Notre Dame Visit Different With Offer In Hand For 2020 DE Rylie Mills

2020 Lake Forest (Ill.) defensive end Rylie Mills‍ had visited Notre Dame before Saturday’s Junior Day visit, but it was the first time he had been on campus holding an offer from the Irish. 

“It was awesome,” Mills told Irish Sports Daily. “I called Coach (Mike) Elston a few weeks ago, and he told me once you have an offer, it’s completely different than when you’re first there. I can attest that it’s really different.”

The day started off with a bang as Mills got to have breakfast looking down at the stadium and the Notre Dame campus. 

“They took us up to the top of the Corbett Family Hall and went to the patio,” recalled Mills. “We got to look down on the stadium. It was a crazy view.

“We all sat down to watch highlight reel. We got to see the coaches and Coach (Brian) Kelly came out and talked to us about the new renovations they are building, especially the new indoor facility. It was really awesome to see.” 

The stadium renovations and the new indoor facility stuck out to the 6-foot-5, 265-pounder, but the technology used in the weight room blew Mills away. 

“When I first visited, it’s still the same feeling of ‘Wow,’” Mills said of the facilities. “Looking at the weight room, they have the cool IPad technology to do your weights and the GPS technology when you run. The stadium and the locker room was breathtaking too.” 

Elston had made an impression before, but on Saturday, Notre Dame’s defensive line coach gave his full attention to Mills and his family. 

“It was super helpful,” explained Mills. “Wherever you choose to commit, the staff is who you’re going to be with for the next four or five years. It’s really important to me. I got to speak to Coach Elston, and he’s a great guy. He’s really nice and has a great personality. He’s really respectable. 

“We don’t get to talk as often because he can’t call me. It’s really good to talk to all the coaches there.” 

Kelly also made sure to spend some one-on-one time with Mills, and it gave the Illinois native a chance to get to know the Notre Dame head coach on a personal level. 

“It was pretty amazing because I hadn’t met Coach Kelly before today,” Mills stated. “It was crazy because I had seen him on TV pretty much my whole life. To finally be able to meet him and have a good talk with him was great. 

“We talked about where he saw me playing. It was interesting to hear what he thought of me as a player now and where he see’s me growing.” 

Kelly’s demeanor impressed Mills, and he left feeling good with where the Notre Dame program is headed. 

“He seemed very respectful,” Mills explained. “I could tell he was very passionate about football. He seems like a guy you can talk to about football, and you knew he knew what he was talking about.” 

Mills comes from the same Lake Forest (Ill.) program that produced Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees, and the four-star prospect is very familiar with Rees’ story.

“I never met him before he reached out to my head coach and asked me to come out for a camp,” Mills said of Rees. “Ever since I started football, he’s always been the local legend. He was ‘Tommy Rees,’ and he was cool.” 

The Lake Forest star quickly left campus and to head to Iowa. Mills will likely return to South Bend over the next few weeks to get an even deeper look at the program. 

“I’ll visit Iowa on Sunday, and next week I’m going up to Northwestern,” stated Mills. “It’s pretty much an open book after that. I’m going to try to come out for a spring practice at Notre Dame.” 

Despite the positive vibes of the visit to Notre Dame, Mills is in no hurry to make a decision and has a tentative plan laid out for his recruitment.

“My parents and I talked about it, and our plan going forward will be getting serious and narrowing down my options after my junior year,” said Mills. “I’ll probably make my Top 3 or Top 5 my senior year.”