The Gators are one of this big-time offensive lineman’s top six schools.
Billy Napier and the Florida football program played host to a plethora of prep prospects this weekend for the team’s first team scrimmage on Saturday. Among them was a coveted offensive lineman from the other side of the country.
Three-star offensive tackle John Mills out of San Francisco (California) St. Ignatius College Preparatory in the 2025 cycle dropped in to see the action in Gainesville and came away with a much deeper understanding of what the Orange and Blue have to offer him.
The 6-foot-6-inch, 330-pound trench warrior made the most of his time in Hogtown, starting early and pounding the pavement until his departure. Much of that time was spent with the Gators’ coaching staff.
Mills meets Florida’s coaches face-to-face
“We got in a little bit for 8 a.m. on Saturday morning before their meetings got started, so I was able to have breakfast with Coach (Rob)Sale that morning,” Mills tells Swamp247. “We got to sit and talk for about an hour before we went up for their meetings before the scrimmage.
“I got to talk with Coach (John) Decoster for the first time too on Saturday,” he continued.” That was even my first meeting with Coach Sale on Saturday. I had been talking mainly with Coach (Darnell) Stapleton before, but I’ve had many calls with Coach Sale. It was good to get to meet him too and put a face to a name.”
He even got a moment with the big man during a hectic day for the program.
“I got to talk with Coach Napier for a while heading down to the indoor for their walkthrough. It was good to catch up with him, and meant a lot that he took time out of a busy day to talk with me.”
What Mills thought of the scrimmage
“The scrimmage has to be the closest thing to a real game,” he noted. “I liked seeing the stuff they did before. I liked seeing the 1v1’s. Those are my favorite thing to see as far as drills, because you can really see the technique.
“I thought their Bull Gator Drill was awesome too. It was one of the coolest things to see, and they had everyone surrounding it and real hype. It’s like an Oklahoma drill basically, but it was so cool seeing everyone so hyped.
“Then they had a two-hour scrimmage with big hits, some crazy catches, and some crazy throws. I’ve been to a spring practice at Cal, but it wasn’t like that. Florida scrimmage really set the tone and was super cool.”
Upcoming visit schedule
Mills is currently in the midst of his spring itinerary, having visited two of his top six teams so far — the Gators and the California Golden Bears. His other four preferred schools are the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Washington Huskies, Texas Longhorns and USC Trojans.
His official visit schedule kicks off with the Cornhuskers on the weekend of April 27. The Golden Bears are next up on March 23, followed by the Huskies (May 31), Gators (June 7), Longhorns (June 14), and Trojans (June 21).
Recruiting summary
Mills is ranked No. 720 overall and No. 51 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 industry ranking has him at Nos. 684 and 51, respectively.
Texas leads the way in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine with an 83.1% chance of signing the three-star recruit; Nebraska (4.7%), Florida (4.0%) and USC (2.5%) all follow behind, respectively.
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