[2/4/04]When Von Mixon graduated from Vicksburg High School, calling him scrawny would have been like calling a 300-pound tackle “a little beefy.”

“I didn’t get recruited out of high school. When I graduated, I was 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds,” Mixon said. “I said I wasn’t going to play football, and (VHS coach Alonzo) Stevens said I’d be a waste of talent.”

So Mixon took his coach’s advice and headed to Hinds Community College not on a scholarship, but for a tryout. He impressed the coaches enough to make the team and spent the next two seasons wowing opponents.

He added about 30 pounds to his tiny frame, dropped his 40-yard dash time to 4.4 seconds, and caught 63 passes in his junior college career. In 2003, Mixon returned punts and also caught 38 balls for 391 yards and one touchdown, helping the Eagles to the state championship game.

Despite his solid career, the recruiters from the big schools still aren’t pouring in to watch film. Mixon has had to call coaches, arrange tryouts, and ship tapes to anyone and everyone.

All of the hard work may be about to pay off, though. Mixon managed to catch the eye of two schools, Arkansas-Monticello and Grambling, and hopes to sign with one of them soon.

“For Monticello, they watched me. But for Grambling I sent them a highlight tape. They saw a game tape and fell in love with me,” Mixon said.

Mixon isn’t the only former Gator getting a second chance thanks to the junior college system. Wide receiver Chris Humes has been recruited by Iowa, and linebacker Tim Brown is trying to sign with Grambling.

“It’s most likely I’ll go to Grambling. They were my selection in high school, but I didn’t have my grades right,” said Brown, who has also been recruited by Southern Miss and Memphis.

Unlike Mixon, Brown has been through the recruiting process before. He drew a lot of interest from four-year schools as a senior at Vicksburg, but academic troubles forced him to go to a two-year school to become eligible.

Brown made the most of his time at Raymond. He led the Eagles with 76 tackles in 2003, recovered three fumbles and returned an interception for a touchdown. The effort allowed him to go through the recruiting dance again, although this time it’s a lot more familiar.

“It’s all the same, with the phone calls. Some people it’s probably different,” Brown said. “When you were in high school you took visits. Now you know how most of the schools are and who the people are.”

For Mixon, the choice may come down to academics or football.

Division I-AA Grambling has everything he wants in a school, including several former teammates from VHS, but doesn’t have any scholarship money available right now. Arkansas-Monticello, a Division II school. is lower on his list academically, but is offering a scholarship.

“My mom always instilled in me education first. I majored in geology, so I’m going to be successful no matter what I do,” Mixon said, adding that a third school may be in the cards if both deals fall through. “If I don’t go to Grambling or Arkansas-Monticello, I was going to go to Mississippi State where my major is and just be a regular Joe But if I go to Mississippi State I might still try to play football.”