Brian Mitchell has been admired as one of the great football players in Ragin' Cajuns history.  He is now regarded as one of the greatest football players in Washington Redskins history.  Mitchell was given the highest honor by the team, as he was inducted into their Ring of Fame.

Mitchell led the Cajuns to four straight winning seasons, becoming the first player in NCAA history to pass for more than 5,000 yards and rush for more than 3,000 yards in a career. He also left UL as the NCAA record holder for most rushing touchdowns in a career by a quarterback with 47.

He was picked by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 1990 NFL Draft and was a member of the Redskins' Super Bowl XXVI championship team. He spent 10 seasons in Washington, earning Pro Bowl honors in 1996, before playing three seasons with Philadelphia and one with the New York Giants.

Mitchell ended his career in 2003 as the NFL career leader in combined yards with 23,330. Jerry Rice played his final season in 2004 with Oakland and Seattle, earning 429 yards to pass Mitchell with 23,546 combined yards.

Mitchell is also second in most seasons leading the league in all-purpose yards with four (1994-96 and 1998). Legendary running back Jim Brown holds the NFL record with five.  Mitchell is still the league's all-time leader in career kick returns (607), kick return yards (14,014), punt returns (463), punt return yards (4,999) and return TD (13).