Running back Elijah Mitchell's unexpectedly impressive 2021 performance reached a new high on Sunday when he broke the long-standing franchise record for single-season rushing yardage by a rookie.
Mitchell rushed for 119 yards on 21 carries in a 23-7 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, giving him 878 on the season, which is 67 yards better than the previous record set by Vic Washington in 1971. Sunday's performance was the fifth 100-yard game of the year for the sixth-round draft pick Mitchell, who entered the season as a bit of an underdog for playing time given the presence of veterans Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, and JaMycal Hasty, along with third-round draft pick Trey Sermon. But with Mostert out for the year and Wilson sidelined for the first half of the season due to a knee injury, Mitchell surprisingly took over the starting spot in Week 1 and never looked back, turning out to be a late-round jewel for the 49ers along the way.
"I love all our backs, but Elijah's played at another level this year," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Sunday. "When he's in there, we're very efficient. We always get at least what it's blocked for. You guys just see how good he reads those gaps. When it seems crowded, he seems to find a way to get through there. It was a hell of an accomplishment today."
Making Mitchell's record even more impressive is the fact he's played in just ten games and also missed time in the preseason due to injury issues of his own. Mitchell's most recent injury was a knee problem that caused him to miss multiple games, but he returned to action against the Texans for the first time in almost a month and didn't miss a beat.
"They just told me right before we broke the team down that he set that record," Shanahan said. "I messed with him that it would have been a lot easier if he was here the last month. But he's battled through some tough injuries this year... His first run for us was I think like play 30 versus the Raiders in the last preseason game. By play three (in the season opener) versus Detroit, he had to replace our captain and our starting running back. He's done a hell of a job throughout the whole year of that."
Mitchell is typically humble and a man of few words when speaking to reporters, so it came as no surprise that he quickly gave credit to his teammates when asked about his accomplishment on Sunday.
"I wouldn't be able to do that without my offensive linemen—all eleven blocking their butts off for me," Mitchell said.
But what he's been able to do this season isn't lost on the rest of the 49ers. Mitchell has been an extremely valuable addition to the offense considering the injuries to Mostert and Wilson, and it hasn't gone unnoticed by his teammates.
"That's really big," quarterback Trey Lance told said of Mitchell on Sunday. "Obviously his work every single day attributes to that."