{"id":187893,"date":"2025-10-03T18:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T18:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/187893\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T18:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T18:27:08","slug":"the-road-back-calgary-stampeders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/187893\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road Back – Calgary Stampeders"},"content":{"rendered":"

The road to 1,000 yards didn\u2019t come easy for Dedrick Mills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A year ago, the Stampeders\u2019 leading rusher was enduring one of the hardest times in his life.<\/p>\n

Following the unexpected deaths of a family member and a friend in the spring of 2024, Mills found himself in a dark place and needed to take time away from the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got into a little trouble last year,\u201d said Mills. \u201cIt really made me sit back and look at what I was doing in my life and made me ask, \u2018What could I change? What could I do better?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt one of the worst times of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI was spending everyday drinking, smoking and partying. I kept telling myself, \u2018Things aren\u2019t going right. Every time I turn around, there\u2019s always a problem \u2013 I\u2019m late, I\u2019m this, I\u2019m that. I\u2019m like, \u2018What can I change? What can I do?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until Mills met his now fianc\u00e9e Jasmine, to whom he proposed three weeks ago, he was able to find his footing again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met my girl during that rough time, and she really grounded me,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were certain things she wasn\u2019t going for and if I wanted to be with her, I had to stop certain things and just cut all the dumb stuff out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what I did, because I really liked her, I was falling in love with her. The love that I have for her made me want to be better. It made me want to do good, so I started off with getting close to God, number one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mills says the spiritual work he\u2019s done has helped him to where he\u2019s at today.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod\u2019s always there,\u201d said Mills. \u201cHe\u2019s always that light at the end of the tunnel for me. I can ask Him a question and sometimes the answer might not always come right away, but I just know He\u2019s working. I can feel and see things around me that\u2019s showing me the answer, so I just give it all to Him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mills has also leaned on teammates Malik Henry<\/a> and Dominique Rhymes<\/a> and used team chaplain Rodd Sawatzky and mental performance health coach Matt Brown as resources during his healing process.<\/p>\n

Henry shares how proud of the person Mills has become over the past year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDedrick, he\u2019s from Georgia so I consider him like a brother to me, somebody that\u2019s close to me that understands home,\u201d Henry said. \u201cHe was just somebody that I wanted to take under my wing and help him out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been good to see that accountability from Dedrick. I think he lacked a little bit of accountability last year and then this year seeing him have a thousand-yard season and be as good as he\u2019s been, is just a testament to all the work he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s surrounding himself with good people, people who have the best intentions for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry, who has been dealing with his own battles over the past three years after suffering back-to-back season-ending injuries, credits Mills for riding through the tough times with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say even some of the hard days, the days that I didn\u2019t feel like doing stuff, he motivated me to do it,\u201d said Henry. \u201cHe got me up, het got me out the house and did it with me. And vice versa.<\/p>\n

\u201cDedrick is one of the most caring people that you can meet. He\u2019ll give you the shirt off his back if you need it. He\u2019s just a really good dude, and I have much praise for Dedrick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It comes as no surprise that Mills, who\u2019s infectious laugh can be heard from over a mile away, is such a dependable and loyal friend.<\/p>\n

But behind his positive attitude and welcoming smile is 28 years spent overcoming adversity.<\/p>\n

He draws upon these lessons to be the best possible teammate and friend that he can be.<\/p>\n

Mills grew up in Georgia as one of four boys in a single-parent household and didn\u2019t meet his father until he was in Grade 11. From a young age, he used football as an outlet to clear his mind from his personal troubles and would toss the ball around with his brothers.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for backyard football to turn into a professional opportunity for Mills, who in Grade 9 earned the starting running back job for the varsity team at Ware County High School.<\/p>\n

He started every game in his career with the Gators, rushing for 1,211 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allowed me to learn so much and it gave me a lot more opportunities to start as a freshman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got my first offer from Georgia Tech in ninth grade which is why I stuck with them and went straight to Georgia Tech out of high school. But I started getting offers from nearly every school in the country from that point on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first year with the Yellow Jackets, Mills dressed for nine games and recorded 771 yards and 12 touchdowns and was named the MVP of the 2017 Gator Bowl.<\/p>\n

But his first stint in the NCAA was cut short.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got to Georgia Tech, I had a mishap,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI failed a few drug tests and they kind of got fed up with me, was done with me and kicked me to the side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mills enrolled at Garden City Community College in Kansas and again, his life took a turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I got there, I fell into a depression because I broke my collarbone the second week I was there,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s probably one of the worst times in my life because I really struggled. I didn\u2019t talk to any family for about almost a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost a lot of weight. I went probably from 240 or 230 to about 180. My mom and family didn\u2019t recognize who I was when I came home or when I FaceTimed. So, it was really tough around that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feeling hopeless and alone, Mills was close to giving up on the game.<\/p>\n

But right when he thought it might be over, he was given another opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, Jovan Dewitt, the linebacker coach at Nebraska, he came to the junior college one day and wanted to sit down and talk to me,\u201d Mills informed. \u201cHe gave me a nice long talk. At that point my grades weren\u2019t as good, so I was on the verge of getting kicked out of the school, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just gave me a talk and was like, \u2018Hey man, I need you to pick your grades up, and me personally, I just wanted to extend my hand and let you know we want to offer you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that point on, my life kind of changed as far as getting that positive energy back. Somebody believed in me again, so when I got the chance to go to the University of Nebraska, I took full advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mills played 18 games over two seasons (2019-20) for the Cornhuskers and tallied 1,141 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns during that span. He was an honourable mention all-Big Ten in 2019.<\/p>\n

He took advantage of the sports psychology unit at Nebraska and made an effort to talk with their team about anything that he was struggling with mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had a problem, I was able to go sit down and talk with them about me, my family or anything I\u2019ve ever been through in my life in there, stuff that was always haunting me,\u201d he said. \u201cI had an opportunity to go sit down and talk and actually get a lot of stuff off my chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his collegiate career, Mills signed with the Detroit Lions of the NFL in 2021 but was unable to make the team\u2019s final roster after training camp.<\/p>\n

After spending almost a year waiting for his next chance to play football, he got a phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy agent called and was like, \u2018Hey man, we got an opportunity somewhere, do you want to go play in Canada?\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Mm\u2026 yeah sure, why not? It\u2019s still football, I love the game, I still want to play, and I don\u2019t want to get a regular job right now you know so yeah, let\u2019s go play football.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I signed that contract and I moved up here May 12, 2022, and since that point I\u2019ve been up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dedrick Mills is over 100 rushing yards on the day!@oktire<\/a> #LDWeekend<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f: Elks vs. @calstampeders<\/a> LIVE NOW
\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6: TSN
\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8: CBSSN
\ud83c\udf0e: CFL+ pic.twitter.com\/cmeYpRtyiu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CFL (@CFL) September 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Four seasons into his CFL career, Mills has found peace in his life and has crossed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time as a pro in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI admit this right here means a great deal to me because it\u2019s a goal I\u2019ve been chasing since I\u2019ve been in the CFL, since I\u2019ve been a professional. I\u2019ve been ready to get to those one thousand yards and now that I\u2019m here, I\u2019m aiming higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

His new goal is to reach 1,500 yards and 10-plus touchdowns. He currently sits at 1,035 and eight touchdowns with four games left to play in the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get the job done and I\u2019m going to do that with my team, because that\u2019s who helped me out every week,\u201d said Mills. \u201cThey come out here and block, they\u2019re aggressive for me, and I give that same fight back which is why I run the ball the way I run, because we\u2019re playing for each other\u2019s families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s another reason why I had to change my ways because I\u2019m playing for somebody else\u2019s family, and I don\u2019t want to be the blame or the reason why we didn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Mills\u2019 ultimate goal would be hoisting the coveted Grey Cup trophy at the end of the season and he\u2019s confident the Stampeders have the team to accomplish the task.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my goals is always going to be to make it to the Grey Cup every year,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just have to lock in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a few guys back that we needed, we got (defensive lineman) Lorenzo (Mauldin), I\u2019m glad we got him. We got (linebacker) Marquel (Lee) back, key pieces that we needed on the defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven just this week in practice I\u2019ve seen a difference. I felt a difference out there with them being on that side of the ball. I feel like we got the team, we got the pieces, the calibre of players that we need to get to the Grey Cup and win.\u201d<\/p>\n