From the West Island to Ole Miss: Montreal running back ready to sprint to the NFL

Montrealer Shekai Mills-Knight ran from Dollard-des-Ormeaux to the University of Mississippi and hopes to make the NFL.

Shekai Mills-Knight was told he was too heavy to play football when he was just eight years old.

He got the last laugh, however, as the teen from Montreal’s West Island is getting a chance to be part of some of the biggest games in U.S. football with the University of Mississippi, or, as the team is more familiarly known, Ole Miss.

“It was unreal. Like, this is like everything I ever dreamed of,” the freshman running back from Dollard-des-Ormeaux said.

Mills-Knight began playing football at seven years old.

“When he was scoring the touchdowns, I would run with him down the other end of the field,” said his mother, Nesta Mills. “So yeah, I was a really excited mom.”

By eight, however, he was at the centre of a controversy when he was deemed too heavy to carry the ball.

“They took away all our wins, and we didn’t end up making the playoffs, and we really didn’t win the championship that year,” he said. “That just fired me up. Ever since then, I knew football is what I was going to do, and it just motivated me to work harder.”

Since then, his former coach has seen him grow up and grow into a standout player.

“As years went on, I would look down on him and then yeah, now you’re bigger than me,” said coach Diya Richards. “But, seeing him get better, he was kind of a natural. Certain things just came naturally.”

His speed is something that runs in the family. His uncle Glen coached Usain Bolt.

For his mom, the family speed meant constantly rushing to get her six kids to practice on time.

“We had Monday night, that was called spaghetti night because that was the fastest thing to make on a practice night,” she said.

Mills-Knight had six carries as a freshman with Old Miss, which lost to the University of Miami (The U) in the national semi-finals.

“This was supposed to be the year, to be honest,” he said. “I told everyone this was going to be the year, but we finished in third place. But I’m coming back next year for more.”

He said that despite the fact that many U.S. schools overlook Canadian talent, he’s got a taste of making the big time.

His next goal is making the pros.