Inside The Huskies

Honors Keep Rolling In For Huskies' John Mills

The offensive lineman earned his third Freshman All-American reward.
Dan Raley|
Starting center Landen Hatchett and freshman guard John Mills get ready to play the opener against Colorado State.
Starting center Landen Hatchett and freshman guard John Mills get ready to play the opener against Colorado State. | UW

John Mills came in and, during University of Washington spring football practice and fall camp, acted like he owned the place.

Waiting for the next drill or scrimmage series to unfold, the freshman offensive lineman interacted with the older guys as if there was no age difference by teasing them, laughing with them and acting like he was one of them.

If that wasn't a dead giveaway that the 6-foot-6, 342-pound kid from San Francisco was different and ready to go, Mills firmly established himself by starting his very first game against Colorado State. He was 17 years old at the time.

John Mills is a fearsome player at 6-foot-6 and 342 pounds who can run.
John Mills is a fearsome player at 6-foot-6 and 342 pounds who can run. | Dave Sizer photo

He didn't need to redshirt or grayshirt, use a handful of games to get acclimated or any initiation process at all, he just dove right in and did something no other offensive lineman has done in Montlake -- which was start immediately.

With his first UW season complete, Mills now stands as this past season's most decorated Husky football player in terms of number of accolades received, this week accepting his third Freshman All-American reward.

This one came from 247Sports to pair with those from On3 and Pro Football Focus.

If all continues to go well, and at this dizzy accelerated rate, Mills stands to be collecting general All-American honors by this time next year, with no class distinction necessary.

Everyone knows about him. His football team stands on the precipice of becoming a Top 25 team again if, not a lot higher, and Mills, all 18 years old of him now, will have another winter in the weight room to make himself even more scary and dominant.

He's a once in a generation football player, with his college career knowing no bounds or limitations.

He started nine games at left guard and two more at right tackle as an injury replacement for junior Drew Azzopardi, with no assignment too big for him.

In fact, the only thing that slowed Mills in his freshman season was a high-ankle sprain suffered at Maryland that forced him to miss two games.

John Mills wore a protective boot and used a scooter while he was out and injured.
John Mills wore a protective boot and used a scooter while he was out and injured. | Dave Sizer photo

Even at that, he seemed more surprised than hurt by what happened, even getting up and walking to the locker room in a tough-guy fashion without any assistance, as if to suggest even aching and throbbing joint pain couldn't stop him.

Enjoy John Mills while you can, because he'll be in the NFL soon enough, similarly acting like he belongs at the game's highest level.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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