Metuchen's Devin Miller commits to Marshall
Class of 2017 Metuchen (N.J.) tight end Devin Miller ended his roller coaster ride through recruiting today at Marshall University where he accepted a full scholarship to play for the Thundering Herd.
“They had a need for a tight end and I think I am a pretty good one, so they wanted to take me in,” Miller said. “I just wanted to see the place and make sure that I really felt comfortable with [Tight Ends] Coach [David] Dunn and the rest of the offensive staff and really just see the place.”
Last week, Signing Day came and went and Miller had yet to sign a national letter of intent.
“It was really frustrating,” Miller said. “You kind of get down on yourself and start thinking ‘what if I did this right or what if I did that right? Then, maybe this would not have happened. But with the support I got from my family and my friends, they told me everything was going to work out. I appreciate them for keeping my head up.”
The day after signing day, Miller was contacted by Marshall and visit was scheduled to Huntington, W.V. Miller arrived last night and right away there were telling signs that Marshall was looking like his future home.
“ We went out to eat last night and our waiter said he hadn’t missed a Marshall home game since before he could crawl," Miller said. "After that, I kind of knew what type of trip I was in for.”
Miller was being recruited by lots of FBS schools and had visited many campuses, including Auburn, Syracuse and Penn State.
“Everything at Marshall is up the standard of any other school I have been to. I was just sold,” he said.
Miller had previously committed to Houston but things fell through in the fall and that left him back on the open market. Miller, NJVarsity.com’s No.12-ranked prospect in NJ’s class of 2017, was passed over by a host of schools because he was not as tall as some other tight end prospects.
Miller measured in today just a tad shy of 6-foot-4 and it was that reason that he was slow played by some schools, including his home-state school of Rutgers, right up until signing day.
There were also come coaching changes among the schools who were recruiting him, such as Purdue and Coastal Carolina, which also played a part in his recruitment.
Now, the wait is over as Miller signed his national letter of intent to Marshall today.
“I will be out to prove you don’t have to be a 6-foot-6 tight end to make it at the FBS level," he said. "It is unfortunate that some teams think that is what you have to be.”
Miller will follow in the footsteps of his two older brothers as FBS football players.
Dejuan was a former wide receiver at Oklahoma and Dorian is currently a starting offensive guard at Rutgers.
“Everybody was kind of waiting on me. People would always ask Dejuan and Dorian where their brother is going. It felt bad on signing day to tell a bunch of people I don’t know yet. It is a good feeling now. All three of us worked our butts off to play division 1 football and it is an extremely rare thing for three brothers to play at that level.”