Florida State Basketball: Early look at what Caleb Mills brings to Seminoles

Caleb Mills shocked the college basketball world on January 3rd when he announced that he would be stepping away from the Houston Cougars’ program for personal reasons. Now, I think that most of us know that when a player says that he is stepping away from a program for personal reasons, he is really articulating that he wants to transfer to another school.

However, I noticed that Houston Fans were still holding out hope that the redshirt sophomore guard would return to the program. And quite frankly, Mills was dealing with a nagging ankle injury that caused him to miss some time this season, so it made sense for Cougar fans to think that Mills was stepping away from the team to get himself fully healthy.

Unfortunately for them, the 6’3″ Swannanoa, North Carolina native had his mindset on continuing his collegiate career elsewhere, and that was evident when he entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal on January 5th. And exactly one week later, Mills was able to call Florida State his new home (and Florida State is one of the schools that my editor, Tristan Freeman, said should target Mills).

I don’t think that I’m overdoing it when I say that the Seminoles should be overjoyed to have Mills join their program, because the 2020-21 AAC Preseason Player of the Year brings a lot to the table, and has the potential to be an instant impact type of player at Florida State. Mills’ redshirt freshman season was certainly one for the books, as he averaged 13.2 points while playing 22.5 minutes per game, shot 36.5% from three-point range, and turned the ball over less than two times per contest (1.4 to be exact).

As I mentioned earlier, Mills wasn’t 100% this season due to the lingering ankle injury that he suffered, but he still managed to average 9.8 points and 1.3 steals a night, shoot 44.8% from the field (while playing 19.0 minutes per game), and surrender the ball less than two times a contest in four total games (Mills averaged 1.5 turnovers exactly).

According to Mills, his decision to leave Houston was based on his desire to be closer to home, and while some individuals will make a case that Mills made the move because he couldn’t make it work at Houston, the most important thing to remember is that the Cougars’ December 29th match-up against Tulsa was Mills’ final game in a Houston uniform (which is all that really matters).

So why exactly is Mills should a valuable addition to the Florida State Seminoles? Well, in this article I will be taking an in-depth look at Mills’ strengths and weaknesses as a player so that you don’t have to waste your time aimlessly surfing the internet for game film on the promising guard.