As glamour goes in the game of football, offensive linemen everywhere are still waiting for their close-up. None more so than UK lineman Kevin Mitchell, a redshirt junior competing for his first starting job at the collegiate level.

Mitchell hails from Winston, Ga., where he played high school football at Alexander High School. At Alexander, Mitchell started at tight end, then tackle and finally guard in his three seasons of varsity football. As a senior, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution named the versatile Mitchell first-team all-state for Georgia Class AAAA high school football. But when he arrived in Lexington in fall 2009, the 6 foot 6 inch Mitchell was redshirted before his career could get off the ground.

The three years since have been a journey for Mitchell, a journey that has gone unrecognized by almost all of Big Blue Nation. After sitting out the entire 2009 season as a redshirt, Mitchell returned in 2010 only to spend most of the year playing special teams. In 2011, Mitchell remained primarily a special teams specialist.

In that time, Mitchell switched positions from tackle to guard, then back to tackle again, but still got most of his offensive line reps on the practice field. In three seasons Mitchell has one career start at UK, in last year’s season-opening win against Western Kentucky when two starting offensive linemen were shelved with injuries.

Now, four years after his transition from heralded high school athlete to unknown reserve linemen, Mitchell has a chance to earn consistent playing time again. Mitchell and senior Trevino Woods will be competing this month for the starting nod at right tackle for the Cats this season. On the post-spring practice depth chart, Mitchell was listed atop the position.

“I’ve been around for a little while,”  Mitchell said. “It’s just finally my time to step in and play one of the roles. I’ve just been working hard to make my technique better and improve all my skills.”

Now, Mitchell has more to work on than just his technique and skills. Just weeks before the start of the 2012 season, he now must find chemistry with the rest of the first-string offense.

“These coaches did a great job of recruiting a lot of smart guys that are big and can play,” senior center Matt Smith said. “They’re learning things fast and hopefully it all can translate over to the field once we put the pads on.”

“We’re pulling together very nicely,” left tackle Darrian Miller said in regard to the offensive line. “We all love each other, we’re all brothers, but we need to know how to play with each other and that’s what camp is for.”

Mitchell is projected to be one of three new starters on the offensive line, along with Miller and left guard Zach West. But neither Miller or West has had to wait like Mitchell had to. As freshmen in 2011, West redshirted while Miller played in all 12 of UK’s regular season matchups, starting two of them.

But no matter the back story, the time is now for Mitchell to show why he came to play football for the Cats.

“It’s exciting,” Mitchell said. “After all these years of hard work it’s like you finally paid your dues and it’s finally here and you’re just ready to get out there and show the world what you’re about.”