In its 100-year history, only five players have been awarded the Chicago Tribune Silver Football in back-to-back seasons: Minnesota’s Paul Giel (1952-53), Ohio State’s Archie Griffin (1973-74), Indiana’s Anthony Thompson (1988-89), Ohio State’s Braxton Miller (2012-13) and Penn State’s Saquon Barkley (2016-17).
For Miller, the 2012 season coincided with a seismic change in the Buckeyes program.
“That’s when Coach (Urban) Meyer and his whole Florida style came in and took over the coaching,” Miller told the Tribune. “Coach (Jim) Tressel had been dismissed and Coach Meyer came in with a sharp mindset. He laid his hands on the team and made us winners early on and believers in what he built in Florida. He pretty much changed the culture.
“He changed how we presented ourselves as young men throughout the facility, and I think it hit home for a lot of leaders, including myself. From that year on it was a battle, but we made it happen. We went 12-0 and never looked back.”
Though the Buckeyes weren’t eligible for the Big Ten championship or a bowl game that season because of NCAA violations that occurred under Tressel, Miller said Meyer kept him and the rest of the team “sharp” and told them not to worry about the past but to focus on winning games.
Miller, a sophomore dual-threat quarterback, passed for 2,039 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for 1,271 yards and 13 touchdowns that year.
The game that sticks out for him is the Oct. 27 matchup with Penn State. He had been knocked out of the previous week’s game against Purdue when a hard tackle in the fourth quarter sent him to the hospital with a case of whiplash.
But in front of 107,818 fans at Beaver Stadium, he carried 25 times for 134 yards and two touchdowns — his sixth 100-yard rushing game that season — and threw for 143 yards and a score in the Buckeyes’ 35-23 victory.
“That was my first time experiencing a whiteout at Penn State,” Miller recalled. “It was probably our most hard fought-game in a long time. We did a fantastic job stopping them, and I remember I did a crazy move.
“It was supposed to be handed off to Carlos Hyde, but for some reason the defender slipped through our offensive line. It wasn’t a read option, it was a straight handoff to Carlos. And all my instincts kicked in.”
On third-and-goal from the 1 with 3:30 left in the third quarter, Miller pulled the ball back just as Hyde was tackled by Penn State’s Sean Stanley, eluded a defender, “then dove into the end zone, pounded my chest and did my thing,” he said.
When Miller was awarded the Silver Football at the end of that season, quarterbacks coach Tom Herman told the Tribune: “It says a lot about the genetics that his parents and God gave him, that’s for sure. He is not only an amazing athlete, we haven’t had to do anything mechanically with his arm. The ball comes out so smooth and with a ton of velocity. With him being a true sophomore and winning this award, the sky is the limit.”
He finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting that year and followed it up in 2013 by passing for 2,094 yards and 24 touchdowns, rushing for 1,068 yards and 12 touchdowns and improving his completion percentage (58.3% to 63.5%) and yards per carry (5.6 to 6.2).
He won his second straight Silver Football and finished ninth in Heisman voting as the Buckeyes again went 12-0 in the regular season before losing to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game.
“They always say, being the quarterback at Ohio State, you’re like the mini mayor of Columbus,” Miller said with a laugh. “I definitely felt that energy. We were winning awards, winning games and being recognized. It was great.
“It’s a blessing being the quarterback at Ohio State. I worked my whole life to get to that point and it was a dream come true.”
A shoulder injury suffered weeks before the 2014 season opener forced Miller to redshirt, and the Buckeyes won the national championship with J.T. Barrett and then Cardale Jones at quarterback. Miller returned in 2015 to compete with Barrett and Jones for the job but announced in July he was switching to H-back.
He finished his final season with 26 receptions for 341 yards and three touchdowns plus 260 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
The Houston Texans selected Miller in the third round (No. 85) of the 2016 NFL draft, and he appeared in 21 games for them over two seasons with 34 receptions for 261 yards and two touchdowns. After they released him before the 2018 season, Miller had practice squad and training camp stints with the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers.
Today Miller spends time with his son Landon, a bit of an athlete himself, and helping youth through The Braxton Miller Foundation. Along with athletic leagues and camps, Miller’s foundation partners with Xtreme STEM to offer robotics competitions. Participants learn how to build robots while learning about STEM careers in the process.
“We focus on education and mentoring,” he said. “We have a STEM center in our foundation and we help inner-city youth with community sports that are not provided for kids that can’t make teams and get cut from different teams and leagues. We provide families with a service where each and every kid should be able to play a sport even if they’re not capable of being on a league team.”
A native of Springfield, Ohio, Miller still lives in the Columbus area and says kids at camps approach him for handshakes. Being the quarterback at Ohio State and a member of the 2014 national champions has made him a local legend.
“I think they love that I show some of the emotions back … play with the kids and stuff like that as well,” he said. “It’s a good thing, man, being born here, being able to put on for Ohio State and myself. I’ve been able to be in the community, be a face out here. They can see me all the time.”
Though football is in Miller’s past, he thinks fondly of his playing days and is grateful to be recognized and supported by his community nearly a decade later.
“I started playing football when I was 5, 6 years old,” he said. “And being able to manifest stuff that actually comes to fruition and being able to present it to my family, my peers, my teammates and my coaches, it means a lot.
“It feels great to be recognized for your accomplishments. I cherish that moment.”
2-time Silver Football winners
- 1952-53: Paul Giel, Minnesota HB
- 1973-74: Archie Griffin, Ohio State RB
- 1988-89: Anthony Thompson, Indiana RB
- 2012-13: Braxton Miller, Ohio State QB
- 2016-17: Saquon Barkley, Penn State RB
