Miller did it all for Barrington
In his first year of organized football when he was in fifth grade, Barrington's Scotty Miller had trouble getting on the football field.
But by the time he was senior in high school, Miller made sure that he never came off of it.
"I made the best team in Barrington when I first started playing," Miller said. "But I hardly played a down the whole year. I was on the bench. It was a learning experience for me. Ever since then I wanted to be at the highest level and be the best I could be."
Miller reached that pinnacle this season at Barrington. He played nearly every down, starting at wide receiver and defensive back along with returning both kickoffs and punts.
And Miller was a danger to score from all those positions. He crossed the goal line 17 times this year while piling up 1,361 all-purpose yards.
Miller, who is 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds, had 40 receptions for 768 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Broncos also used him in running the football on jet sweeps to great effect, as he carried 14 times for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns.
On special teams, he was a danger as well. Despite teams trying to kick the ball away from him, he still returned the ball 17 times for 392 yards, scoring twice on a kickoff return and taking a punt back for a touchdown.
Defensively he was a beast as well.
Miller had 42 tackles while breaking up 16 passes. He had 1 interception which, of course, ended up as return for a touchdown.
He even threw one pass, which he completed. And had he not thrown the ball so high and allowed the defender to catch up, that pass most likely would have ended up a touchdown.
For all of that, plus his three years as a varsity starter, the Miller captains the Northwest all-area team.
"That is the nature of who he is," Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said. "He is a competitor. That is the stuff that really stood out to us."
Miller found success in his final three years of youth football playing for Scott Bornhofen's dad, Jerry, and his own father, Scott. Miller's dad was an all-area player from Forest View and later played at Western.
"These were the guys that really encouraged me and showed me how much fun football can be," Miller said. "My dad has been huge in my success. He knows the game really well and has been one of my biggest supporters."
Miller played free safety his freshman year. But when it came time to add players to the varsity roster for the state playoffs, Miller was not one of the 10 freshmen players chosen.
"That really lit a fire under me," Miller said. "I knew I had to do something to get coach Sanchez to notice me."
After the summer speed camp, Miller did just that.
"I didn't know much about him as a freshman," Sanchez said. "I knew who he was. When I saw him at our speed and agility camp, he just moved at a different pace.
"Any time he was watching, I went extra hard in my drills," Miller said. "He is the varsity coach and I knew I had to impress him."
Miller, who did not run track his freshman year, used his natural speed to catch Sanchez's eyes.
"I just showed what I could do," Miller said. "And maybe I had a chance to make varsity."
Miler's hard work paid off, as he was promoted along with Bornhofen and Jake Coon to the varsity his sophomore year. They would all become the cornerstone for this year's varsity team.
"That was a class that was coming up that we knew could be special," Sanchez said. "I knew that this was a kid that we had to take a hard look at, and lo and behold, he proved us right."
Miller grew from that and became a starter at free safety, despite being just 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds.
"My sophomore year was a huge learning experience," Miller said. "But I thought the guys on that team helped me come along as a player. That year really helped me transition into my junior and senior year."
That team did not make the playoffs, finishing just 3-6. But during the summer, Sanchez reached out to Miller and gave him a DVD that pushed Miller to even greater heights.
But Sanchez also saw something special in Miller. He gave Miller a DVD of former Michigan All-American Charles Woodson, who was a two-way player for the Wolverines while helping lead them to a national championship in 1997.
The DVD helped take Miller to another level.
"Coach told me this is the player he wanted me to be," Miller said. "I sat and watched it with my family.
"Woodson played offense and defense and returns. I was really excited to watch it. I loved to see the confidence he had in me."
Sanchez said the reason he gave Miller the DVD was that Miller was just scratching the surface with his talent and he felt that Woodson could be a huge inspiration to Miller.
"I saw this Big 10 icons piece on Charles Woodson," Sanchez said. "When I watched it, from his high school days to his days at Michigan, there was a lot of potential comparisons to Scotty. I gave him the DVD because it was something visual that he could see."
In his junior year, Miller stayed at safety, but added some offense to his game along with kick returns. Miller earned all-area honors as a junior while helping to lead the Broncos to the MSL West title and berth in the state playoffs, where they lost to Stevenson in the quarterfinals.
Miller scored 10 touchdowns that season, including a rushing touchdown and a punt return. He caught 30 passes for 650 yards and 8 touchdowns and accumulated 1,196 all-purpose yards. He also had 49 tackles and an interception on defense.
While his football play was getting better, so was his running. Miller joined the track team after his sophomore football season.
Also in his junior year, Miller finished third in the state in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.74 and was fourth in the state in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.58. He also helped his 4 x 200 relay team to a ninth-place finish.
Despite his speed and football accomplishments, nearly all of the Division I schools ignored him.
Bowling Green, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Western Illinois had all expressed interest in Miller. He was leaning toward joining last year's player of the year, Schaumburg's Stacey Smith, at Western Illinois before Sanchez delivered some great news after the Maine South victory in the second round of the state playoffs.
"Coach told me after the game that Bowling Green had offered," Miller said. "I loved the school and their staff when I visited last summer, so I immediately accepted."
Miller says he doesn't care where he plays at Bowling Green. He just wants to play.
"I am a huge competitor, so it doesn't matter where I play," Miller said. "I just want to go in and help my team.
"If I am at corner, I just want to lock the receiver down and win that battle. If I am playing wide receiver, I want to burn my guy and I want to score a touchdown. And I really love returning punts and kickoffs. Just getting the ball in the open field is so fun."
Just don't take him off the field.