Braxton Miller Is Ahead of the Curve

Last month, a week before announcing his plans to switch to wide receiver for his final college football season, Ohio State’s Braxton Miller made a pronouncement that was equally powerful, if less widely discussed.

“I know I am the best athlete in college football,” Miller told reporters in Columbus. This fall, he’ll have a chance to prove it.

Videos by VICE

A shoulder injury last August cost Miller what would have been his senior season, and set the stage for an unprecedented quarterback situation. It worked out as well as anyone could’ve dreamed—if anyone would even have dared to dream about Cardale Jones going from not having played a significant down in college to leading the Buckeyes to the national title. Instead of entering a quarterback competition in camp with Jones and J. T. Barrett, Miller opted for a new role. With a switch to wide receiver—and possibly running back, kick returner, and even eventually back to part-time quarterback—Miller will give a deep and talented Ohio State team another explosive presence on offense. In return, the move could give Miller a very interesting future in the National Football League.

While Miller should certainly be fun to watch in his new role, there are three reasons the move could actually work.

1. Miller is a natural in the open field.

Many of Miller’s biggest plays as a quarterback were the results of forced improvisation, taking off after his initial passing target wasn’t open or using his acceleration to turn a single read option play into a zigzagging, highlight-reel run. Few players, at any position, are as dangerous in the open field. All of which is to say that while Miller might not be the best athlete in college football, he belongs in the discussion.

Ohio State lists Miller at 6’2″, 215, and though nearly a year of rehab may have affected his upper-body strength and body mass, he’s always been built more like an NFL running back (or linebacker) than a wide receiver. He’s never been afraid of contact, either, although he’s most often seen running away from college defenses.

Miller has 3,054 yards and 32 touchdowns in 32 career starts; he finished fourth in the Big Ten in rushing in 2012, had five 100-yard rushing games in 2013, and was named Big Ten Player of the Year both those years. With another season, he’d have been in range of college football’s four most productive running quarterbacks ever: Joshua Cribbs (3,670 career rushing yards), Antwaan Randle El (3,895), Brad Smith (4,289), and Pat White (4,480). All four of those players made it to the NFL. None of them played much quarterback there.

For all his success in college, Miller would probably not become the kind of quarterback who succeeds in the pocket against NFL defenses. That was the consensus of three NFL evaluators contacted for this story; all three said that the decision to switch positions would benefit Miller.

“I don’t know if he can run a route or catch, and some guys just can’t do those things,” a longtime NFL scout said. “I do know when I’ve seen him run, he has things you can’t teach. Time will tell if it’s running back, returning or covering punts or whatever, but this is the right move. Maybe his quarterback background will help whatever transition he ultimately makes, but I don’t think even before the injury that he was going to get many starting-caliber grades as a quarterback.”

All three expected that he’d have to make the move eventually. The unusual part is that he’s choosing to learn on the job—and show skills teams would otherwise be projecting—while still in college.

“Miller had two great years as a college quarterback,” another scout said via text message. “He produced, he won, he took a lot of hits, sure, but he also scared the shit out of a lot defensive coordinators. Getting a chance to work with the receivers and work on his future, to me it’s a no-brainer move.”

2. Miller is ahead of the NFL curve.

Though Randle El played some wide receiver at Indiana—and was athletic enough to dabble in varsity baseball and basketball, too—he was mostly a quarterback before going on to a long career as a receiver and ace returner with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He threw a few passes, too, most famously in the team’s Super Bowl XL win, when he tossed a 43-yard touchdown to another former college quarterback, Hines Ward.

Cribbs’s successful career—he went from undrafted college quarterback to setting the NFL’s kickoff return touchdown record—probably helped White get drafted in the second round by the Miami Dolphins. That move didn’t work for either side, and White’s career ended before the Dolphins could figure out what they wanted him to do. Making the move now could help Miller avoid a similar fate: he gets time, coaching, and valuable reps before jumping to the NFL, and teams get a sense of how he might contribute at the next level.

“The truth is I don’t know what position will eventually be best for Braxton,” one scout said. “The slot, right now, is the perfect place for him. A year’s seasoning will put him way ahead of where a lot of these other guys trying to make the move from quarterback were.”

Cribbs never lined up at receiver until an all-star game in Las Vegas two months after his last college game. Denard Robinson, a record-setting running quarterback at Michigan, really never played another position until he went to the Senior Bowl as a receiver, three months before the NFL Draft. He’s now a running back with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“For the average guy, I’d say it would be very uncommon, at least right out the gate, to be able to contribute,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. “He’s not common though. He’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever coached. My expectation is he’s an impact player.”

3. One move was enough.

Miller graduated last December. He could have transferred away from Ohio State’s crowded quarterback field and been eligible to play this fall. By choosing to stay and switch positions, he gets to play for the national title favorite, retain his standing as a home-state hero, and work his way into a new role among a bunch of other NFL prospects—all for a coach who has experience producing NFL players.

“We won’t know enough until practice starts how we can use him and what he can do,” Meyer said. “He’s a great athlete, but he’s never caught a pass for us. So we’ll know more, and we have plenty of time when practice starts.”

In an interview with a Toledo TV station after Miller’s announcement, Cardale Jones called Miller “the ultimate team player,” and described him as someone who will help his team “any way he can.” By making the move, Miller can help his team and help himself. Ohio State fans aren’t the only ones optimistic about how this might turn out.

“Ohio State is the first stop for all scouts this year,” one NFL team’s director of college scouting said. “The first day practice is open, we’ll be there, because that team is stacked. And when guys run the way Braxton runs, they force us to watch.

“Big and fast guys like Miller, we’ll find them. I’d bet he’s as fast as anybody. He’s a hell of an interesting project.”

It’s early to guess how the move will work, let alone where Miller will end up, but there’s plenty to dream on, for Braxton Miller and for everyone who’s watching him.