The Fairborn Paper

“When I decided I was going to commit, I was like, ‘It’s the college I like, and I’m in Ohio,’ ” Miller told reporters after he made his selection. “I love it here.”

And it is here in the Buckeye state where Miller will stay. Miller came out a few minutes after his announcement was originally scheduled for at noon sharp, saying he was waiting for all of his family members to arrive.

“I wanted to make sure all my family was here for this,” Miller said.

There were five hats on the table where Miller was sitting — hats representing Florida, Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, and Ohio State. After quickly discarding Alabama, Georgia, and Notre Dame, Miller took the Florida hat and acted like he was going to put it on, only to quickly set it down and reach for the block-O designed hat representing Ohio State at the far end of the table and put it on.

“I just wanted to get it out of the way so I could concentrate on my senior season at Wayne,” Miller explained of giving a verbal commitment, as he did so ahead of the normal time frame other highly-touted athletes do. “Now I really want to go out with a blast [at Wayne].”

Miller was born and raised in Springfield, and he played little league football in Springfield and attended Hayward Middle School, where he was a standout at quarterback all three years. Miller then transferred to Wayne for his freshman year of high school, and he made an immediate impact. Miller stared for the Warriors in nine games in his freshman year, and made his first appearance for the Warriors in the first game of that season, which was a highly-publicized game against Colerain in the Herbstriet Classic at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.

Since then, Miller has done nothing but improve. He passed for 938 yards in 8 games in 2010 for the Warriors and had a 113.4 quarterback rating. He also rushed for 401 yards in 8 games and was third in the GWOC in scoring with 102 points.

Though Miller has been hampered by injuries through his career (he missed parts of both his sophomore and junior seasons to injuries, and he suffered his first injury during his freshman basketball season in 2007), he was rated as the second-best quarterback prospect in the class of 2011 according to Rivals.com.

“They weren't going to offer another quarterback unless they thought they were going to lose me,” Miller said. “I didn't want to let them do that because they only offered one quarterback, and that was me.”

Miller, who is a cousin to Dee Miller, a Springfield South graduate that played wide receiver for the Buckeyes, becomes the second top-ranked quarterback in two years to select Ohio State, as current Buckeye starter Terrelle Pryor picked the Buckeyes in March of 2008.

Current Springfield linebacker standout and friend to Miller Trey DePriest was in the crowd supporting Miller during the announcement.