Brent Barnes accepted the head coaching position at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, prior to the 2018 season. He inherited a kid named Jack Miller who seemed to possess all of the physical traits that a coach can ask for in a quarterback and had already received attention from major college programs.
Barnes knew that Miller was a very good player right away, but it wasn’t until their first game together that fall on the road at Hamilton (Chandler, Arizona) High School that he realized just how special Miller is.
Miller picked apart one of the best teams in the state and threw for more than 400 yards. He won the game with a game-winning touchdown pass on a fade route in overtime.
“Just kind of dropped it perfectly on the outside shoulder where only the guy could catch it,” Barnes said. “Obviously, I already knew what we had, but just to have a game like that the first game out of the gate, it was certainly a memory I’ll always remember.
“We had a fourth-and-30 late in the game that we had to convert, and we converted it, which you hardly ever do. But, again, just gave a great ball down the field to a guy that ended up one-on-one and made a play on it.”
That sequence of plays ended up being a sign of things to come. He established a new state record for career touchdown passes (115) and records for passing yards in a season (3,653) and touchdowns in a season (53). He earned a spot in the Elite 11 Finals and was a four-star recruit.
Miller committed to Ohio State under head coach Urban Meyer and signed with them under coach Ryan Day. Two seasons later, he transferred to Florida and is preparing to begin spring practice with his new team.
Barnes said that the offseason between Miller’s junior and senior years of high school was a big period of growth for him. He was a talented passer all along, but he really stepped up his leadership, which is a critical part of playing quarterback.
“He’s always been a tough competitor and a guy that’s going to get out there and compete hard and have guys rally with him, but some of the things he was doing in the weight room and other things, I just thought he really stepped up quite a bit in understanding maybe the role of a quarterback and the leadership that’s needed, not just on the field and playing but around the team at all the other times, weight room, in the locker room,” he said.
“He’s one of those guys that just seems to always be having a good time with the guys. So, I think that those were some of the things that he kind of grew into. He’s naturally probably a little more reserved, quiet guy. He could probably just sit around and not do much and be good, but I think he just grew into the role and just really kind of found comfort in spending a lot of quality time with his teammates.”
Barnes said that he wasn’t very involved in either of Miller’s two recruiting processes, but he believes that two things originally drew him to the Buckeyes.
First, there’s Ohio State’s run of success with quarterbacks in recent years. Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett, Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud have all starred at the school since 2017. Joe Burrow served as a backup there before winning a Heisman Trophy at LSU in 2019 and leading the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl this past season.
Oklahoma and Alabama are really the only schools that can even argue that they produce elite quarterbacks better than Ohio State.
So, from a business standpoint, going to Ohio State made a lot of sense to Miller.
But there was also an emotional factor to it as well. Miller’s dad, Jack Miller Jr., is from Florida and is a Gators fan. He currently works as the general manager at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort, a luxury hotel that often hosts the teams participating in the Fiesta Bowl during the week leading up to the game.
In this role, he got to know Meyer fairly well during the Buckeyes’ two trips to the Fiesta Bowl under his watch. That connection then led to the Miller family becoming close family friends with Tim Tebow’s family. Tebow was, of course, coached by Meyer at Florida.
“There was just kind of a connection there from a young age that they just had some familiarity and knew and obviously paid really close attention to what they were doing, just from maybe the relationships that were developed,” Barnes said. “Again, I think they’re still very close family friends with the Tebow family. It’s just something that they kind of had a connection, and I think that was all part of how he ended up at Ohio State.”
Miller only played in six games in two years with the Buckeyes, completing seven of 14 passes for 101 yards and rushing for a touchdown.
The emergence of Stroud, who was in the same signing class as him, and the Buckeyes’ continued stockpiling at the position likely led to his decision to transfer.
While Miller didn’t play much at Ohio State, Barnes doesn’t think that he just wasted his time there.
“He’s someone that pays very close attention,” he said. “Even though he wasn’t getting the snaps, he’s the type of kid that he’s learning the whole time. So, I’m sure he was soaking all that in, learning so many things from watching the guys that he was behind at that level and some of the things that they achieved.
“I think he’s probably very well prepared for whatever opportunity arises.”
Barnes believes that picking his next school wasn’t very difficult for Miller. His family visited relatives in Florida regularly throughout his childhood, and his connection to the Tebow family made UF an obvious choice.
“He probably feels more comfortable in Florida,” Barnes said. “He maybe didn’t have the time spent with the coaching staff ahead of time as much, but he did have a relationship with Coach [Billy] Napier before, so I think that was a factor in him ending up there as well.
“I think he’s happy there in Florida. I think it’s a place that kind of feels probably more like home to him and what he’s used to. So, I think it’s a great fit and a great opportunity for him, and I’m certainly excited to see how things progress.”
Miller is the type of quarterback that pretty much everybody looks for these days. The term “pocket passer” often carries a negative connotation with it, as you tend to think of this big, strong guy that is basically immobile. Similarly, the phrase “dual-threat quarterback” often refers to a player who can run like the wind but can’t throw with any sort of consistency.
Miller falls somewhere in between on that spectrum. He can go through progressions, make controlled movements in the pocket and make accurate throws downfield, but he can also scramble to gain yards. He ran for 831 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman at Scottsdale Christian Academy. Because he had more talent around him at Chaparral, his rushing production tailed off over his final three years of high school, but that ability is still there.
“He’s got a pretty wide skillset,” Barnes said. “He’s got a pretty live arm, obviously the size. He’s got all the look and skillset and everything that you’d expect of a guy that’s playing at the University of Florida. He’s a guy, too, that people may not know as much, just by looking at him, but he can really scramble out and move around and really make electric plays, too.
“He’s not a guy that you would think is going to rush for 100 yards at the college level, but he is kind of the new-age quarterback that people are looking for. He’s a pocket passer that can scramble out and make plays as well.”
This spring will be a critical time for Miller. Emory Jones returns as the incumbent starter, but his grasp on the position seems tenuous at best. Anthony Richardson is expected to participate in spring practices but with limitations as he recovers from a surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jalen Kitna still have a lot to prove as redshirt freshmen.
So, the opportunity is there for Miller to take a commanding lead in the quarterback competition heading into the summer.
Barnes wouldn’t make any predictions about his future, but he knows that Miller didn’t transfer to Florida to sit on the bench just like he did at Ohio State. He’s going to fight for this and at the very least force one of the returning players to take their game to another level in order to beat him.
“He’s a tough competitor that wants to be the best at what he’s doing,” Barnes said. “He’s going to keep working and doing whatever’s necessary to compete to be the best at that position, period. He won’t be satisfied with anything short of that. I think being the starter there at Florida and putting them on a national stage would be something that he would keep striving for until he’s able to complete that.”