Todd Orodenker

For the Times

He didn't want to admit it, but finally, he relented.

"Yeah," Frankford High School running back Zaire Anderson said with a smile, "he's got to put on a few more pounds."

It's not like Taron Mills hasn't heard that before. In fact, he's been hearing that for a while - especially from his teammates.

It hasn't mattered, though.

The 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior linebacker still leads his team vocally, mentally, on defense, on special teams and pretty much everything else.

"He's maybe one of the best defensive players I've ever coached," Mike Capriotti said. "He's just one of the kids that have the feel of the game. He gets it, his football IQ is outstanding."

Having a player like Mills, or, as Frankford coach Capriotti says, "another coach on the field," is quite helpful to the Pioneers. With so many options to get the football to - like Pioneer stars Tyrell Martin, Tyrell Allen, Jeffione Thomas and Anderson - having a guy who is unselfish enough to give up his carries isn't something you come by every day.

Mills began the year as a running back and linebacker, but over the course of the season he has been sticking primarily to his linebacker duties.

He certainly has embraced the role.

"I take it more as a responsibility," Mills explained. "Because it's like they gave me that role to take charge and to take the lead and to show others that that's the way to do it."

Capriotti wasn't blind to the kind of effect Mills had in the locker room and with his teammates. He knew how the other players looked at Mills. He knew what the player could do. He knew what he was capable of. And now, he even lets him call some defensive plays.

"He leads by example," Capriotti said. "He's also a tough kid, he's got their respect. If he says something, it means something. He's a solid football player."

Initially, though, Mills was a bit disappointed in the new role, but that was to be expected. After all, there is a method to Capriotti's madness. And with the Pioneers winning their third consecutive game last Friday, that madness is starting to pay dividends.

Frankford is 4-5 overall, with an even 2-2 record in the Public League AAAA Division regular-season standings. The Pioneers most recently downed Germantown, 35-14, in the AAAA quarterfinals on Oct. 30.

"When I asked him, I said, 'Look, you've got to play defense, I'm taking you off offense,'" Capriotti recalled. "And he sees how the defense has been, since he's been playing one way and he could go one-hundred percent all the time. It makes a big difference in the fourth quarter. I don't care what kind of shape you're in, when you're playing two-way football, you're gassed the fourth quarter."

A more-rested Mills means a better Frankford defense. Case in point - a 40-34 overtime victory against rival Northeast High School on Oct. 23.

Sure, the Pioneers gave up 34 points. Sure, they blew a big fourth-quarter lead. But they didn't back down when things looked bleak. They didn't give in. They hung tough and won the game. And that wound up meaning a lot more to Mills than any other game he's played in.

"That stood out more than other games because I really gave it my all in the game, I left everything on the field," Mills said. "That was one of the toughest games I've ever played; we were up and at the same they time they were coming back. So we had to push even harder."

That push came from Mills. Which is strange, because off the field, the senior - who goes by the nickname "Rah-Rah" - could not be quieter.

"On the football field, it's a different me," Mills said. "Another person comes out."

His teammates can't help but be a bit confused with his change in personality.

"That's what's so funny - for him to be so good, why is he so quiet?" Anderson asked. "But he's always joking around. He's not going to be serious. He's got to be playing, like goofy. He says, 'I can't get mad and try to do it on the field. I just got to be calm.'"

Mills picked up that mentality from his father, who introduced him to life on the gridiron when he was 6. His passion has carried on to today, as Mills commutes from his home in Germantown to Frankford High School to compete with the Pioneers.

And with his high school career winding down, as the 2009 season hits the home stretch, the next obvious step is college. For Mills, he hopes it's somewhere that has a good architecture program. He has looked into Clark University in Georgia as a hopeful destination to extend both his football and academic careers.

For now, though, all of that will have to wait.

There is still football to be played, and with the postseason upon him, Mills is ready to lead his Pioneers to glory.