Junior Running Back Dedrick Mills Quotes - 8/26

Nebraska Football
Weekly Press Conference
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)
Monday, Aug. 26, 2019
Pre-South Alabama

Dedrick Mills
Junior, Running Back
 
On if anything is going through his mind when seeing his name at the top of the depth chart
“Not necessarily because this is what I do. This is football and this is my life. I give my all every day, I go out there. I don’t want to say terrifying, but me and Mo [Barry] go out there and we’ve been at practice going at it and all the running backs have been going at it and having the number one job, I appreciate it.”
 
On his journey to this point 
“At Georgia Tech it didn’t work out that great and then on to junior college and I’d been down for a while to a point where I was wanting to give up. I find a way to push through and make it back to where I belong. It took a lot of hard work and dedication and a lot of praying and a lot of support from family and people in the community and people from back home to get back to where I’m supposed to be.”
 
On expectations for himself this year 
“My expectations are to go out and do what I need to do for my team pretty much, give it my all.”
 
On what he showed the coaches and his teammates through fall camp 
“I showed them my hard work. I sweat so hard every day as y’all know, I go through at least two or three towels each day, two big towels and two small towels so you can see all the work through all the sweating I do during practice.”
 
On his relationship with Coach Ryan Held 
“Since I’ve known Coach Held, Coach Held has been crazy. He’s that crazy coach on the staff that everybody loves. He’s like a father, like my dad, I treat him like my father because the way he comes off and the vibe he gives is like a father figure. Coach Held has been on me since the day he met me.”
 
On Coach Held’s background at the junior college level 
“We pretty much connected off the background because he understood the JUCO level, the stuff all the kids go through in the JUCO situation. We clicked right off the top when I first started talking to him.”
 
On what you tell yourself at the JUCO level 
“I’m telling myself to trust the process and pray every day and I’m glad that I’m here.”

On his running style 
“Beast mode. I’m more of like a Marshawn Lynch, I like to run people over. I don’t like to do too much juking and stuff. If you’re in my way, you've just got to move and if you don’t move you’re going to get hit.”
 
On going up against the Nebraska defense at practice 
“These guys are way bigger than in the ACC or junior college, so it’s pretty tough going against these big guys, but I find a way to get through it and I don’t let anything stop me.”
 
On his relationship with Maurice Washington 
“Since I’ve been here Maurice and I have clicked like brothers, pretty much the whole team is like my brothers. Maurice and I have a personal relationship because he helps me and I help him. I help keep him straight and he helps keep me straight, you know we just go everyday like that. We go over plays and he teaches me stuff that I don’t know because he’s already been there and then I teach him how to run certain ways that he doesn’t know how to run, so we click like that.”
 
On sophomore quarterback Adrian Martinez 
“Adrian [Martinez] is a leader. He gets the job done and does what he supposed to be doing. He directs me in the right direction when I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m supposed to be doing. He’s an outgoing person for the team. He speaks up and he’s a captain, he’s a leader.”
 
On how this offense compares to previous offenses at Georgia Tech and junior college 
“This process at Nebraska is way faster. At Georgia Tech we had a triple option, so I was in a three-point stance and I still dig that as a fullback. At JUCO it was something similar to this, but here it’s more versatile, you use route running, running the ball. At JUCO I never went out for routes I ran the ball 80 percent of the time.”
 
On going up against Mohamed Barry at practice  
“He’s that person that I need every day at practice. He’s that person that I know that when I get in a game situation when I have to find a linebacker that’s as big as him, he helps me have a mentality of no fear. I never care about the size of the guy I’m going up against because I just do what I do. We always talk back and forth. If he makes a play, he talks his junk and I make a play I’ll talk mine, but it’s always going to be like that with our connection. I always go up against him at practice and I always want more.”
 
On rushing expectations  
“My expectations for yards this season are probably up to 1,500 or more if I can get it with the help of the O-line and my quarterback.”
 
On walking out of the tunnel Saturday morning to 90,000 fans 
“Oh man, I don’t even know that feeling right now. I’m just too excited right now before the game has even started. I’ve been going to practice every day like it’s a game and I feel like it’s going to be crazy. I won’t know what to do, just that I need to play the game.”
 
On the pace of the offense 
“It’s different but I came in and picked it up fast. I knew this offense moves fast, I came in and expected that and had that mindset that I’d have to move fast in everything that I do.”

NU Athletic Communications