Stock heating up for SoCal RB

You won't find too many players who pass the eye ball test any better than Fontana (Calif.) Kaiser running back Lonyae Miller. We've seen Miller at several Nike camps and combines over the past couple of years and were always amazed by his size, strength and speed package. What was lacking was production on the field- until this year.

Miller, 6-0, 210 pounds had a monster performance at the Nike camp in Los Angeles last March clocking a 4.44 in the 40, 4.37 in the shuttle, jumped 37 inches in the vertical and did 22 reps on the bench. His 92.5 SPARQ Rating was the highest in the camp in an event that had over 700 players in attendance.

The athlete looked very good at the SoCal Nike camp as well and was one of the top performers of the day during the position and one on one drills. After transferring from Rialto to Kaiser, we figured all Miller needed was a couple of strong early season games and the offers would come flooding in.

To our surprise, that didn't happen, even though Miller has had a monster year on the field. He finished the regular season with 1,851 yards and 28 touchdowns with a long of 94 yards, while averaging over 10 yards a carry. Still, his first offer didn't come until just a few weeks ago when Oregon State send him an offer. UTEP and Fresno State have since followed and Arizona has given a verbal offer.

"We were really surprised by it all," Miller's father Lonyae Sr. said. "He was doing great on the field and as well as he did at the summer events, we thought schools would be all over him. That's OK though, he's a sleeper still but word is starting to get out and we've been hearing from a lot of schools lately. I'm putting together a senior highlite tape and once that gets out, I think a lot of schools are going to be impressed.

"You should see Lonyae run the ball this year. He's bulked up to about 215 pounds and is still as fast as ever. Coming over to Kaiser has worked out better than we thought. Lonyae just hoped to get a few carries here and there but after winning the starting job, Coach Bruich has just kept feeding him the ball and he has responded really well."

Miller took an official visit this past weekend to UTEP, a trip that came together pretty quickly.

"They called out of the blue and said they wanted him to go out there," Miller said. "He went out by himself and had a great time. They said they love his size and feel he has the ability to come in and play as a true freshman. Lonyae loved the campus and had a lot of fun on the trip.

"His next visit will be to Fresno State (Dec. 16) and he has Oregon State (Jan. 13). We're also talking to Arizona and we're close to setting up something with them as well. Pat Hill at Fresno State really likes him. He said he didn't even know who he was until recently and after watching his film, he said they have to have him. Oregon State was the first to offer so of course there is going to be a special feeling there as well."