Iowan winger Deion Mikesell played in Major League Rugby between 2019-2020. He represented the Houston SaberCats (2019) and the New England Free Jacks (2020).

Born and raised in Des Moines, IA, Deion Mikesell played football, ran track, and wrestled during high school at Southeast Polk as well as playing in the Iowa High School 7s league. before enrolling at Lindenwood University in 2015, where he began playing rugby. He represented the Lindenwood Lions at both 7s and 15s level between 2015-2019 and was one of the USA’s most exciting young players, as proven by the fact that he earned a test call-up for the USA Eagles in 2016 at the age of just 19. He became the 3rd youngest player ever for the USA when he made his test debut as Eagle #490 against Uruguay, scoring a try on his debut. He would earn a second test cap against Brazil the following year, while still at Lindenwood.

Deion Mikesell helped the Lindenwood Lions to National 7s and Collegiate Rugby Championship titles in 2018, and was part of the Collegiate All-American team that defeated the Glendale Raptors that same year. In December of that year, French Top14 side Clermont Auvergne announced that Mikesell would join their Espoirs Academy team on a 4-month term, and that he would then join the NOLA Gold for the remainder of the 2019 MLR season. However, in March 2019 the Houston SaberCats announced that Mikesell was heading to Texas, rather than Louisiana. Mikesell would scored 3 tries on just under 400m gained that year, starting 8 of his 9 games in his debut season. Mikesell returned for a second MLR season in 2020, this time as a member of the New England Free Jacks for their inaugural season. He added another pair of tries and appeared in all 5 Free Jacks games, starting 3, before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Through his two years in Major League Rugby, Deion Mikesell had scored 5 tries in 14 games, starting 11 times and gaining over 560m in possession. However, in August of 2020, French Pro D2 side USC Carcassonne announced that they had signed Mikesell for their 2020/21 campaign. Following his year in the French second tier, it appears that Mikesell returned to his native Iowa, and no longer plays rugby.