Featured Future is a summer series where the Observer will highlight local student athletes who are preparing to continue their athletic and educational careers at the college level, or those who have already begun that journey.
After four years on Plant City High School’s football team and two years on their track and field team, Kaden Mizell will be heading to Webber International University to continue his educational and athletic career as a part of their track and field program.
“My time at Plant City was great,” Mizell said. “I love the relationships I was able to build on my football team throughout the years, I loved my coaching staff all four years. High school track really opened up a lot for me. It kind of showed me who I am and it got me to Webber and throwing javelin there. The track team at Plant City did a lot for me in growing as a person, so I really don’t know where I’d be without sports throughout high school.”
A life-long Plant City native, Mizell was a defensive end for the Raiders with 40 total tackles, four sacks and 10 tackles for loss as a senior last fall. In javelin on the track and field team, Mizell finished second at the 2022 Hillsborough County Championships in April before taking home a district championship later in the month on a personal-best throw of 50.08 meters.
At the regional meet in May, Mizell aggravated an ankle injury that he had previously suffered on the football field last fall in his first attempt.
“My first throw at regionals I stepped in a pretty big hole and tore what was left of the scar tissue on my ankle from football,” Mizell said. “As a lineman you get stepped on a lot so I had a lot of ankle injuries throughout high school and stuff like that. So I snapped and pulled the scar tissue and threw out my ankle, but I just dug deep and put everything I had into my final throw and that’s what qualified me for states. Then it happened again at states unfortunately on my first throw.”
Despite the injury, Mizell was able to narrowly qualify for the state meet, finishing fourth on his final attempt. At the FHSAA Class 4A State Championship, Mizell once again re-aggravated the injury but was still able to come away with the 15th-best mark in the state’s 4A division.
While he threw shot put one year in middle school, Mizell didn’t join Plant City’s track and field team as a freshman. Messing around after football practice one day he began throwing and the coaching staff quickly realized that he would be an asset to the team, persuading him into joining the team as a junior. And his interest in javelin began through a teammate on the football team, Jackson Knotts. Now a long snapper on Texas Tech’s football team, Knotts was one of the best javelin throwers in the state as a senior in 2021, with a district championship, a regional championship and a third place finish in the FHSAA’s 4A division at the state meet.
“I threw shot put one year in middle school kind of as a joke and I came out messing around after football practice one day at the track,” Mizell said. “I threw the shot put and the coaches said, ‘woah, we need this kid out here.’ So it all kind of started as a joke really and I fell in love with it… And Jackson had the biggest impact on my development out of anybody, I’d say. He really taught me what it meant to be a javelin thrower and the importance of technique over power and the importance of consistency over everything else, just dedication as a whole to being a good competitor. I’d say he really showed me what it was like to be a true track athlete.”
Now under newly-appointed head coach Michael Mangan, Webber had previously received a commitment from one of Mizell’s friends and teammates, Rhet Conyers. After Conyers’ commitment for shot put, Mizell says that his name was brought up to the Webber coaching staff and an offer was eventually made for him to join the team on scholarship as well.
“It’s kind of a pretty cool deal,” Mizell said. “My buddy Rhet is going there for shot put and they didn’t have a very good throwing team. Their coach just left and they have a new coaching staff, a brand new head coach, so they’re trying to recruit new and upcoming track athletes. So they recruited Rhet and he kind of talked to them about what they have and he mentioned me for javelin. So Webber came out to the regional meet and got in contact with me. After they saw me throw at the regional meet and power through an injury the coach said he was sold and said right then and there that he’d like to offer me a scholarship.”
Long-time friends and teammates, Conyers and Mizell have been friends since childhood, playing little league baseball and youth football together before competing on the football and track and field teams at Plant City, now set to join the track and field team at Webber together for the next four years.
“I grew up with Rhet, I mean we’ve been buddies since we could talk really,” Mizell said. “We played baseball together growing up, football together, track together, now we’re going to college together. It really shows the bond that Plant City brings a whole. I love Plant City, I love the sports programs that Plant City High School has. I dedicate everything to Plant City High School and my family and friends and everything that they’ve taught me throughout the years to get me to where I am now.”
