Oakland Raiders rookie safety Mike Mitchell a hit in camp

Oakland Raiders rookie safety Mike Mitchell a hit in camp: "One of the lasting images of the 2009 NFL Draft was Chris Berman waving around Mel Kiper, Jr's book ranting about the Raiders reaching with their selection of Mike Mitchell in the second round. During day two of the draft coverage, the NFL Network's Mike Mayock apologized for having ripped on that selection the day before, since he had found another team that had been eyeing the safety out of Ohio University.
The impression of Mitchell was not helped by his missing most of minicamp and all of the OTAs with a hamstring injury. However, it was Mitchell who laid the first wood of the camp giving running back Gary Russell a hard pop that was heard throughout the facility.
Mitchell is a physical safety who has been itching to get the pads on since minicamp. In fact, during minicamp he said, 'It’s really not football when you don’t have pads on. So there’s a lot of things they can get away with and we can get away with when there’s no pads on. Obviously there’s a reason you play the game with pads on. I just can’t wait to get them on and give out a couple of love taps and really let people see who I am.'"