The decision that King and Kaylon Miller waited their complete lives to obtain got here on their drive again from observe, late of their senior yr at Calabasas Excessive.
However Kaylon didn’t decide up. His cellphone marked the decision as spam.
“We had to stop the car on the side of the road,” King stated. “We were going crazy.”
USC offensive lineman Kaylon Miller, proper, blocks throughout a win over Georgia Southern on Sept. 6. on the Coliseum.
(Sean M. Haffey / Getty Photographs)
“I turned to King, like, ‘What is life right now?’” Kaylon added. “There’s no way this opportunity is coming up.”
For many walk-ons, that may have been the top of the story, a momentous mile marker on the best way to 4 seasons spent on scout group. However lower than two years later, King Miller is slated to paved the way as a walk-on for No. 20 USC’s banged-up backfield in opposition to No. 13 Notre Dame in a excessive stakes rivalry matchup that would very effectively outline the Trojans’ season.
It’s the form of stage that iconic Notre Dame underdog Rudy might have solely dreamed of.
For King Miller, although, this second had all the time been at the back of his thoughts. As a child, King dreamed of turning into a USC working again. And there was no sense in suggesting anything, both.
“That was his mission, to get to USC,” his father, Mark Miller, says. “King has always had a mind of his own and does what he wants to do.”
However at Calabasas Excessive, it doesn’t matter what he did or how effectively he ran, the recruiting consideration King coveted by no means actually materialized. Coaches would come to observe his teammate, four-star wideout Aaron Butler, and stroll away questioning concerning the 6-foot, 210-pound bruiser within the backfield.
Nonetheless, the preliminary curiosity, for one motive or one other, by no means led to a lot.
“We ran the offense around him, through him,” Calabasas coach Cary Harris stated of King. “We were selling him to coaches.”
USC working again King Miller evades Michigan defensive again Mason Curtis on a 49-yard run Saturday on the Coliseum.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Occasions)
Just a few — Portland State, San José State and Nevada — supplied him a scholarship. Different coaches admitted to Harris that they thought King wasn’t quick sufficient to be a school working again.
USC coach Lincoln Riley was amongst these biding his time. Riley stored tabs on King for some time, assuming it was solely a matter of time earlier than a Energy 4 faculty handed him a proposal. He wasn’t that far off then from getting one at USC, Riley says now.
By winter of their senior yr, neither of the Miller twins knew fairly the place they had been headed subsequent. King had turned his consideration to Portland State as a result of they’d proven essentially the most curiosity. Kaylon nonetheless didn’t have a proposal.
That’s when the decision got here from Henson. They known as their dad instantly after.
“That phone call was everything,” Mark Miller stated. “For them to actually want them and to see the potential in them and give them an actual chance, that meant everything.”
However strolling on additionally meant paying their very own manner, at one of the costly faculties in America. It additionally got here with no ensures. After they sat down with Henson, a former walk-on himself, he was trustworthy. They won’t play till a lot later of their school profession, he advised them — if in any respect.
After that assembly, their mother and father requested if that was actually the trail they wished.
“They were 100%,” Mark Miller stated. “Regardless of what happened, they were going to work and prove they belonged.”
USC working again King Miller carries the ball whereas working away from Georgia Southern defenders on Sept. 6 on the Coliseum.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)
Inside a yr, each brothers made their mark at USC. Kaylon Miller opened this season as a redshirt freshman on the two-deep of the Trojans’ offensive line.
King appeared the much less possible of the 2 to search out his manner onto the sphere, given the depth in USC’s backfield. However in Week 1 in opposition to Missouri State, he was known as upon within the third quarter. On his simply third collegiate carry, he exploded upfield via a crease within the protection. Kaylon, who was taking part in guard, walled off one aspect of the opening as King slipped via two defenders and took off for a 75-yard rating.
Working as quick as he might behind King was his brother.
“King has worked his entire life to get to this point,” Kaylon stated. “I always knew his day was going to come at one point.”
These days have simply stored coming for King since. Every week later, he busted a 41-yard landing run in a win over Georgia Southern. Then final week, with the Trojans’ high two working backs out after halftime, Miller stepped seamlessly right into a starring function.
Towards Michigan, which boasted a top-10 dashing protection coming into the sport, King rushed 18 instances for 158 yards, none extra spectacular than when he took a handoff on third-and-26. Bursting via the opening, he stutter-stepped previous one defender, then sped previous two others for a 49-yard acquire. It was his fourth run of 40-plus yards in simply 29 carries.
And to assume, some coaches had been apprehensive he wasn’t quick sufficient.
“If I see something, I’m gonna go,” King stated. “I’m not gonna let someone single handedly take me down.”
That may must be the case Saturday, when Miller leads a battered Trojan backfield right into a stormy battle in South Bend. Miller leads the nation in yards per carry amongst working backs with greater than 25 makes an attempt (10.69), however Notre Dame boasts among the best run defenses in school soccer, having held its final two opponents to 2.43 yards per carry.
It’s not the form of stage most groups with Faculty Soccer Playoff aspirations would willingly entrust to a walk-on. However King Miller — and his brother, Kaylon — aren’t going to be walk-ons for for much longer.
When requested whether or not the King brothers would quickly be awarded soccer scholarships, Riley responded:
“Those guys are clearly a matter of when not if.”
