For a good portion of last season, John Miller was just another guy on a bad Utah State defense.
Playing behind starting linebackers Jon Ross Maye and Clyde Washington, Miller was even something of an unknown. An infrequent contributor who was easy to overlook.
A transfer from Oregon State — he spent four years in Corvallis — Miller had recorded all of 22 tackles, two pass breakups and a forced fumble in his collegiate career before transferring to USU.
When he arrived at Utah State, it really looked like he wasn’t going to play too much.
Utah State had Maye and Washington, and though Miller was a sort of replacement for Shaun Dolac — a star linebacker at Buffalo who briefly transferred to Utah State before electing to return to Buffalo — Miller wasn’t seen as a starting caliber linebacker. Not to start the 2024 season at least.
He was regularly grouped with players like Bronson Olevao Jr., Max Alford, Logan Pili and Jadon Pearson, all of whom had (or still have) unrealized potential, at Utah State or elsewhere now.
Fast forward to today, and Miller might be the most proven player who will suit up for Utah State on Saturday in the 2025 season opener against UTEP. And yet, you’re still likely to find Aggie fans who don’t know his name, let alone general college football fans.
Who is John Miller? Where did he come from?
Miller is a former 3-star prospect who was once a top recruit out of the state of Oregon. Coming out of Tualatin High School in 2020, Miller was rated the No. 3 overall prospect in the state and a top 30 inside linebacker nationally, per 247 Sports.
He was always going to be an Oregon State Beaver, though. Offered a scholarship in March of 2018, Miller committed to the Beavers in December that same year. He signed with OSU in 2019 and enrolled in the summer of 2020.
As a prospect, Miller was viewed highly, as a possible NFL draft pick and probable multi-year starter at the Power conference level despite not having the preferred size for the linebacker position (he’s listed at 6-foot-1, 225 pounds).
“Lacks ideal size for a linebacker but makes up for it with quickness, instincts and ability to hit and tackle,” Brandon Huffman, national recruiting editor for 247 Sports wrote about Miller back in 2018. “Active in coverage and fluid in space, with good sideline to sideline ability. Adept at coming up in the box to shoot gaps to stuff the run. Needs to continue to add bulk to shed next-level blockers. Projects as multi-year Power 5 starter and projects as third-day NFL draft pick or UDFA.”
Things didn’t pan out as expected at OSU, though.
Across four seasons — one of which was pandemic-shortened — Miller rarely played, and when he did, he didn’t make much of an impact.
He had his moments, to be fair. He played in all 13 games for Oregon State in 2021, even playing against Utah State that season. The next year he played in 12 games. But production wasn’t there, and his opportunities were largely on special teams.
That was the case to start his tenure at Utah State as well.
He played against Robert Morris in 2024’s season opener and went on to play in every game the rest of the year. Against USC, he had a pass breakup. Against Utah, he had a tackle for loss. But he wasn’t really a major factor for the Aggies until the Boise State game.
Miller started that game — he would go on to start the final seven games of the season for USU, after Washington was knocked out for the season — and though it was rough at times, Miller showed potential. That potential slowly but steadily morphed in production, and by the end of the season Miller was one of the most consistent defenders on the team — arguably No. 2 behind safety Jordan Vincent.
Miller finished the year fourth on the team in total tackles, with 52. His two sacks were the fourth most on the team, and his tackles for loss (five for 24 yards) were the second-most by any Aggie. He was also tied for second on the team with quarterback hurries, and his two pass breakups were tied for the third-most.
While Utah State’s defense struggled all year, Miller was a real bright spot.
That he was as productive as he was is notable, given the struggles of the Aggie defense. Utah State’s defensive front in particular was devastated by injury and poor play, which meant Miller often had to get off blocks from opposing offensive linemen if he wanted to make plays. And he did more often than not.
What can Utah State expect from John Miller this season?
Even while playing on a defense that struggled to stop just about anyone, Miller rediscovered his joy for the sport which was a source of motivation when other things were going wrong.
“Being able to get really out there and really start games and see a lot of playing time was pretty eye opening and really fun,” Miller said. “I figured out that football has always been fun. It is really fun when you’re out there playing.”
He’s hoping to carry that joy over into this season. He worked hard to keep it throughout the offseason.
“I kind of just took that mindset of ‘I’ve been there, I can do it,’“ he said. ”Let’s continue to do that and then add on to what I did last year. Just keep stacking — stacking days and stacking weeks."
Miller is neither the biggest nor the fastest linebacker, but there is reason to believe a special year could be in the offing for him.
Under Nick Howell, Utah State has tried to simplify things for the linebackers, especially, while also demanding a great deal. Miller is optimistic that such a philosophy will enable him to be more effective than ever.
“They’ve kind of tried to keep it simple for us,” Miller said. “The more simple it is for us, the faster we can play. We are trying to make it look like, ‘Oh, it’s a blitz,’ but really we’re just reading our gaps and all that. (This new scheme) gives us the free ability to just run around and play fast. And that’s the best thing you can have in college football nowadays, a defense that doesn’t have to think hard, just flies around makes plays.”
He added: “They want linebackers who can run sideline to sideline, who can hit hard, who can fill gaps, who can stop the run and who can get home on blitzes. That’s kind of like the main thing that they’ve been getting at us. And I feel like we as a room, we’ve been doing a really good job to get that done for them.”
Miller especially. He and Olevao Jr., are the expected to be the Aggies’ starting inside linebackers for a reason.
“What we can do is offer our best,” Olevao Jr. said. “We’re not the biggest, we’re not the fastest, but we’ll try. We’ll try the hardest. That’s our identity.”
If Utah State’s defense on the whole is improved, especially the defensive line, Miller will be positioned to have a special season in this his final collegiate campaign. Similar even to what was seen from David Woodward, Justin Rice or MJ Tafisi in recent years. The potential is there. It always has been for Miller. Even if he remains something of an unknown still.