Dejuan Miller

Dejuan Miller
No. 24 Spokane Empire
Position: Wide Receiver
Personal information
Date of birth: (1990-04-10) April 10, 1990
Place of birth: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight: 216 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school: Metuchen (NJ)
College: Oklahoma
Undrafted: 2012
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career IFL statistics
Receptions: 171
Receiving yards: 1,841
Receiving TDs: 29

Dejuan Miller (born April 10, 1990) is an American football wide receiver for the Spokane Empire of the Indoor Football League (IFL). He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Early years

Born Eric Dejuan Cunningham, Miller grew up in Metuchen, New Jersey and attended Metuchen High School[1] where he was Group 1 All-State 1st Team in 2006 and 2007, A.P All-State in 2007, as well as a finalist for the Gatorade Player of the Year Award. He completed high school with 112 career receptions and 1,703 yards receiving and 30 total touchdowns (offense, special teams and defense). He holds every career receiving record at Metuchen High School. He also holds the record for the most all-purpose yards in a career (3,007) as well as touchdown receptions in a game (3) and catches in one game (11). He played strong and free safety on the defensive side of the ball, amassing over 220 career tackles and 12 career interceptions. In his junior year versus South River, in one game he had 4 interceptions (school record) and 5 tackles along with 9 catches for 122 yards and a touchdown. His remarkable game against the Rams earned himself Tri-State (NJ/NY/CT) defensive player of the week. In his senior year versus Dunellen he amassed 24 tackles in one game. In addition to football, Miller excelled at basketball and track.[2] He lettered in all three sports since his freshman year, for a total of 12 letters during his career. He would become one of only a few athletes at his school to score over 1,300 career points and have over 720 career rebounds in basketball. He finished his career 3rd all-time in school history in points with 1,396. He finished his four year career with a 61% shooting percentage. During his basketball career he earned All-County twice and All-Division three times. In his senior year of basketball, he finished with an average of 24.5 points per game which was top three in NJ at the time. Also in his senior year he earned Group 1 1st Team All-State honors. The four years prior to Miller's arrival, the high school basketball team was a combined 16–75. During his four-year career, they were 65–35. In track, Miller set school records for the 100m, 200m and second place in the 400m. He placed 2nd in the Group I state championship in the 200m and 400m as a Junior and Senior. He also placed 5th in the 200m at the NJ Meet of Champions (which includes the top 6 of each event among all group championships).

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight 40‡ Commit date
Dejuan Miller
WR		 Metuchen, New Jersey Metuchen High School 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 207 lb (94 kg) 4.55 Jun 7, 2007 
Scout:4/5 stars   Rivals:4/5 stars   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 80
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 13 (WR)   Rivals: 32 (WR), 6 (NJ)  ESPN: 26 (WR)
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

Miller committed to the University of Oklahoma on June 7, 2007.[3]

College career

Miller was recruited by several power 5 schools with the likes of Penn State, Oklahoma State, Florida, Michigan, Rutgers, Louisville and Ole Miss. Many other power 5 schools offered scholarships also.[4] Miller played in six games during his freshman year at Oklahoma and had two receptions with the longest coming in the season opener against Chattanooga. In Miller's first career start his sophomore year vs Baylor he had 5 catches for 67 yards. Also in his sophomore year on Halloween, Miller broke out against Kansas State with a career-best 9 receptions for 94 yards and one touchdown. He had his third best career game against Stanford in the Sun Bowl with 6 catches for 84 yards. In 2009 against Nebraska, he tallied 5 catches for 70 yards. In 2010, he played huge roles against Texas and Cincinnati with 5 catches for 63 yards versus the Longhorns and 3 catches for 66 yards against the Bearcats.[5] Against Kansas State in his senior year, he recorded his second touchdown along with 3 catches for 42 yards. In his last home game vs Iowa State, he tallied a game high 7 catches for 86 yards which fittingly would be one of his best games. He started 14 games in his career and played in 38. He recorded 75 catches for 892 yards in his collegiate career.[6]

Professional career

In September 2012, Miller signed with Tri-Cities Fever, of the Indoor Football League, for the 2013 season. He had 23 catches for 330 yards and 3 TDs in 2013. He played in 9 games and started in 6.[7] He led the team in receiving yards in 4 out of the 6 games he started for the Fever in 2013. He also led the team in Yards Per Catch in 2013 with 14.4, which was one of the highest in the IFL. In August 2013, Miller re-signed for his second season with the Fever. Miller also changed his number from 19 in '13 to 17 for the 2014 season.[8] The 2014 season individually was a good one for Miller as he accumulated 33 catches for 340 yards and 7 total TDs (6 receiving, 1 rushing). He had three multi-TD games in the 2014 season and was top 5 in the IFL in catches at one point during the 2014 season. He also reached the top 10 in receiving yards which showed his versatility. Unfortunately, in the 8th game of the 2014 season he suffered a foot injury that would halt his season. He was the leading receiver for the Fever through 8 games (receiving yards, catches and TDs) and started all 8 games he played in 2014. On August 8th of 2014, Miller re-signed with the Fever for the 2015 season. The 2015 season would be his 3rd straight season with Tri-Cities. The 2015 season was one of Miller's best as a pro. He surpassed career highs in catches, receiving yards and receiving TDs. He had 62 catches for 514 yards and 8 TDs. Miller started and played in all 14 regular season games. He was the only player on his offense in 2015 to start in every game. Miller capped off one of his best seasons by finishing 5th in the IFL in catches, 13th in yards and tied for 10th in receiving TDs. Miller's multi-TD game total is 8, including 4 multi-TD games against two of the best teams in the IFL (Sioux Falls and Nebraska). Miller made his first postseason appearance in 2015 against Nebraska for the Intense Conference Championship. The 8-6 Fever lost to the 10-4 Danger but, Miller still had an exceptional game with 9 catches for 77 yards and 2 TDs. On July 3rd of 2015, the Fever announced that Miller will re-sign for the 2016 season. The 2016 season was his 4th consecutive with Tri-Cities. The 2016 season was an unsuccessful one as far as team success. The 2016 season also would be the Fever's last season as a franchise. The Fever went 3-13 but, Miller still had a consistent and productive season despite missing the last 3 games with an ankle injury. In 13 games started, he finished with 53 catches for 657 yards (career high) and 12 TDs (career high). On September 10th of 2016, Miller signed with the Spokane Empire for the 2017 season.[9] It will be his 5th season. Miller's career regular season stats to date are 171 catches for 1,841 yards and 30 total TDs.

Personal life

Miller is the son of Jeremy Miller, the former CEO of the hip hop magazine The Source while his mother, Cornelia is the former general manager of the southern hip hop magazine Down. Born in Oklahoma City, Miller moved to Brooklyn, New York at a young age with his parents. They settled in Metuchen, New Jersey when Miller was eight years old. His younger brother, Dorian, is currently a redshirt junior offensive guard/center at Rutgers University. Devin, who's the youngest out of the three, is a Senior at Metuchen High School and plays tight end as well as defensive end.

References

  1. ↑ Haley, John (2008-06-28), "Low-key Miller may be Metuchen's best", Home News Tribune, Middlesex County, New Jersey: myCentralJersey.com, retrieved 2009-11-06
  2. ↑ Layton, Shawn (2008-01-30), "Dejuan Miller continues to pace Metuchen Bulldogs on the court", Woodbridge Sentinel, Woodbridge, New Jersey, archived from the original on 2009-11-06, retrieved 2009-11-06
  3. ↑ "Dejuan Miller". www.rivals.com. Yahoo!. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ "DeJuan Miller". www.scout.com. MSN. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ Griffin, Tim (2009-11-04), Oklahoma's Miller can beat defenses with size, speed, ESPN, archived from the original on 2009-11-06, retrieved 2009-11-06
  6. ↑ "Fever Continue to Build 2013 Roster". www.goifl.com. Indoor Football League. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ Jim Foley (August 21, 2013). "Fever re-sign three players for 2014 season". www.kion.membercenter.com. WorldNow and KION. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  8. ↑ Jeff Morrow (February 7, 2014). "Fever set to open camp Sunday". www.tri-cityherald.com. Tri-City Herald. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  9. ↑ http://goifl.com/transactions/2015-16/September_2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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