed QB Alberto Mendoza (159 of 223, 1,950 yards, 22 TD, 5 INT) and Appalachian State-bound receiver Jose Leon (62 catches, 670 yards) link up efficiently and running backs Agyeman Addae and Edward Bandy each topped 500 yards.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Mandarin football: Jon Mitchell, AJ Belgrave-Shorter lead DBs in final