Malcolm Mitchell's Magical Foray into Children's Books

Too often, NFL draft prospects are viewed as commodities instead of individuals. Each aspiring athlete has interests and dreams that extend beyond the gridiron. 

Malcolm Mitchell's imagination expands far beyond the stifling white lines of his chosen sport. For Mitchell, a career in the NFL currently serves as his primary goal, but he already discovered his life's work.

The 22-year-old wide receiver is a voracious reader and a published author. His ultimate goal is to help others through reading. 

His message is simple yet powerful.

"If you pick up a book and read, your life will never be the same by the end of the book," Mitchell said in a phone interview with Bleacher Report. "You grant yourself the ability to reach your full potential by reading."

As an NFL draft prospect, the former Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver stands out in many areas.

Last season, the Valdosta, Georgia, native led the team with 58 receptions, 865 receiving yards and five touchdown catches. 

He also turned heads at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis with an official 4.45-second 40-yard dash, which ranked fifth among the wide receivers in attendance. 

During his career in Athens, Mitchell experienced a metamorphosis both on and off the field. In many ways, he found himself. 

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

As a member of the Bulldogs football team, the highly regarded recruit became a man without a position. He played both wide receiver and defensive back throughout his career. In doing so, Mitchell earned the program's Charley Trippi Most Versatile Player award as a sophomore. 

His time on defense dwindled after he suffered a torn ACL during the 2013 season opener against the Clemson Tigers. Mitchell still played some defense the following two campaigns, but he primarily concentrated on becoming a top wide receiver. He finally became the team's top offensive target as a senior. 

Off the field, Mitchell felt he was behind once he stepped onto campus. Reading became his pathway to a more successful life. The wide receiver admitted he previously hated reading. More importantly, he couldn't read very well at that point in his life. 

"Once I got to college and saw how far behind I was in terms of operating in everyday life outside of athletics," Mitchell said, "I was way behind. The one thing I found instrumental in everybody’s life I thought was successful was a book. In order to be the best person I could possibly be on and off the field, a book needed to be incorporated in my life."

From that point forward, Mitchell couldn't read enough, and it led him down a path most collegiate athletes wouldn't take or even contemplate taking. 

One fateful evening nearly two years ago, the Georgia football player happened to be in a Barnes & Noble. While looking at the latest bestsellers, Kathy Rackley stood next to him with multiple books already in hand. 

Rackley, 60, happened to be looking for the novels her local book club planned to read in the coming months. 

The two struck up a conversation, and Rackley mentioned she was in a book club. This immediately piqued Mitchell's interest. 

"I was searching for more influence," Mitchell remembered. "If you want to be influenced by football, you hang around football players. If you wanted to be influenced in business, you hang out with businessmen. If you want to be influenced to read, who do you hang around? People who read.

"I set out to find a book club I could join. I tried online stuff. I Googled Oprah’s Book Club, and I think it’s great. But for me personally, I needed the face-to-face interaction."

The athlete found it, but he had to wait before he could officially join. 

The Silverleaf book club started 16 years ago and consisted primarily of older ladies who began reading together and continued to do so even when some relocated to other areas. 

No men were included—let alone a young athlete from the University of Georgia. Rackley got the group's permission before Mitchell was allowed to attend. 

"I think courageous best describes him," Rackley said of Mitchell. "It takes courage to step outside of your normal world. The way our world is now, it seems like there are so many more things to worry about, which makes it difficult to reach out to one another in any capacity. For us, it just happened to be over reading.

"I have five children, and he’s a little bit younger than my youngest daughter. We would just talk about things in his world. You form a friendship with someone you never expected."

It didn't take long for the young man to develop from a quiet bystander into an active participant in discussions. 

"It was nice to have a young person, a young male and a young athlete with a different background than us," Rackley added. "It provided a different perspective when he gave us his ideas.

"It proved to be a rich bonus for our little club."

Mitchell estimated the club features 20 to 25 members on a busy night. None of them looked like him, but he never noticed. This is how driven he became just to read and gain the face-to-face interaction he craved. 

Photo courtesy of Kathy Rackley

"To be honest, I never really realized the racial difference or age gap," the athlete mentioned, "because it wasn’t what I was focused on at the time. I didn’t even realize it until they brought it up."

While his relationships within the book club continued to grow and flourish, Mitchell published his first book, The Magician's Hat. It's a children's book that teaches the value of reading. 

The book features a magician named David. Instead of performing typical magic tricks for his audience, he influences children to read. The overall theme is centered around a person's ability to achieve all of their goals through reading. 

Credit: Malcolm Mitchell

"More than anything else, I tried to touch an audience—not just children, but anyone—willing to pay attention to what was going on and the opportunities available to everyone regardless of your situation," Mitchell said. 

"That’s how the whole idea of the book came together. Nobody expected it. I didn’t even expect it. That’s not an idea I grew up with and just had. It just so happens one day I thought it would be a good idea.

"As time evolved, I grasped the understanding of the type of impact I hope it can make as far as encouraging kids to read and let everybody step outside their comfort zone, pick up a book and give themselves the tools needed to be successful."

Mitchell self-published the book in August to avoid multiple NCAA hurdles, but the process was still drawn out and took weeks to move forward in several areas.

Once published, the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund approached Mitchell and bought multiple copies to distribute among children the charity supports as they courageously and defiantly battle cancer. 

At Georgia, the young athlete began his college experience as a business major. Mitchell eventually earned a degree in communications with an emphasis in rhetoric. This allowed him to creatively write, which led into writing the book.

"In my journey through reading, I started to unlock things I didn’t even know were there," Mitchell said. "For instance, my love of reading led toward a joy for writing. When you mix that in with my love for children and wanting to see them succeed, a children’s book became the perfect idea.

"Through personal experience in life as it pertains to my childhood, picking up a book helped evolve everything around me. It’s crazy how much it impacted my life. If it can affect my life in such a manner, a child who is six, seven or eight years old and picks up a book creates endless possibilities in their life."

For now, his writing will take a backseat to the NFL. Mitchell is expected to be a mid- to late-round pick in April's NFL draft.

His passion for reading and writing isn't expected to subside, though. It's something he plans to actively pursue once his professional football career is over—whenever that may be. 

"I love the writing process," Mitchell said. "It gives me the ability to be creative and venture into places that don’t exist in reality. I think writing will always be a part of my life. Of course, football is my primary goal. I spend the majority of my day concentrating solely on football.

"Once I can’t play anymore, that’s when my writing will reach another level. To me, it’s already reached another level as I continue to read and write other projects."

What Mitchell doesn't completely realize is he has already affected others with his passion, persistence and willingness to step outside his comfort zone. 

Those around him already see the impact he's making. Rackley recalled a recent story in which she marveled over her young friend's maturity. 

"Two weeks ago, one of the ladies said, 'Malcolm, my eight-year-old grandson idolizes you, but he hates to read. He doesn’t want to read,'" the proud grandmother recalled. 

"Malcolm said, 'Oh, tell him he doesn’t have to like it. Make it competitive. Sometimes, I do that myself if it’s a book I need to read but don’t really want to and still get through it. You don’t have to like it but get through it. When you get to the other side, you will have learned something. Once you realize that, it’ll motivate you to keep reading.'

"I thought that was very wise for a 22-year-old."

Mitchell found what he perceived to be a weakness in his character and did everything in his power to make it into a strength. He's continued to benefit from doing so. As a result, he opened up his life to limitless opportunities both real and imagined. 

The NFL might be calling, but it's not Mitchell's true calling. This isn't the end of his story. It's merely the beginning. 

All quotes obtained firsthand by Brent Sobleski, who covers the NFL draft for Bleacher Report, unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.