Braxton Miller: “This is where I started and this is where I’m going to finish it.”
Finally! Braxton Miller sat down with the Columbus Dispatch to confirm what some have speculated for some time; that he is returning to The Ohio State University for one final round-up.
“I’m from Ohio, this is my home state. This is where I started and this is where I’m going to finish it.” This is exactly the statement that Buckeye Nation had been waiting for since the ‘Braxton Miller to (insert school name here)’ rumors had begun swirling.
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“I look on the Internet, and I see things forever on my timeline that had me transferring to all types of different schools and stuff like that. It was kind of a big controversy at the time but, you know, I had to keep my head on straight,” he described to the Dispatch.
“Schools reached out, they reached out hard, and I kept my head where it needed to be, and I stayed smart with my situation. It was kind of tough for me and my family to go through that situation, the second surgery and stuff like that.”
Braxton isn’t lying when he said schools recruited him hard. Not that this was an official offer from Florida State, (at least not that we know of) but you may remember the talented Mia Khalifa gave Miller a pretty solid offer to come play for the Seminoles.
He also told the Dispatch that he intends to play quarterback.
“Absolutely,” Braxton said. “God put me on this earth to be an athlete, and the first thing in mind is being a quarterback, and just be smart about what I do.”
“I know who I am as a person. I know who I am as an athlete. As it stands right now, I know I am the best athlete in college football. If any competition wants to come my way, I’ve just got to be smart about things and just stay looking forward.”
I can’t blame him for wanting to play quarterback, although there is certainly a log jam at that position for Ohio State. Someone is going to get benched that deserves to play. Miller may be right that he is the best athlete in college football, but I don’t think he’s the best quarterback.
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In regard to his recovery process, Braxton says he is as close to 100% as he could be.
“Strengthwise, I’m solid. I’m doing all types of exercises all the others are doing. I don’t have any pain, or aches, or anything like that.”
“The only reason why they say I’m not 100 percent yet is a little bit (because of) the rotation in my right arm. But that’s going to come, by throwing the ball every day. That comes with repetition. Other than that, I’m healthy.”
Braxton also reflected back on his injury that was almost a year ago, and how he had no indication beforehand that it would get re-injured so easily.
“It just happened. I was surprised, too. Leading up to that, I was good. I was 100 percent. My arm was good. I had no aches and pains and things like that. I read up on that, that if you rush it from surgery and your shoulder is not fully recovered from a labrum tear, it’s liable to slip out.”
“I believe I didn’t take the time to fully get recovered,” Miller described. “It usually takes a year, and that’s what I did this time. I think I rushed it too fast, came back in six months, five months, throwing the ball full velocity.”
It was difficult for Braxton to watch as his team did so well without him. But above all, Miller is proud to be on such a strong team.
“It was tough for me because as a competitor you want to play in the type of environment like that, you want to play in games like that. You dream of stuff like that. But you know, at the end of the day, all these guys work just as hard as I do, and they want to see the same thing that I want to see. They work hard throughout their career, they got to that point, and I was happy for them.”
Kudos to Tim May and Bill Rabinowitz for putting together such a great discussion with Braxton. This is the story that Ohio State fans have been waiting for. Will Braxton Miller be Urban Meyer’s starting quarterback? I have no idea.
But it is certainly awesome that he loves the state of Ohio and being a Buckeye so much that he wouldn’t want to finish college anywhere else.