Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell, a Senior Bowl practice standout, has a common thread to Eagles’ Nick Sirianni

MOBILE, Ala. — Quinyon Mitchell wants to meet Darius Slay, and he just might have the connections to do it.

The Toledo cornerback prospect, who has boosted his draft stock during Senior Bowl practices, said he has long admired the Eagles veteran. Mitchell played mostly off the line of scrimmage in man coverage in college, so he has studied tape of Slay doing just that over his career.

“Man, next year’s going to be Year 11,” Mitchell said after Tuesday’s practice. “He’s been playing at a high level for a long time. ... I want to meet him.”

Mitchell, 6 feet and 195 pounds, has stood out against elevated competition here and showcased versatility to play different coverages from both the outside and slot cornerback spots. The Eagles could use an infusion of youth in the secondary, and Mitchell has some common threads with coach Nick Sirianni through the Toledo staff.

Both Toledo head coach Jason Candle and defensive coordinator Vince Kehres played at Mount Union and are close with Sirianni, who was a wide receiver at that Division III school and got his start in coaching there. Candle was Sirianni’s roommate, and Kehres is the son of legendary Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres (11 national titles), who is one of Sirianni’s most influential mentors.

If Sirianni asks his old roommate about his star player, what would Candle say?

“He’s a dominant competitor first and foremost,” Candle said in a phone interview. “He’s a guy that will always try to raise the standard for himself. He’s a guy that always levels up with the man that he sees in the mirror. It’s never about anybody else, it’s all about the standard he set for himself. And that’s just the way he carries himself.”

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Mitchell hasn’t met Sirianni, but he has heard stories from Candle and Vince Kehres about the group of players who have become coaches — including Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell — trying to one-up each other however possible during their shared time at Mount Union in the early 2000s.

“We were always competing in whatever we got ourselves into,” Candle said. “Whether that was summer league basketball, going on the golf course, or at practice coaching our own guys when we were young assistant coaches.”

At least back then, Sirianni’s golf game was far from the envy of the group.

“Probably not as good as he would describe,” Candle said. “I’d put it that way.”

The connection to Sirianni aside , Mitchell’s play during the early portion of the Senior Bowl practices will give the team something to think about. He said he met with Eagles representatives, although most of the top prospects here meet with nearly every team.

Mitchell, a three-year starter, leaves Toledo as its all-time leader in pass breakups with 46. He was Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded cornerback in the NCAA last year and tied for third in the nation with 14 pass breakups. Mitchell intercepted five passes as a junior and six in his career, taking two back for touchdowns.

Both Mitchell and Candle said the corner had some autonomy to mix up his alignment between press and off coverage at Toledo, but the end result was him staying in off coverage most of the time. It’s one of the few lingering questions facing Mitchell considering the high-level production he had throughout college, with level of competition being the other significant one. Toledo, a member of the Middle-American Conference, finished the regular season ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll.

With the NCAA now permitting players to transfer without losing eligibility and a higher percentage of draft prospects having played for multiple schools, Mitchell can feel like a rarity by not jumping to a bigger program. The Florida native was a three-star recruit and didn’t get many offers outside of Toledo, something that developed his loyalty to the school and the coaching staff.

“Sometimes relationships are bigger than other stuff, money and stuff like that,” Mitchell said when asked he stayed at Toledo. “Just my relationships with the coaches and support staff, I guess.”

The level of competition may work against Mitchell, though, especially in the Eagles’ eyes. General manager Howie Roseman hasn’t used a first- or second-round pick on a player from a non-Power 5 school since Dallas Goedert six years ago.

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Mitchell did what he could to quiet those concerns the last few days. He played more press-man coverage and has even gotten reps in the slot without much trouble. He has been matched up with a handful of receivers from bigger schools, most notably getting quality coverage reps against Michigan’s Roman Wilson.

“Slot, safety, outside, D-line, linebacker, anywhere you put me, I’m going to work,” Mitchell said.

“I can do everything. In college, I played a lot of off. Today, in man, it was pretty much [all] press-man.”

As someone who has seen Mitchell play different techniques in practice, Candle said he wasn’t surprised when he watched the film of his former player sticking with receivers in press-man at Hancock Whitney Stadium over the last few days.

“The postseason all-star games are a platform to compete against the best,” Candle said. “Whether you’re playing at Georgia or Ohio State or not ... it’s the great equalizer to see everybody at the same place. All the scouts are able to see these guys compete against the best of the best.”

“He’s proven to me throughout his time here that there isn’t anything that that guy can’t do when it comes to his ability to cover,” Candle added. “And there’s nothing that guy can’t do when it comes to his ability to compete.”