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Mil Borders makes a living promoting football players. This time he’s happy to let others do the talking.
The father of Nebraska linebacker transfer Chief Borders knows some of the stories about the former Florida defender sound too good to be true. The biology major’s sky-high grade-point average. The outsized personality that can carry a room. The unique blend of athleticism and frame that makes the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder a Swiss Army knife in any scheme.
So don’t take his word for it. Who should he get on the phone as a Chief witness?
He could dial up former NFL stars like Michael Strahan, Cam Newton or Dwight Freeney. Maybe ESPN analyst Dan Mullen, the former Gators coach who was on Borders as a middle-school prospect in Chicago. Or Lovie Smith, the well-known pro and college coach who sponsored Borders’ grade-school team years ago while with the Chicago Bears.
Deion Sanders? Better not, the elder Borders says — the Huskers play Coach Prime and Colorado in eight short months.
“Chief has relationships with everybody,” Borders says. “There are a lot of people who have known Chief since he was a shorty.”
Michigan State coach Mel Tucker is “like an uncle” to the former 2021 four-star prospect. Ditto Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh. Borders’ peers include Alabama linebacker Will Anderson — one of the top projected picks in this spring’s NFL draft who, like Borders, played high-school football in Georgia — and Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy, an old Pop Warner rival in Illinois.
Mil Borders operates his own sports-driven recruiting service, Ballers Choice, while also training players and working with national recruiting analysts and selection committees for high school all-star bowls. Thus, Chief — who received his first scholarship from Illinois in seventh grade — grew up in a climate where he could be an apprentice instead of a pioneer. Everyone around him had talent and drive as a former or current elite athlete.
“It’s definitely a humbling situation I’m in just knowing you have those people on speed dial or at your fingertips,” Chief Borders says. “That allows me to take a deep breath and understand that I can do this. It takes a village to make a person be successful, and that goes for everybody. Those people in my life have allowed me to be where I am now with life lessons.”
Borders is so well connected and charismatic that he is already on ESPN’s radar as a potential future broadcaster. He’s so ambitious that he talks openly about winning the Heisman Trophy as a defender and owns an online shop offering merchandise of his “The Chief” brand.
Between what was and what could be for Borders is Nebraska. He still has three seasons of eligibility to be a Husker and leave a lasting impact like he did in Chicago, rural Georgia and at Florida.
If a relentless personal standard and NU’s extensive support system aren’t enough to push Borders where he wants to go, a contact list packed with recognizable names is always on call to help. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“A lot of people don’t see the blood, sweat and grind,” Chief Borders says. “We don’t say tears because we can cry when it’s all said and done.”
If they don’t, Reid warned them, Borders would be hurting their feelings the next few years.
Reid, 40, is a longtime Borders family friend who has known Chief most of his life. Reid also won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts in 2007 and played with other Pro Hall of Famers like Edgerrin James and Champ Bailey. He has seen daily greatness up close and personal.
The “pro intangibles” of Borders rate with the best of the best, Reid says. Forget about the on-field abilities, where his 6-foot-5, 245-pound frame could adapt to play virtually any defensive position or even some tight end. His mix of work ethic and intelligence make for a body and mind that are always pushing their limits. His infectious positivity is locker-room gold.
Reid wonders what might have happened had Mil Borders not moved his family to Georgia when Chief was entering high school. Recruiting business had Borders often in the football-crazed South anyway, and gang activity in the Windy City wasn’t what the father wanted for his son. His own experience — as a gifted athlete whose dad didn’t let him play team sports growing up there — left him wanting something better for Chief.
“Chief would be in trouble in Chicago because he’s too nice,” Reid says. “Not that he’s not tough, but his heart is too big. His father didn’t have a choice: He had to grow up in that environment. But the lessons he learned over his life, he knew there were other environments. He wanted his son to be everything he knew he should have been.”
The next destination was McEachern High School in Powder Springs, a town of about 17,000 sitting 25 miles northwest of Atlanta. Borders saw his role steadily increase at the large-classification program and the college offers continued to come in. Ohio State, Georgia and more than 20 other top schools wanted in.
After Borders’ junior season the family moved 40 miles southwest to Carrollton with the intention of finishing school there. For eight months he studied and trained there.
Then, days before the 2020 opener, Borders received shocking news. The Georgia High School Association declared the senior ineligible, ruling he began attending his new school before the family had made a “bona fide move” to the area.
“It was a nightmare” says Sean Calhoun, then Carrollton’s head coach. “We got screwed, that’s the bottom line. But it turned out well for Chief.”
The family reacted quickly, hiring a lawyer and physically relocating again another 20 miles south to Heard County High School to the tiny town of Franklin that boasts one stoplight and about 900 people. Borders played in 10 games, averaging more than 15 tackles per outing. That December he finished second for the High School Butkus Award that honors the nation’s best linebacker.
The situation led the GHSA to eventually add what is informally known as the “Chief Borders Rule” to its bylaws, stating that a transfer student who doesn’t become eligible at one school cannot regain that status at another in the same academic year.
Calhoun figures plenty of athletes would have caved under the pressure of negative attention. Not Borders, who turned in his best season with a smile on his face.
“Before you talk football — and he’s very good at that — you see the human and the actual person,” Calhoun says. “It’s hard to have a bad day around Chief.”
The Heard County coach welcomed Borders as a high-profile player who could have shrunk from the spotlight or dominated it during his brief stay. Instead the senior and Florida commit who towered over everyone in the small school made friends.
“We’d have a 145-pound kid out there making a tackle and Chief would be the first over to congratulate him,” Barron says. “There was never a negative thing to come out of his mouth.”
Similar anecdotes pile up as Mil Borders moves rapid fire through a virtual rolodex of contacts and character references. At Carrollton, Calhoun says, Chief would run beside and encourage any lineman struggling to finish a practice sprint. Matt Napier — a high school coach in Georgia and brother of current Florida coach Billy Napier — saw Borders light up a combine camp last summer working with teenagers.
Former NFL player Derrick Tatum, who runs a prominent football academy out of Atlanta, recalls a 7-on-7 tournament when a participant lost control and began attacking coaches and other players. Borders, a sophomore at the time, grabbed his peer before the situation escalated further.
“Straighten up, man!” Borders told him in a crowd. “Tighten up! This isn’t what you do.” The boy calmed down and play resumed.
“That’s what a leader does,” Tatum says. “Kids are afraid to hold other kids accountable and he’s the type of person who is going to hold everyone accountable because he’s going to be the hardest worker.”
Borders quickly became a face of the program at Florida, earning the prestigious Danny Wuerffel Man of the Month honor for excellence in leadership, character, service and academics. He delighted fans by staying late after games to sign autographs. He was part of a contingent of 16 Gator student-athletes who went to Greece last summer on a trip to help Ukrainian refugees.
Meanwhile, the defender appeared in 16 games for his college team, mostly on special teams. A strong spring appeared to set him up for a more prominent role as weakside linebacker in 2022 before coaches restructured the scheme to feature more safeties. Borders entered the transfer portal Dec. 5 as Florida completed a 6-6 regular season under its new head coach.
“Things changed,” Mil Borders says. “They asked him to stay after the season and he just said he was ready to move on and spread his wings.”
Enter Nebraska, a school Chief already knew a bit about after being recruited by former NU coach Scott Frost and defensive coordinator Erik Chinander. His good vibes strengthened on a visit last month when he saw academic awards he didn’t know existed. The son of a doctor — his mother, La’Meka, is a pharmacist — already has them in his sights.
On-the-field opportunity exists as well. The Huskers are resetting at edge rusher and moving to a 3-3-5 defense that’s ideal for Borders’ versatility. He has coverage skills as a longtime cornerback, the twitchiness of a pass rusher and strength of a run-stopping linebacker.
“He should be a starter pretty soon,” says Tom Lemming, a veteran recruiting analyst who promoted Borders as a Butkus finalist in high school. “He’s good enough to be one of the top defensive players there. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t make an impact right away because he’s got all the tools.”
Derrek — who enjoyed a long pro basketball career in Europe — always knew his child, Kyle, was a good athlete. He never imagined a four-star defensive back who would go on to Notre Dame and eventually become the 14th overall choice in last year’s NFL draft.
Mil Borders and others saw the potential, helping the Hamiltons navigate camps and the recruiting process. Family helping family. The elder Hamilton says it’s not a stretch to envision a similar path for Chief, who has a comparable makeup and support structure.
A culture of athletes raising athletes is becoming more common, Hamilton says. Look at Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and others whose learning curve isn’t nearly as steep as their fathers’ was.
“I think they get to see the world from a different view,” Hamilton says. “They don’t have hanger-on friends. They don’t have a crew. I think that’s important. You’re just here for the game. Money comes, but Chief is doing it because he loves it.”
There’s a difference between those who want to play football and those who have to, the former pro says. One group can afford to craft a long-term plan; the other talks trash and pushes boundaries. Different paths to the same goal.
Another father of a top rising football star, T.C. Lewis, sees a blend of humility and drive in Borders that’s no given in athletes with resources. His son, quarterback Julian Lewis, already has offers from the likes of Alabama, Ohio State and Nebraska in the 2026 class and plays at Carrollton.
Lewis has come across few who capitalize on their platform like Borders.
“Chief’s almost a politician,” Lewis says. “He’s a guy where you meet him and it’s almost like it’s not the first time you’ve met him because of the way he approaches people and shakes hands and smiles. It’s so genuine and authentic. It’s just different.”
Borders says he’s not who he is by accident. Not with so many pouring into him for so long. His is an enduring success story with bigger moments still to come.
“I just want to be the best and work my way to the top and be the greatest to ever do it,” Borders says. “There are a lot of relationships along the way – a lot of relationships."
omaha.com
The father of Nebraska linebacker transfer Chief Borders knows some of the stories about the former Florida defender sound too good to be true. The biology major’s sky-high grade-point average. The outsized personality that can carry a room. The unique blend of athleticism and frame that makes the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder a Swiss Army knife in any scheme.
So don’t take his word for it. Who should he get on the phone as a Chief witness?
He could dial up former NFL stars like Michael Strahan, Cam Newton or Dwight Freeney. Maybe ESPN analyst Dan Mullen, the former Gators coach who was on Borders as a middle-school prospect in Chicago. Or Lovie Smith, the well-known pro and college coach who sponsored Borders’ grade-school team years ago while with the Chicago Bears.
Deion Sanders? Better not, the elder Borders says — the Huskers play Coach Prime and Colorado in eight short months.
“Chief has relationships with everybody,” Borders says. “There are a lot of people who have known Chief since he was a shorty.”
Michigan State coach Mel Tucker is “like an uncle” to the former 2021 four-star prospect. Ditto Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh. Borders’ peers include Alabama linebacker Will Anderson — one of the top projected picks in this spring’s NFL draft who, like Borders, played high-school football in Georgia — and Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy, an old Pop Warner rival in Illinois.
Mil Borders operates his own sports-driven recruiting service, Ballers Choice, while also training players and working with national recruiting analysts and selection committees for high school all-star bowls. Thus, Chief — who received his first scholarship from Illinois in seventh grade — grew up in a climate where he could be an apprentice instead of a pioneer. Everyone around him had talent and drive as a former or current elite athlete.
“It’s definitely a humbling situation I’m in just knowing you have those people on speed dial or at your fingertips,” Chief Borders says. “That allows me to take a deep breath and understand that I can do this. It takes a village to make a person be successful, and that goes for everybody. Those people in my life have allowed me to be where I am now with life lessons.”
Borders is so well connected and charismatic that he is already on ESPN’s radar as a potential future broadcaster. He’s so ambitious that he talks openly about winning the Heisman Trophy as a defender and owns an online shop offering merchandise of his “The Chief” brand.
Between what was and what could be for Borders is Nebraska. He still has three seasons of eligibility to be a Husker and leave a lasting impact like he did in Chicago, rural Georgia and at Florida.
If a relentless personal standard and NU’s extensive support system aren’t enough to push Borders where he wants to go, a contact list packed with recognizable names is always on call to help. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“A lot of people don’t see the blood, sweat and grind,” Chief Borders says. “We don’t say tears because we can cry when it’s all said and done.”
Moving on to better places
Darrell Reid loves his alma mater. So much so that the former NFL defensive lineman reached out to Minnesota Gophers coaches last month encouraging them to go after the guy with the memorable name in the transfer portal.If they don’t, Reid warned them, Borders would be hurting their feelings the next few years.
Reid, 40, is a longtime Borders family friend who has known Chief most of his life. Reid also won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts in 2007 and played with other Pro Hall of Famers like Edgerrin James and Champ Bailey. He has seen daily greatness up close and personal.
The “pro intangibles” of Borders rate with the best of the best, Reid says. Forget about the on-field abilities, where his 6-foot-5, 245-pound frame could adapt to play virtually any defensive position or even some tight end. His mix of work ethic and intelligence make for a body and mind that are always pushing their limits. His infectious positivity is locker-room gold.
Reid wonders what might have happened had Mil Borders not moved his family to Georgia when Chief was entering high school. Recruiting business had Borders often in the football-crazed South anyway, and gang activity in the Windy City wasn’t what the father wanted for his son. His own experience — as a gifted athlete whose dad didn’t let him play team sports growing up there — left him wanting something better for Chief.
“Chief would be in trouble in Chicago because he’s too nice,” Reid says. “Not that he’s not tough, but his heart is too big. His father didn’t have a choice: He had to grow up in that environment. But the lessons he learned over his life, he knew there were other environments. He wanted his son to be everything he knew he should have been.”
The next destination was McEachern High School in Powder Springs, a town of about 17,000 sitting 25 miles northwest of Atlanta. Borders saw his role steadily increase at the large-classification program and the college offers continued to come in. Ohio State, Georgia and more than 20 other top schools wanted in.
After Borders’ junior season the family moved 40 miles southwest to Carrollton with the intention of finishing school there. For eight months he studied and trained there.
Then, days before the 2020 opener, Borders received shocking news. The Georgia High School Association declared the senior ineligible, ruling he began attending his new school before the family had made a “bona fide move” to the area.
“It was a nightmare” says Sean Calhoun, then Carrollton’s head coach. “We got screwed, that’s the bottom line. But it turned out well for Chief.”
The family reacted quickly, hiring a lawyer and physically relocating again another 20 miles south to Heard County High School to the tiny town of Franklin that boasts one stoplight and about 900 people. Borders played in 10 games, averaging more than 15 tackles per outing. That December he finished second for the High School Butkus Award that honors the nation’s best linebacker.
The situation led the GHSA to eventually add what is informally known as the “Chief Borders Rule” to its bylaws, stating that a transfer student who doesn’t become eligible at one school cannot regain that status at another in the same academic year.
Calhoun figures plenty of athletes would have caved under the pressure of negative attention. Not Borders, who turned in his best season with a smile on his face.
“Before you talk football — and he’s very good at that — you see the human and the actual person,” Calhoun says. “It’s hard to have a bad day around Chief.”
The hardest worker with plenty of character
A few months of sharing the same hallways and fields convinced Tim Barron that Borders was wired differently than any top athlete he knew.The Heard County coach welcomed Borders as a high-profile player who could have shrunk from the spotlight or dominated it during his brief stay. Instead the senior and Florida commit who towered over everyone in the small school made friends.
“We’d have a 145-pound kid out there making a tackle and Chief would be the first over to congratulate him,” Barron says. “There was never a negative thing to come out of his mouth.”
Similar anecdotes pile up as Mil Borders moves rapid fire through a virtual rolodex of contacts and character references. At Carrollton, Calhoun says, Chief would run beside and encourage any lineman struggling to finish a practice sprint. Matt Napier — a high school coach in Georgia and brother of current Florida coach Billy Napier — saw Borders light up a combine camp last summer working with teenagers.
Former NFL player Derrick Tatum, who runs a prominent football academy out of Atlanta, recalls a 7-on-7 tournament when a participant lost control and began attacking coaches and other players. Borders, a sophomore at the time, grabbed his peer before the situation escalated further.
“Straighten up, man!” Borders told him in a crowd. “Tighten up! This isn’t what you do.” The boy calmed down and play resumed.
“That’s what a leader does,” Tatum says. “Kids are afraid to hold other kids accountable and he’s the type of person who is going to hold everyone accountable because he’s going to be the hardest worker.”
Borders quickly became a face of the program at Florida, earning the prestigious Danny Wuerffel Man of the Month honor for excellence in leadership, character, service and academics. He delighted fans by staying late after games to sign autographs. He was part of a contingent of 16 Gator student-athletes who went to Greece last summer on a trip to help Ukrainian refugees.
Meanwhile, the defender appeared in 16 games for his college team, mostly on special teams. A strong spring appeared to set him up for a more prominent role as weakside linebacker in 2022 before coaches restructured the scheme to feature more safeties. Borders entered the transfer portal Dec. 5 as Florida completed a 6-6 regular season under its new head coach.
“Things changed,” Mil Borders says. “They asked him to stay after the season and he just said he was ready to move on and spread his wings.”
Enter Nebraska, a school Chief already knew a bit about after being recruited by former NU coach Scott Frost and defensive coordinator Erik Chinander. His good vibes strengthened on a visit last month when he saw academic awards he didn’t know existed. The son of a doctor — his mother, La’Meka, is a pharmacist — already has them in his sights.
On-the-field opportunity exists as well. The Huskers are resetting at edge rusher and moving to a 3-3-5 defense that’s ideal for Borders’ versatility. He has coverage skills as a longtime cornerback, the twitchiness of a pass rusher and strength of a run-stopping linebacker.
“He should be a starter pretty soon,” says Tom Lemming, a veteran recruiting analyst who promoted Borders as a Butkus finalist in high school. “He’s good enough to be one of the top defensive players there. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t make an impact right away because he’s got all the tools.”
Power of a village
The power of a village is real. Derrek Hamilton saw it every Sunday last fall as his son flew around the field with the Baltimore Ravens.Derrek — who enjoyed a long pro basketball career in Europe — always knew his child, Kyle, was a good athlete. He never imagined a four-star defensive back who would go on to Notre Dame and eventually become the 14th overall choice in last year’s NFL draft.
Mil Borders and others saw the potential, helping the Hamiltons navigate camps and the recruiting process. Family helping family. The elder Hamilton says it’s not a stretch to envision a similar path for Chief, who has a comparable makeup and support structure.
A culture of athletes raising athletes is becoming more common, Hamilton says. Look at Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and others whose learning curve isn’t nearly as steep as their fathers’ was.
“I think they get to see the world from a different view,” Hamilton says. “They don’t have hanger-on friends. They don’t have a crew. I think that’s important. You’re just here for the game. Money comes, but Chief is doing it because he loves it.”
There’s a difference between those who want to play football and those who have to, the former pro says. One group can afford to craft a long-term plan; the other talks trash and pushes boundaries. Different paths to the same goal.
Another father of a top rising football star, T.C. Lewis, sees a blend of humility and drive in Borders that’s no given in athletes with resources. His son, quarterback Julian Lewis, already has offers from the likes of Alabama, Ohio State and Nebraska in the 2026 class and plays at Carrollton.
Lewis has come across few who capitalize on their platform like Borders.
“Chief’s almost a politician,” Lewis says. “He’s a guy where you meet him and it’s almost like it’s not the first time you’ve met him because of the way he approaches people and shakes hands and smiles. It’s so genuine and authentic. It’s just different.”
Borders says he’s not who he is by accident. Not with so many pouring into him for so long. His is an enduring success story with bigger moments still to come.
“I just want to be the best and work my way to the top and be the greatest to ever do it,” Borders says. “There are a lot of relationships along the way – a lot of relationships."
An all-star village for Chief: Nebraska linebacker transfer Borders raised to shine
If a relentless personal standard and NU’s extensive support system aren’t enough to push Borders where he wants to go, a contact list packed with names like Michael Strahan and
