Mitchell Agude

Agude was born on March 10, 1999, and grew up in Corona, California.^[1] He is of Nigerian descent.^[2] At age nine, Agude had a near-death experience when he fell off his skateboard and hit his head on a slab of concrete, going into a coma.^[3][4] At the hospital, doctors said that his brain was permanently damaged and that he would spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state.^[3] His mother prayed, and Agude, after having spent three days in a coma, woke up without any issues, leaving the hospital shortly afterwards under his own power.^[3]

Until graduating middle school, Agude played no organized sports under orders from the doctors, although at times he would sneak out of his house to play backyard football with his friends.^[3] He was allowed to play beginning in high school, and made the varsity at Santiago High School.^[3] At Santiago in 2016, Agude totaled 27 tackles and one interception.^[5] He entered Riverside City College following his time at Santiago.^[6]

Agude played two seasons for Riverside, compiling 67 tackles and five sacks in 20 games while playing linebacker.^[6] He was ranked a three-star junior college recruit and a top-ten junior college recruit nationally.^[7] He initially committed to play for the Maryland Terrapins, but was then told that his grades were not good enough to qualify.^[3] He was able to improve his grades and ultimately committed to play for the UCLA Bruins.^[3] In his first year at UCLA, Agude appeared in seven games, five as a starter, and recorded a team-leading nine tackles-for-loss.^[8] The following season, he played 12 games and started 10, being named an all-Pac-12 Conference selection with 54 tackles and 39 quarterback pressures.^[2][8] Agude transferred to Miami for a final season of college football in 2022.^[9] He totaled 39 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss and four sacks in his only year with the team.^[10]