JUCO OT Jonah Miller intrigued by NC State offer
Jonah Miller picked up an NC State offer last week. After starting his career at Oregon and transferring to Santa Rosa (Ca.) Junior College, he has reemerged as a Power Five prospect.
He signed with the Ducks as a four-star recruit in the 2021 class. Miller heads into his second season at Santa Rosa this fall with a completely reshaped physique, and he impressed the Wolfpack enough to earn an early scholarship.
“It’s just cool to see that process start to jump up again because I know who I am as a player,” Miller said. “It’s just good to see coaches are starting to trust me again and trust that ability.”
The 6-8, 280-pound lineman is friends with Pack graduate transfer Dawson Jaramillo and his brother Bailey Jaramillo, who is still at Oregon, from their time together in Eugene.
Miller last heard from Dawson after the 2022 football season, but he said the NC State lineman vouched for his former teammate when offensive line coach Garett Tujague asked about him. That led to the Wolfpack assistant reaching out to JUCO prospect, and the scholarship followed soon after.
“He sounds like a really cool dude in the sense that he’s not a ‘business’ college football kind of guy,” Miller said. “It sounds like he really loves o-line, and that’s what I really cherish in a coach, someone who really loves what we do.”
During his first season in junior college, the tackle said he played around 250 pounds, and he put a lot of work into refining his technique that year. Going into the fall, he has put on some significant weight and now holds offers from Houston, Boise State, UTSA, Nevada and NC State.
“I take it seriously that coach reached out to me before he saw me play because, in the film that’s out right now, I was 250 pounds,” Miller said. “If a coach is trusting me at that weight, that’s cool because I’ve gained nearly 30-40 pounds.”
The early interest from the Wolfpack means a lot to him.
“My dad always says ‘Trust the people that trust you first, especially in recruiting,’” Miller said.
Miller believes the extra weight he put on, paired with the improved technique, should help him take a significant step forward this fall. He also feels like his knowledge of the game has grown significantly since his time at Oregon.
The lineman is pursuing a sociology degree and said he needs to do more research on whether or not NC State is a good academic fit for him. He also wants to look into the Wolfpack alumni relations to see what his job prospects could be following his playing career.
After growing up in Arizona and spending his first few college seasons on the west coast, he would have no issue moving across the country to NC State.
“I definitely see it as somewhere I could see myself playing football,” Miller said. “Distance isn’t really a thing for me anymore. I’ve got 2-3 years of college left. My main thing is I want to get to the NFL, and coach Tujague is one of those coaches that is going to be able to do that for me if I perform for him.”
Tujague’s history developing pro linemen definitely appeals to the tackle.
“My dad was like, ‘Do you really want to go all the way up to North Carolina?” Miller said. “I was like ‘Well, do you know how many NFL alumni coach Tujague has sort of pushed to the league?’”
Miller said he knows NC State has a history of producing impressive offensive lines, but he does not know much else about the football program or the university. He plans on taking most of his visits, a slate that will likely include a trip to Raleigh, after the season. Boise State will host him during his bye week.
At the JUCO level, he plays left tackle and will spend this season preparing for the jump to the Power Five level when he graduates in December. The lineman hopes to arrive at his new school in January and hit the ground running.
He has at least two years of eligibility remaining and could receive an extra redshirt year after he missed his first season at Oregon due to injury.
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