Remembering Zach Mills

[The Spin Meister]

As do I love Zach Eric Mills but probably for other reasons. His run in 2001 and 2002 was wonderful to watch but it was 2003 when he gained greatness for me. My daughter died in a single car accident on August of 2002 leaving a 6-year-old son behind.

He and I attended the Nebraska game on Lincoln in 2003. We walked the streets and around the stadium before the game with him adorned in his No. 7 Penn State football shirt. The Nebraska people would invariably shake his hand and welcome him to Lincoln. He also got to meet Franco and Lydell. He wasn’t exactly attentive during the game but he knew when Penn State was winning even though they eventually lost the game. Once the game was over, we were walking to our car when I noticed the Penn State buses outside the stadium. I asked of he wanted to see the great Joe Paterno and he was, “Sure, ok”. While waiting for the team and coaches we stood against a fence and a woman befriended him and asked his name. He told her, “Erik, with a K”. She responded, “That’s my son’s name but he spells it with a “c” and you’re wearing his Jersey”. Boy that lit him up. Zach came over to see his mom after the game and she introduced Erik. He shook Erik’s hand and signed Erik’s ticket. As we walked to our car, watching Erik happily clutch that ticket gave me pause and I realized that was the first time I had been reasonably content since his mother died.

Fast forward to December 2003. Erik would often run to our mailbox to get the mail. Christmas cards were coming in and he was kinda sad that he never got any mail. I fixed that. I actually found the Mills address in Maryland and wrote a letter to Mrs. Mills mentioning our chance meeting and Erik, and his disappointment at not getting any mail. Lo and behold a few weeks later Erik received a card from Zach with a little note thanking him for being a good fan. He’s been forever special since that moment. God bless that lad.

Wow, what a class move. Certainly helped you and your grandson get through a very difficult holiday period.

Thanks for sharing such a painful yet hopeful story.

 

[SLion]

Omg the coaching was absolutely awful.
We formationed into plays and defenses knew what plays we were going to run.

Our coaching was absolutely pathetic those years.

Exactly. Totally absurd. This was when Joe had failed to modernize offense and college football had changed to up tempo air raid style passing attack. Likewise, we had some worst LBs in program history. No athleticism to cover In pass or get rush. At one point, I think we had 200 lb converted safety at LB. Forget his name now. Completely on Joe. He righted ship with Hall and Vanderlinden hires but 2001-2004 were bad schemes and bad recruiting. I mean, we lost to BC back to back years. Unheard of...I do recall one of worst non holding calls of all time where BC OL literally pulled our LB out of running lane. It was a hook and yank you see on vaudeville or something. They score on that play and O was putrid. Bad memories

 

[LionDeNittany]

Exactly. Totally absurd. This was when Joe had failed to modernize offense and college football had changed to up tempo air raid style passing attack. Likewise, we had some worst LBs in program history. No athleticism to cover In pass or get rush. At one point, I think we had 200 lb converted safety at LB. Forget his name now. Completely on Joe. He righted ship with Hall and Vanderlinden hires but 2001-2004 were bad schemes and bad recruiting

Toles?
I think this is also around the time we failed to properly utilize a future all pro de/rush end Derek Wake despite him blocking TWO fgs against Purdie.

Coaches figured we put him out in space instead of having him pressure the QB

 

[jabba2]

Mills was on track to becoming a legend at PSU until the Wisconsin shoulder injury. The Iowa comeback in 2002 was pretty epic. After the injury unfortunately he had some rough games/years.

 

[SLion]

Toles?
I think this is also around the time we failed to properly utilize a future all pro de/rush end Derek Wake despite him blocking TWO fgs against Purdie.

Coaches figured we put him out in space instead of having him pressure the QB

Yep. Toles.poor kid tried but blown out by OL and RBs often. Wake is one of few members of 100 sack club in NFL, probably one of most successful LBs from PSU yet we never utilized him correctly

 

[bison13]

Toles?
I think this is also around the time we failed to properly utilize a future all pro de/rush end Derek Wake despite him blocking TWO fgs against Purdie.

Coaches figured we put him out in space instead of having him pressure the QB

On Toles behalf I believe he was not diagnosed until later with some type of issue like Chrons disease or something where he could never keep on the weight. He was constantly fighting that batter to get bigger

 

[LionDeNittany]

On Toles behalf I believe he was not diagnosed until later with some type of issue like Chrons disease or something where he could never keep on the weight. He was constantly fighting that batter to get bigger

The point is that it wasn't the players or talent.
Toles was a stud.

 

[christoph]

Wow that PSU team had talent. Bryant and Tony Johnson, Larry Johnson, Omar Easy and McCoo, Gilmore and Smolko. On D, Haynes and Kennedy and Anthony Admas, Zemaitis, Derek Wake, Deryk Toles. How did that roster lose 6 games? That coaching staff was not exactly kicking ass.

No O line. Remember??!?!!!?!

 

[NC2017]

The Zach Mills and Zac Wasserman recruiting class! I’m old enough to remember

Two Zacs and a Sack.

 

[PSU4U]

Wow that PSU team had talent. Bryant and Tony Johnson, Larry Johnson, Omar Easy and McCoo, Gilmore and Smolko. On D, Haynes and Kennedy and Anthony Admas, Zemaitis, Derek Wake, Deryk Toles. How did that roster lose 6 games? That coaching staff was not exactly kicking ass.

It was either Killer Bees or that Spread HD. One is not good for football. It's a pickum

 

[Still in State College]

nothing about 2002 was about Mills.

It was all about Larry Johnson. Mills was 8-24 in the bowl game for less than 70 yards. He threw for under 100 against OSU. Against Iowa he had a big game in the loss.

At the end of the day he was a QB with 41 TD's and 39 INT's for his career. That is the kind of play that leads to 21-27 record over 4-years. New QB in 2005 and go 51-13 over the next 5-years. I know all teams are different but that was essentially the same coaching during both periods.

 

[The Spin Meister]

nothing about 2002 was about Mills.

It was all about Larry Johnson. Mills was 8-24 in the bowl game for less than 70 yards. He threw for under 100 against OSU. Against Iowa he had a big game in the loss.

At the end of the day he was a QB with 41 TD's and 39 INT's for his career. That is the kind of play that leads to 21-27 record over 4-years. New QB in 2005 and go 51-13 over the next 5-years. I know all teams are different but that was essentially the same coaching during both periods.

He had his shoulder ruined and was never the same. Look at stats before and after.

 

[PSUQBKeeper]

On Toles behalf I believe he was not diagnosed until later with some type of issue like Chrons disease or something where he could never keep on the weight. He was constantly fighting that batter to get bigger

he was on a snap count and couldn't play very much per game