Posted on Sat, Feb. 09, 2008

Killian's Miller to be coveted on '09 signing day

Lamar Miller spent his day Wednesday like most teenage athletes.

He got in his 1994 Ford Taurus, picked up his cousins early in the morning and drove to Miami Killian High for school. After class and an hour's worth of therapy on his surgically repaired left shoulder, Miller returned home and sat down to start doing homework, when he noticed the television was on.

What he saw likely will end up happening to him a year from now.

''I took a peek at ESPN and I saw some kid making his announcement,'' said Miller, who smiled when describing what he saw.

``It was pretty cool. He had his family there next to him, his teammates. He looked happy. I want mine to be kind of the same.''

Miller, a 5-10 ½, 197-pound running back with strength and speed, might not know much about what he will endure during the next 12 months of recruiting. But at least one of the nation's top high school running backs in the class of 2009 has an idea now of how he would like it to end.

NO FAVORITES

''I don't have a favorite school or anything like that,'' said Miller, whose coach Steve Smith said Thursday that Miller has received more than two dozen oral offers from college programs.

``I mean, I'm a Hurricanes fan because I live in Miami. My grandfather drives a bus at UM. But my mom, she grew up in Gainesville, and she wants me to be a Gator.

``I'd like to go to a school that runs the ball, though. I'm an I-formation guy. Miami, Rutgers, UCF, they run the ball. I like schools like that.''

Miller, who debuted at No. 2 (one spot behind Miramar quarterback Eugene Smith) in The Miami Herald's prespring 2009 recruiting rankings for Miami-Dade and Broward counties on Thursday, will be sure to find plenty of schools in the coming months willing to put a scholarship in his hands.

He has welcomed a laundry list of visitors at Killian. According to Smith, during the final two weeks in January (when college coaches are allowed to make visits to high schools), Miller received visits from Miami's Randy Shannon, Florida's Urban Meyer, Southern Cal's Pete Carroll, Alabama's Nick Saban, Florida State's Bobby Bowden and the coaches and staffs from 10 other schools. Those coaches will now have to wait until May -- when Miller plays in his spring game -- to talk to him again. Then it is another noncontact period until the season begins in September.

`HUMBLE KID'

''Lamar is just a real sweet, humble, shy kid,'' said Smith, a former FIU assistant who coached Jon Beason at Hollywood Chaminade, and a number of other local high school standouts.

``He has no idea of what he's in for. Next week, I'm going to his house to speak to his parents and explain to them how his life is going to change, how their life is going to change.

``He's going to have people calling him all the time. He just has no idea right now.''

Miller, who has a 2.25 grade-point average, knows he will have to hit the books hard. Smith said college coaches have urged him to get his GPA up to at least a 2.6 so that, coupled with an SAT score of 820 or a 68 on the ACT, he can qualify for college.

''My mom has me set up to take some SAT prep courses,'' Miller said. ``I'm pretty good at math [he's getting in A in Algebra II.] I could do a little better in English.''

At Killian, Miller anchors the 400-meter relay team and is expected to be a state qualifier in the 100- and 200-meter dashes in May. He was limited to eight football games last season after dislocating his left shoulder, but he still ran for 1,122 yards on 165 carries and 12 touchdowns for a team that finished 4-6. As a sophomore, he averaged 6 yards a carry and had eight touchdowns.

''He's going to be one of the top backs we've ever produced,'' recruiting analyst Larry Blustein said. ``This is one of those special running backs that comes along not very often.''

At the Friday Night Lights camp in Gainesville last August, Miller impressed scouts when a ran a 4.32 in the 40-yard dash.

Miller's injury kept him out of the U.S. Army All-American camp for juniors in January. But Smith said he flew to San Antonio to deliver Miller's game film to game officials.

''I know they like him a lot,'' Smith said. ``A lot of people do.''