2026 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: John Miller, LB, Utah State University

• Name: John Miller
• Position: LB
• College: Utah State University
• Height: 6′ 1″
• Weight: 232 lbs
• X: @jcm_42
• Instagram: @jcm.23

What made you decide you wanted to be a football player?

I think that goes back to my young days when I was a big hoops kid. I loved playing basketball. I thought that was my path. I kind of always told myself if I had gotten to high school and I wasn’t over 6′ 2″ or 6′ 4″ then it was probably going to have to be football and then I played my freshman year of football and realized I really loved it and realized it was a better avenue to go this way and I honestly liked getting frustrations out and being able to take it out in a legal way so that’s why I really love football and decided I wanted to do it.

What are your favorite moments from your football life?

My first favorite moment was getting into college and getting that offer my sophomore year of high school was a big moment for me. Just being able to go around the country and play in amazing stadiums in front of a whole bunch of people. I definitely think there are a bunch of moments I had at Oregon State of being eye opening and shocked like wow I really am in the college football life and then also at Utah State being able to play at a high level and see myself be really compared against other people in the country and that was kind of a big eye opener as well like I made it in the college football sense to be talked about and sought after as a good player.

What are you looking to achieve as a football player going forward?

Going forward my biggest goal is to not only make a 53 or a practice squad but also on that 53-man roster is to just be involved on special teams. I think a huge thing for me is to pave my path through special teams and I’m the guy who loves special teams. I’ve been doing it my whole career. Never saw it as a bad thing. I always thought it was going to excel me into not only a football player but a person too just knowing how to grind and work hard in a specific role that you might not always like, but I definitely think getting on special teams is a huge goal for me.

If you could hang out with any football player past or present for a day, who and why?

It would be between Ray Lewis and Luke Kuechly, I think honestly Ray Lewis would help me with that mentality mostly hanging out with him but I think I’m going to go Luke Kuechly because he would help me so much with the ball knowledge what to look for tendencies and stuff but also he had a great mentality as well too just not caring what people think and how he looked and going out there and making plays every week and being the best player he can be so I think I would go with Luke Kuechly for the day.

Which one of your family members inspires you the most and why?

I’m going to say my dad, I could say my whole family because everyone played college athletics. But my dad is a big one for me because he played football at Portland State University, which is where my hometown is and so he was always a guy who worked hard and had multiple jobs and he always showed me what the grind was like in a football aspect and kind of always taught me X’s and O’s from a young age so I’m really appreciative and grateful for him because he instilled a lot of techniques and mentality and just an overall drive for the game.

What is your favorite defensive scheme and why?

I actually think this changed after playing this year. I would usually say a 4-2-5 giving the backers freedom to roam and hit one gap play that way. But I honestly really enjoyed playing in a 3-4 with the zero in front of me being able to play from an A to a C gap. I feel like that’s kind of where my best form of ball is. I think I cover pretty well gap to gap and sideline to sideline, so it was a lot of fun being in that defense being able to spread us out and get on the edge to not only rush but to pass drop so I think that it was the best of both worlds playing in a 3-4.

What should we know about John Miller the person?

I always try to be as respectful as a good guy as possible and always try to look after others. Make sure people feel seen because everybody is somebody. Somebody who loves their family, loves their girlfriend. Somebody who’s going to try to always take care of them and be there for them and always be a shoulder to lean on. Somebody who’s going to love to go out there and get on the course whenever I can when it’s nice out. Those are the main things I want people to know about me. I just try to do my best as a person being nice and say “thank you” and I’m just trying to be there for people as much as I can.

What stands out about your film the most?

It would be how many sacks I had this year, the ability to create eight sacks at the inside backer position, it’s not really heard of a lot. It’s usually mostly the edge guys, but I think my ability to just kind of be slippery in the pass rush game and in the run game to create tackles for loss and stuff like that. I’m just a slippery guy, I don’t have a lot of crazy moves, but I get by. And also, being able to play sideline to sideline as well. 

How do you handle challenges both in life and on the football field?

Through football, it has taught me a lot about how to handle those challenges on and off the field because I’ve been through a lot of adversity when it comes to my college career, didn’t really start out the way I wanted to and that ultimately led to off the field adversity because it’s hard being in a spot where you don’t think you should be or you feel like you’re not working hard enough or doing the things that you need to do. So I feel like being able to put your head down and understand that you can only control the controllables and know that you can only better yourself as much as you can in each day is probably the best way I handle adversity and challenges in life and on the field, is just being able to put your head down and understand that some things you can’t control but as long as you can do what you need to do and control the controllables you’ll be able to handle situations a lot greater than you think you could.

What would a team get in a player like you?

The type of player they would get out of me is somebody who’s been around the locker room, good connections with people, somebody’s who is going to come in and work hard. Stay the extra couple hours they need to either get recovery or film. Those are big things. I feel like I’m a pretty big student of the game. I like to sit down, study the film, understand it, sit with older vets and be able to build my relationship with them but also the understanding of the playbook and somebody who’s going to go out there and play special teams. Honestly overall, like die on the sword for the team. I’m definitely a type of guy who will do what the team needs and I know some people don’t really feel comfortable in those positions because they think it’s more about them but at the end of the day whatever you can do to benefit the team is what’s going to help benefit the whole organization and I think that’s something  I can bring to any organization that takes me. 

What do you love the most about the game of football?

What I love the most about the game of football is honestly we talked about this earlier but the off the field characteristics and behaviors you kind of develop through the game of football being able to handle adversity and handle challenges and being able to work through hard times. A big thing for the program I’m coming out of Utah State was just doing hard things better and that just means being able to consistently do hard things in your life and always either get better or be able to handle those challenges. I think that’s represented a lot a lot more outside of the game of football just some days in fall camp you’re tired and don’t want to do a lot of things especially when you get home but pushing yourself to do those things and get those things done, I think is what helps build character development and understanding of life isn’t always going to be easy. You got to put your head down. You got to do things that you don’t want to do and that’s kind of the biggest thing I love about football is how much it challenges me not only as a football player but as a man too.

Who is the most underrated player you’ve played with and why?

I’m going to say our nose tackle we had this last year at Utah State. His name is Gabe Iniguez. It was very tough for him because we played like I said earlier in a 3-4 scheme so he was really in a zero the whole time throughout the whole year handling a lot of double teams, keeping a lot of people off me so a person like that who can stay stout and not only make plays when they come to him but create plays for himself and a zero heads up on a center is something that I found very respectable and I feel like he, he could’ve made a lot more production if he was in a shade or even a three but he held it down for the team and did what was asked of him. And he really showed a lot of resilience when it comes to being in that position of not being able to create a lot of plays for himself, unless he goes above and beyond which he did and so I feel like that is a very undervalued position and player that we had on our team.