Since ending his playing days for the Nebraska football program, Dedrick Mills has tried his hand at several leagues. As far as where the running back has found the most success, it appears the Canadian Football League is home. Just don’t ask him to live there year-round.
Mills came to Lincoln in the Scott Frost era, playing for the Huskers in 2019 and 2020 after starting his career at Georgia Tech. After running for 1,141 yards and 11 touchdowns, he tried to make a go of it in the NFL, but wasn’t able to consistently stick despite landing on several teams’ practice squads or mini-camp invite lists. But once he got to the CFL, he found his footing.
Dedrick Mills thriving in CFL, but don’t ask him to spend another winter in Canada
Mills is entering his fourth season with the Calgary Stampeders, and he’s spent the last two as the main back. However, perhaps to really embrace his new team’s culture, the former Nebraska football running back spent the offseason in Canada, and to say he didn’t enjoy it would be an understatement.
“It was pretty cold, man. I think I would never spend another offseason in Canada —period,” Mills told reporters at training camp this week. “I was here and I was in Nova Scotia with my girlfriend. Never again. Not here, not in Canada.”
Some might think his comments insulted Canada, but it’s hard to imagine the level of cold Mills was talking about. Temperatures fell to about 20 below zero in Calgary, and the average temperature from November to February was 22 degrees.
That’s pretty cold for an extended period. There are parts of the US where people can be that cold for that long, but even Nebraskans can’t claim they know what it would be like to be that cold for that long.
“I stayed in the house every day. I didn’t come out,” Mills said of his coping mechanism. “And if I came out, it was for a workout and then I’d go back in. I just stayed there and watched TV.”
While he doesn’t love the cold, he loves playing in the CFL and has had great success there. In 33 career CFL games, he has 372 carries for 2,184 yards and 7 touchdowns, and 65 catches for 555 yards.
That kind of production and his rise up the depth chart mean that the Stampeders don’t care where Dedrick Mills spends his offseason, as long as the former Nebraska football running back comes back once the season rolls around.