During his 42-year training career, Keith Barefield may think of “two or three” players who have made a big leap from NAIA to Division I-A, or the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Bryce Miller, a junior receiver in a red blouse at the University of South Florida, is one of them.
Miller began his career with Barefield at Southeastern University in 2017, at the time, the school, located in Lakeland, Florida, in its fourth year of football sponsorship.
Barefield, who spent three decades at NAIA as head coach or assistant, was unlucky that Miller ended up on his team.
After all, Miller, an artist from all over the states at East Lake High in Tarpon Springs, about 40 km northwest of downtown Tampa, among his teammates Artavis Scott, who had a remarkable career at Clemson with USF head coach Jeff Scott, who offensive coordinator of the Tigers.
Three teammates continued to play at Power Five conferences.
“Bryce was a prominent high school player and, to be fair, we couldn’t make it available,” said Barefield, who was Southeastern’s head coach from the start of the show in 2014 until last season. “There were many other people” in his hometown, his school, and his apprentices who were stunned that Bryce would not get a Division I scholarship. (The fact that it wasn’t) was definitely an anomaly.
During the 2017 season, Miller hit 24 passes for one that won the Sun Division Championship at the Mid-South Conference and qualified for the NAIA playoffs.
“It was the only option I had,” Miller said, participating in Southeastern. “It was a smart experience. We won a championship and it was a smart program for me.
After the season, offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who arrived in Lakeland from Baylor, where he was an assistant for nearly a decade, went to UCF training field marshals. At the time, he felt it might be time to look for more challenges.
Miller had the idea of following Lebby to UCF and giving him a chance as a hike. In the end, he walked to the USF, which is closer to his family’s home in the Tampa Bay area. There is also a familiar face in education. His southeastern quarterback, Jonathan Pearce, assistant graduate of then-coach Charlie Strong. “
Leaving the southeast, however, it is not automatic.
“I had to convince my parents to leave me because they wanted me to stay in the southeast,” Miller recalls. “I had a full scholarship to Southeastern and I would lose it and I would have to pay my way to the USF. I told them I’d do everything I could to win a scholarship for them.
In terms of leaving an NAIA program and doing so at the FBS level?
“I never heard of it and looked to verify it,” he said.
Miller stepped in, but first had to spend the 2018 season as a transfer. Since then, the 5’10 and 180 pound slot device receiver has compiled a resume that includes nine career beginnings. Last season, he placed third on the Bulls in receptions (21) and yards received (232), while completing moment in touchdowns (4).
Perhaps Miller’s ultimate brilliant achievement is getting the scholarship he promised his parents. The primary of criminology (with a specialization in business) reported his award after finishing last season.
“All the difficult paintings, to go out and give one hundred percent of each and every painting and despite each and every thing, seeing that it was all worth it was great,” said the 2020 USF winner Spring 2020 Scoreboard Athletics, which started with the Bulls. the first two games of this season. “My parents are proud of me. They know how hard I paint and they like to see (what I have achieved). “
Last year’s loss to Wisconsin marked Miller’s first game at the FBS level. The atmosphere as he exited the tunnel to the playing surface of Raymond James Stadium caught his attention. There were 46,704 in hand on Friday night and the opponent a Big Ten ranked show.
“Going up to the box and seeing all the enthusiasts is amazing,” said Miller, who had his first reception as an NCAA student-athlete opposite the Badgers. “Being able to play in vital schools is a wonderful opportunity.
Being in the existing offensive formula is a wonderful opportunity for Miller. Between fireplace and bulls, he has had four offensive coordinators in the same number of years, however, he is excited about the accelerated formula that Scott and coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. , who has served in the same way in fau for more than two seasons, have brought to the USF.
“I really like it because there are so many combinations of routes from the slot machine,” said the Green Bay Packers fan, so selected because his favorite player, former wide receiver Jordy Nelson, spent a decade running routes at Lambeau Field. “I like the fast pace, the fatiguing defenses and (Weis) doesn’t complicate things for us. He makes sure we can play fast. “
Playing fast is all The Vegas Raiders open receiver Hunter Renfrow did in Clemson, where he was Artavis Scott’s teammate and Jeff Scott’s student.
“There are a lot of things Bryce does that remind me of Hunter Renfrow with his steering replacement, his course and his regularity in catching the ball,” Scott said. “There are many similarities and I think his football is ahead of him. “
To do so, Miller intends to keep running as hard as possible, the fact that he succeeded at the FBS point is not something he is focusing on, on the contrary, he takes nothing for granted and seeks to improve.
“I make sure I’m the first in everything we do as a team, like conditioning exercises,” he said of his ethics in painting. “When I get up, I do the most productive and the sensible of everything I do.
Miller’s efforts at this point have been very sensible and, as Scott said, his most productive days at the USF are ahead of him.
I have been a sports editor since 1990 at corporations such as Beckett Publishing, The Topps Company, and Comcast’s Versus network. I was also autonomous.
I have been a sports editor since 1990 with corporations such as Beckett Publishing, The Topps Company and Comcast’s Versus network. I have also been a freelance journalist for school football, NHL and MLB. In addition to being a member of forbes. com, I perform canopy football and basketball for the University of South Florida, Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Lightning for sportstalkflorida. com. I’m also editor of Tampa Bay Business magazine