2 weeks Ago
John Mills is going to play somewhere on the University of Washington offensive line, and probably a lot, it's just not totally clear where the freshman will end up. On Tuesday, Mills, who lists at 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds on the roster -- but could be as much as 10 to 20 pounds heavier -- spent most of the 150-minute spring football practice on the East field at No. 1 left guard, drawing more snaps than redshirt freshman Paki Finau, who's been the position fixture so far.
Through 10 of the 15 UW spring sessions, Mills now has pulled first-unit duty at left tackle, left guard and right guard this spring. The attraction to the mountainous San Francisco product is he's huge, powerful and comes with a discernible attitude. At mid practice, Mills and the other linemen were asked to come running out of a stance and drive a player several yards laterally.
This freshman seemed to smother his opponent and relish in it while some of his UW teammates treated this drill much more passively. Mills is so comfortable in his own football skin, he acts like a veteran with no inhibitions over the fact he typically would be still finishing up his senior year at St. Ignatius High School in his Bay Area hometown.
There's a mischievous side to this man child, as well. While sophomore lineman Zach Henning was drinking water on the sideline, Mills approached him as if he was going to take the bottle from him, to which Henning barked, "No!" The guy has a memorable look. He wears a blonde mullet, with his sideburns shaved away on the top end, resembling a character out of a Mad Max movie.
The Huskies landed Mills late by getting him to flip from Texas and former UW coach Steve Sarkisian. These coaches have tried to hide their glee some over the prospects of having a potentially dominant player who doesn't need to spend a year in the weight getting bigger and stronger while trying to ease him into rotations. The question that remains, and Jedd Fisch has hinted at the possibility, is this: Do you put Mills in the starting lineup against Colorado State to open next season and at the expense of which older player? It's a nice dilemma to have.
Observation No. 2 : Tuesday's practice ended for the Huskies, in a two-minute drill, when wide receiver Jace Burton, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound freshman walk-on from Portland, caught a 15-yard touchdown pass. He was fully extended in the left corner of the end zone when he made the grab, just over the reach of safety CJ Christian, the Florida International transfer.
The entire offense of 40-45 players raced off the sideline to surround him in celebration. Observation No. 3 : We saw another side of coach Jedd Fisch, who grew angry with an official and chastised him for not stopping the clock to facilitate the time-management drill.
To which the agitated ref loudly muttered, "That's what I'm trying to do." Observation No. 4: Rahshawn Clark continues to lead a spring practice life of crime.
The redshirt freshman cornerback, having a highly productive April, came up with no less than his seventh interception in an 11-on-11 drill. "Time and maturity, my man," secondary coach John Richardson said of Clark. "He's grown up quite a bit.
" Observation No. 5: As spring ball hits the two-thirds mark, play is getting a tad chippy as players try to finish strong and the competition increases. For instance, walk-on wide receiver Luke Gayton, a redshirt freshman from Palos Verdes, California, seemingly got open, but was bumped, the ball fell incomplete and he rose to his feet asking for a pass-interference call.
Sophomore safety Vince Holmes addressed his complaint and basically told him to deal with it. End of discussion. Observation No.
6 : Oh, the distractions of Husky spring practice on a sunny day. Midway through, a float plane backed up against the practice field and took off headed east, with its engine noise momentarily drowning out the football voices. At the end of practice, and this was not a first-time occurrence, a bald eagle flew in, with its wings fully extended, to roost in a tree bordering the field.
"Spring here is lovely," Kansas State transfer Carver Willis, the starting left tackle, said over the weekend. "There's nothing more to say. It's great compared to the Midwest, which is still real cold.
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