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Offensive coordinator Neal Brown said that Darrian Miller is probably Kentucky’s “most consistent practice player day in, day” and that he plays and works at a consistent level daily.
That’s no surprise to anyone who knows the senior left tackle from Lexington. He started 12 games in 2012 and 2013 and even during his freshman year in 2011 he played in all 12 games, including two starts.
“He does a really nice job on the edge. If he’s not our best player on offense, he’s up there,” Brown said. “My expectation level for him is really, really high. I have probably not done a good enough job in the media expressing that.”
It had been a relatively quiet preseason camp for Miller. There was more talk about the improvement of center Jon Toth, emergence of guard Ramsey Meyers and improvement by guard Zach West. Tackle Jordan Swindle represented UK at SEC Media Days and often has had his leadership praised.
Miller? Not much was said about him.
“I don’t mind it. I don’t need praise every day. It is not necessarily my thing. I appreciate it, but I have felt a little overlooked and neglected. But it’s no big deal,” Miller said last week when asked about the lack of attention this month. “I have had a good camp. I came out prepared every day. I felt I did pretty decent. Don’t know if I did great or not. But I appreciate what coach Brown said and that I wasn’t being overlooked like I thought I was.
“I don’t really expect praise, I don’t need it and I don’t want it really. If I mess up, you can correct me and I would hope you would. But I don’t need you to tell me good job every day. But it did blow my mind how many interviews I did as a freshman when I was not nearly as good a player. It was like, ‘You have four interviews today.’ I still can’t believe that happened and yet this year when I know I am better I have not had nearly as many interviews.”
However, Monday it became a bit more apparent why there has been so little chatter about Miller and why both Brown and Stoops so often worried about who the third tackle would be behind Miller and Swindle when Stoops announced that Miller was suspended for Saturday’s opening game against Tennessee-Martin.
“He’s going to have to sit one game. Violation of team rules. He’ll be back game two,” Stoops said. “It happened some time ago. We’ve addressed the situation. He’s done what he needed to do. He’ll be back in good standing after one game.”
No one could have expected Miller to be suspended for a violation of team rules — but then again sometimes college students do things we don’t expect.
Miller said last week he knows he’s improved dramatically since arriving at UK from Lexington’s Bryan Station High School.
“I feel like I have come miles ahead of where I was when I first got here. If I could see film of me as a freshman, I know there would be a huge difference in technique,” he said. “I remember some plays specifically seeing on film and seeing my technique now and then, I was pretty bad my freshman year. I was terrible.”
Miller — he says he now weighs in the 295-pound range and that now “I can just sit back and stop them (defensive linemen) with my upper body strength which is pretty nice” — insisted last week he has grown as a team leader.
“It’s different. Not like an added burden, just different. Being more vocal, and I am not a very vocal person, is different. I am starting to be more vocal and bring a little juice to practice as we way. I am trying to be a more evident leader,” he said.
So he has just grown up?
“I wouldn’t go that far. A little bit,” he honestly admitted.
Neither would teammate Josh Clemons, a veteran running back who appreciates Miller’s blocking.
“He is very athletic. There is no person he can’t reach. When he is one-on-one with guys, I feel pretty confident in him. He is one of the guys I got to run with when I first came in and he was playing my freshman year. I have been behind him this whole time. When I was injured and came back, he has always been there getting the job done,” Clemons said. “He is nice. He is quiet, but he jokes around a lot. He is cool to be around. He is not always as serious as he may look on the field. He can be a funny guy off the field. Sometimes when he’s eating lunch, I will go sit with him because he will always have something funny to say.”
Miller knows being suspended isn’t funny. Stoops obviously sent a strong message to his team by suspending Miller, UK’s best offensive lineman, to start the season. However, Miller seems like the type who will accept that challenge, pay the price to get back in good standing as he had and move forward because he wants to go out part of a better team.
“I certainly hope this year is different. I certainly see the potential every day when we come to practice,” he said last week. “Hopefully everybody gets their stuff together and we can do something great this year.”
Of course, now he has to get his “stuff together” and cheer for his teammates Saturday and then prove to them he can be as dependable and productive the rest of the season as he had been the three previous years before this mistake put him on the bench for Saturday’s game
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