Rylie Mills didn’t get to end his Notre Dame football career on the playing field.
A torn ACL in Notre Dame’s 27-17 win over Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff cut short his fifth and final season with the Irish. Mills won’t be fully healthy for the start of his NFL career either, but that didn’t stop the Seattle Seahawks from selecting him in the fifth round with the No. 142 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Mills said Saturday he's working hard to be able to resume football activities prior to training camp later this year.
"I tore my ACL in the playoff, but honestly my knee is really ahead of schedule," Mills said. "My knee is doing awesome. I walk around really well, and I’m starting to run, and they say I’m way ahead of where a lot of guys would be. So I think that is something that definitely helped out, which is my persistence and the things I was doing in rehab to help me out, really paid off.”
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The 6-foot-5, 296-pound Mills was a mainstay on Notre Dame’s defensive line each of the past four seasons. And that all came after Mills worked his way into the back end of the rotation as a freshman in 2020. After playing 10 games in his first season, Mills played in 13 games in each of the next four seasons.
Mills moved back-and-forth between defensive tackle and defensive end while playing in the rotation as a sophomore. He stayed outside at defensive end while starting in nine games in 2022.
When Mills moved back to defensive tackle in 2023, he started to become the most productive version of himself. He totaled a career-high 47 tackles with 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks as a senior in 2023. Mills then set a career high in sacks as a graduate senior and captain last season with 7.5, which was three more than any other Notre Dame defender despite missing the last three games of the season.
Mills finished his career with 131 tackles, 25.0 tackles for loss, 17.0 sacks and two fumble recoveries in 62 games. His 17.0 sacks put Mills in a tie with Ryan Roberts (1999-2002) and Anthony Weaver (1998-2001) for ninth place in career sacks at Notre Dame. Mills became the first defensive tackle drafted out of Notre Dame since Jerry Tillery was selected in the first round of the 2019 draft.
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Seattle made its interest in Mills pretty clear throughout the pre-draft process. He had a formal interview with the Seahawks at the NFL Scouting Combine. Mills also made a trip out to Seattle as one of the organizations 30 visits it could host for top prospects.
"I felt like every interaction I had with them was positive," Mills said. "Their plan for me, their vision, what they saw me doing is exactly what I saw myself doing in the NFL. There was no better spot.”
Mills will join former Notre Dame cornerback Julian Love in Seattle. Love, who plays safety for the Seahawks, is entering his third season in Seattle after four seasons with the New York Giants.
Mills signed with Notre Dame as a four-star recruit out of Lake Forest (Ill.) High. Rivals ranked him as the No. 9 defensive tackle in the 2020 recruiting class. Mills ended up being the 20th defensive tackle selected in the 2025 draft class.
Three Notre Dame players were selected ahead of Mills in this year's draft: cornerback Benjamin Morrison (second round), safety Xavier Watts (third round) and linebacker Jack Kiser (fourth round).
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