'He is relentless': Mills brings the thunder to Mansfield Senior football team
MANSFIELD − Ricky Mills sat down at the end of last football season and took personal inventory.
He just finished up a great junior year for Mansfield Senior, helping the Tygers go 9-3 and win a playoff game. He had done it all — 314 rushing yards with six touchdowns, 24 receiving yards and a score, 61 tackles, 11.5 for a loss, and five sacks with two fumble recoveries. He also had been named second-team All-Northwest District and first-team All-Ohio Cardinal Conference.
What more could he want?
Well, there was something he wanted desperately, and it motivated him to transform himself over the summer so he could put together the best senior season he possibly could — a college football scholarship offer.
If Week 1 of his senior season was any indication of what we can expect from Mills, an offer might come sooner than later. Mills torched Norwalk for 83 yards on just nine carries, and he made the most of his limited touches with four rushing touchdowns (44, 8, 5 and 9 yards) to punctuate a 41-19 Week 1 victory.
“The credit goes to the O-line,” Mills said. “They played with so much aggression in that game and went out and did their best. Mekhi (Bradley) and Leo (Hess) did an amazing job blocking for me when we were in pro-heavy. A lot of the credit goes to the guys who laid down great blocks for me.”
Humble in success is what describes Mills best. It is why his coaches trust him to carry the football in key situations.
“Whenever we needed a touchdown in the redzone red zone, it was nice that they wanted to give me the ball,” Mills said. “I really like having the high expectations the coaches have for me and the belief they have in me to score those touchdowns. I just wanted to do it for them.”
Offensive coordinator Jacob Owens wasn't hesitant to call Mills' number early after he broke off a 44-yard score late in the first quarter to give the Tygers the lead. He also was happy to call run plays in the second half when Mills scored back-to-back touchdowns to help the Tygers turn a 27-19 uncomfortable lead into a 41-19 cruise.
“Ricky Mills is a great kid,” Owens said. “He showed us his worth. He worked hard the last couple of years at getting better at running back. He has gotten faster and physically stronger and is a great kid. Once he has the ball in his hands, he is another kid who can make things happen.”
Last season, the Tygers struggled to run the football, piling up just 1,244 yards and scoring only 20 rushing touchdowns in 12 weeks of play. That didn't sit well with Mills during the offseason, and Owens saw a player take ownership of that fact and put in the work to change the narrative.
“Last year, he took some steps that way in wanting to be the guy to carry the ball,” Owens said. “He wants to be the running back we know he can be, and this summer he took off with the weight room stuff and the extra training. We give our kids the opportunity to make plays, and Ricky is a kid who has taken advantage of those opportunities. He stepped up and is a leader of the bunch. He is the guy right now.”
And he wants to be the guy. He wants to be a guy who others follow just by watching him and not only because they listen to what he says. Traditionally quiet, Mills lets his actions do the talking and, when he performs, others follow.
“I don’t really speak a lot,” Mills said. “I try to lead by example. When it comes to doing the right things, keeping things right mentally and making sure I am someone everyone can follow, that is my job. That is just my style of leadership.”
Mills didn't only shine on offense in the Week 1 win over Norwalk — he also was unstoppable on defense. Undersized as a defensive tackle, Mills makes up for it with his heart and determination.
“He is fast, quick and has a motor,” Tygers defensive coordinator Sean Adams said. “It is so hard to block him and cut him off. This is his third year starting, and the fact that he always goes hard every play just makes everyone else go hard, too. If he gets back in the backfield and disrupts what the other team is trying to do, that puts us in great shape.”
Against Norwalk, Mills had eight tackles, two for a loss, and a sack. He made sure he gave all-out effort on every snap and that he proved himself. He did more than that.
“When you look at me, people ask what position I play in football, and I say I play D-tackle and people think it is for JV or freshman [teams],” Mills said. “I weigh 181 pounds and am 5-foot-7, so it takes a lot of pure dedication and hard work to go against huge offensive linemen.”
Dedication and hard work — the Ricky Mills way. It is how he approached the entire offseason when he basically lived in the weight room to make sure he found the radars of college coaches in the first three weeks of the season.
“I approached it knowing I don’t have any college offers, so I am trying to do everything I can to get to the next level and play college football,” Mills said. “I dedicated myself to the weight room, and I knew I had to put my absolute all into it so college coaches can see my potential. I knew every time I step on the field or into the weight room, I have to give it 110% so I can get the opportunity to play college football.”
Mansfield Senior coach Chioke Bradley, a former Division I college player at Bowling Green State University, saw something in Mills he hadn't seen before. He had never watched a single player be so relentless on the field and influence others around him to take the same attitude into every snap. He watched Mills be a leader.
“He is relentless,” Bradley said. “He is a lead-by-example kind of guy and we have a few of those and Ricky is one of them for sure. The kid had four touchdowns offensively and turns around and had two tackles for loss and a sack. He stayed in the backfield. They couldn’t block him. Saturday, we came in and watched film and we joked with him, saying they were tackling him more on defense than they were on offense.”
The Tygers need a similar performance out of Mills in Week 2 with North Canton Hoover coming to town. Mills' two-way presence and leadership will be on full display as the Tygers look to go 2-0 to start the year.
jfurr@gannett.com
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Twitter: @JakeFurr11
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Senior's Ricky Mills a lead-by-example football player
