Miller set to decide next week

Fishers (Ind.) Hamilton Southeastern linebacker Collin Miller has made his choice and is ready to make a final decision, but he will wait until July 1 to make it official.

"I think I will probably do it at my grandparents house with my family and friends around, then tweet it out when I am done," Miller said. "I just knew I was ready. So, I might as well just do it when I'm with my family on my birthday."

There have been no college visits in the recent weeks, but Miller feels confident now is the time to end his recruiting journey.

"I just have been relaxing and thinking hard about the process," he said. "The football season is a little busy for me to get out to schools and I know where I want to go."

Among the factors that were important to Miller as he zeroed in on his top school were the academic and social experiences.

"I'm going to major in Criminal Justice, so I wanted to see what schools had Criminal Justice," Miller said. "Also, I had to feel the fit with the coaches and environment. I got to check out some schools that showed me the faculty that they had so I could see where I would be doing some of the studying and classwork."

During the course of the recruiting process Miller accumulated 17 scholarship offers. His decision came down to just a handful of teams, however, that will represent his finalists.

"I'll just put the hats out and it will probably be Indiana, Purdue, Louisville and Virginia," Miller said. "All the schools I have (offers from) right now are just an unbelievable blessing to me and I'm very grateful."

Miller did not visit Virginia during the recruiting process. His last visit to Louisville was back in the winter for a junior day.

"I got to talk with all the coaches, sit down with them and had a good conversation with (Bobby) Petrino," Miller said. "I actually brought my grandfather, my mom and my little brother with me so they got to see it too."

The visits to Indiana and Purdue have been more frequent and Miller saw both schools during the spring.

"IU is just a great school and Coach (Kevin) Wilson is a phenomenal coach," Miller said. "I built a huge relationship with Coach (Brian) Knorr. He is one of those guys I could go to and talk to. Half my school probably goes to IU, so some of my buddies will probably go to IU.

"At Purdue I built a relationship with Coach (Gerad) Parker, Coach (Marcus) Freeman and Coach (Darrell) Hazell. I feel comfortable there. Coach Hazell is on the uprise, Purdue is on the uprise and the school is phenomenal."

Purdue is looking at the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Miller to be a hybrid outside linebacker/defensive end in their scheme. He recorded 12 sacks playing that role for Hamilton Southeastern as a junior.

Miller is ranked as the No. 35 outside linebacker prospect and the No. 6 prospect in the state of Indiana for the 2016 class.