Inside The Huskies

Mills, Dillard-Allen Selected as Freshmen All-Americans

For the UW offensive lineman, it's his second such accolade for his first-year play.
Dan Raley|
Rylon "Batman" Dillard-Allen shows some emotion after making a big hit against Oregon.
Rylon "Batman" Dillard-Allen shows some emotion after making a big hit against Oregon. | Dave Sizer photo

John Mills has the best hair among the University of Washington freshman football players, Rylon "Batman" Dillard-Allen the best nickname.

Together, they're the most talented among the 15 first-year Huskies who played and the six who started on game day so far this season, with Pro Football Focus naming each Montlake newcomer to its College Football All-Freshman Team.

For Mills, a 6-foot-6, 342-pound offensive lineman from San Francisco, this marked his second Freshman All-American accolade in three days, with On3 earlier bestowing that honor on him.

Dillard-Allen, a 6-foot, 180-pound safety from Phoenix, comes off his best UW outing, a game-high 11 tackles in the regular-season-ending 26-14 loss to Oregon two weeks ago.

Both of these players currently are in Los Angeles with their teammates preparing for Saturday's LA Bowl against Boise State (9-4 overall, 6-2 Mountain West) at SoFi Stadium.

Mills was the Huskies' first freshman to start this past season and opened 10 of the 12 games, drawing assignments at both left guard and right tackle. He sat out a pair of game after suffering a high ankle sprain at Maryland.

With his two freshman honors, he's chasing UW tight end Decker DeGraaf, now a sophomore, who as a first-year player in 2024 earned three such awards -- from PFF, College Football Network and 247Sports. 

Dillard-Allen started three of 12 games for the Huskies this past season, coming up with 5 tackles against Michigan, 3 at Wisconsin and his double-digit total against the Ducks.

He's known as an extremely hard-hitting safety who plays with a lot of emotion and stands to be a full-time starter next season while lining up alongside junior Alex McLaughlin.

Freshman All-American honors are significant because they tend to single out players who are ahead of their time and quite possibly capable of becoming first-team All-Americans, such as those rewarded by the Associated Press.

John Mills sets his protection of the pocket and Demond Williams Jr.
John Mills sets his protection of the pocket and Demond Williams Jr. | Dave Sizer photo

Mills, in particular, carries a frame bigger than most college offensive linemen of any age and is highly mobile coming out of a stance. Plus, his versatility of being able to play multiple positions bodes well for him having a highly decorated career.

Plus he has that long Viking-like blond hair that has brought him a fan club of wig-wearing impersonators.

In high school, Dillard-Allen used to run onto the field in pregame warm-ups wearing a cape, but he hasn't tried to market his alter ego just yet as a Husky football player.

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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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