John Mills is no stranger to changes.

He only started playing volleyball as a sophomore in high school. Volleyball, to Mills was an afterthought; he was a basketball player first and foremost. He played basketball year-round — not volleyball, the sport he has excelled in so much.

The basketball team at Clovis West was very successful as Mills' team captured the Valley championships his senior year. As a senior, he was named to the FAB 50 All-American list, the All-CIF Central Valley squad, the All Tri-River Athletic Conference team and he was his team's captain.

John had his eyes set on playing basketball in college, not volleyball. But it would be volleyball that he would go to San Diego State University to play.

Since then, Mills has endured even more changes. He went from being a Division I two-year starter at San Diego State to an All-American on the San Diego State club team that went to the Final Four.

The junior middle hitter endured hard times at SDSU as Mills did not approve of the coaching and thus chose to play club volleyball for the Aztecs. The time on the club team may have made him even stronger. He started to enjoy the game again, and when SDSU lost its varsity volleyball team due to budget restrictions, Mills wanted back in Division I to use his final two years of eligibility.

"The situation at SDSU was bad," Mills said. "The coach and I weren't getting along. I lost interest, and I had to get away. I decided to take a year off and go play club. I grew so much from that year it gave me fire and intensity."

Mills is now in a totally different direction. About 3,000 miles away, he is the starting middle hitter on a team favored to return to the NCAA Championships, something the Aztec team had not been able to do for quite some time.

Mills came to Penn State this fall after turning down offers from volleyball powers UCLA, USC, Long Beach St. and Hawaii. Mills was just two weeks away from attending UCLA, but after talking to Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik, Mills decided State College is where he wanted to play. All it had taken was one visit and the Lions had themselves 6-foot-9-inches of a middle hitter.

"I was supposed to go to UCLA," Mills said. "I visited USC, Hawaii, UCLA and PSU. I had basically verbally committed to UCLA, but at end of summer I talked to Pav. I came out here and fell in love with the team, everyone was so wholesome that it felt like home."

Mills has meant a lot to the Lions. In the recent ASICS/Active Ankle Beach Bash, Mills garnered MVP honors.

"He's got that body of a middle blocker," Pavlik said. "He moves well and we haven't had someone like that since Kevin Hourican in 1996."

Mills, a junior, has brought something more than skill. He has brought experience and age to a team that has no senior starters. He also has brought to the Lions his feeling of getting another chance.

He finally has a shot at what he wanted for so long, a national title. Mills sets his goals high, and always proclaims that his goal other than the national title is to be the best middle hitter in the country.

"He has brought to the team a refreshing view," Pavlik said. "A chance to have a different perspective than 2 years at San Diego State where the quality of teams was less stellar, but the success of his team was less than stellar. His sense of wanting the national title is a little different than the rest of the guys."