We were a touch premature in blowing the creepy kazoo for WR prospect Mycial Allen the other day (although it might be more precise to say that he was premature, since it was his declaration on Twitter that he'd committed to Iowa that got the ball rolling on that particular story), but this one seems legit: Iowa added the tenth member of its 2013 football recruiting class today, landing St. Louis ATH Derrick Mitchell, Jr. Rivals ($) has a quote from one of his coaches saying that it's official and a done deal; unlike the Allen commitment, this one is also backed up by Eric Johnson's Twitter feed, which has tended to be very reliable. (On an unrelated note, Johnson's Twitter feed doesn't back up the commitment Malik Rucker made last weekend, so... stay tuned on that front, I guess.)
So what's Mitchell's deal? He's a consensus 3* recruit (among Rivals, Scout, and ESPN; 247 Sports hasn't ranked him yet), but unlike Allen (also a 3* recruit), Mitchell has a much more impressive offer sheet. Mitchell reportedly chose Iowa over offers from Cincinnati, Kansas State, Nebraska, Iowa State, and Indiana. Mitchell is listed at 6-0, 185, with a (fake) 40 time of 4.5.
Where does he fit in? Good question. Rivals and Scout list him at WR, while ESPN slots him in as an ATH. On the field, Mitchell did a little bit of everything for his high school team a year ago: 808 yards passing, 518 yards rushing, 277 yards receiving, 17 touchdowns scored, plus 39 tackles and an interception on defense. So, yeah, he's versatile. His lack of positional focus means that he's probably not a polished wide receiver, so expecting him to make an impact there from Day One would be unfair. On the other hand, if he does come in as a wide receiver, he'll get to train under Soup -- who has just a little bit of experience at turning explosive athletes into highly productive college receivers (cough, cough).
Even if he doesn't see the field immediately at wide receiver, Mitchell appears to be an explosive athlete with good instincts in the return game (judging by his highlights). Good return men have been something of a white whale for Iowa in recent years; if that doesn't change before Mitchell sets foot on campus, there's no reason to think that he won't be given every opportunity to compete for a return job. Finally, as Morehouse notes, Mitchell is the latest product of the St. Louis pipeline to reach Iowa -- he's following in the footsteps of Adrian Clayborn, Marvin McNutt, and Christian Kirksey, to name a few St. Louis prep stars who've had (or are having) strong careers at Iowa. It's nice to keep that pipeline flowing. Welcome aboard, Mr. Mitchell.