This weekend, Texas Tech football fans were caught a bit off guard by an unusual decision from junior DE Houston Miller.
Texas Tech football fans are accustomed to seeing players leave Lubbock early for the NFL. After all, in each year since the 2016 season, a Red Raider has decided to skip his senior year for the opportunity to cash in at the next level.
Of course, following the 2016 season, QB Pat Mahomes was taken No. 10 overall in the 2017 draft by the Chiefs after starting for only two seasons plus four games as a freshman. The next year, inside receiver Keke Coutee took his talents to the NFL and he was rewarded by being taken in the fourth round by the Texans. And following the 2018 season, outside receiver Antoine Wesley gambled and lost when he left school early despite being just a one-year starter only to be passed over in the 2019 draft forcing him to work his way into the league via the undrafted free agency route with the Ravens.
But we’ve never seen a player like DE Houston Miller declare for the NFL Draft, as he did this weekend. That’s because, unlike the afore-mentioned Red Raiders, Miller has done absolutely nothing of note as a collegiate.
In fact, due to the stats that Miller put up over the last four years (he redshirted as a true freshman), many fans are scratching their head when considering his decision while others couldn’t help but chuckle. That’s because in the last three years, he’s managed to rack up all of three tackles while playing almost entirely as a special team’s contributor.
It hardly seems a career worthy of forgoing one’s final season of eligibility altogether. In fact, in his Red Raider career, 5-foot-7 inside receiver Jakeem Grant was credited with five tackles, two more than Miller.
Taking to Twitter on Sunday to make his intentions known, Miller optimistically stated that he was declaring for the NFL Draft. And while that is the part of his statement that stands out, don’t overlook something that wasn’t said.
The native of Keller, Texas spent an entire paragraph in his announcement profusely thanking his head coach…no, not Matt Wells, but Kliff Kingsbury. In fact, he did not mention Wells one time while gushing about the type of coach and man Kingsbury is.
https://twitter.com/HoustonMiller88/status/1213989701377351680?s=20
"“Thank you, Coach Kliff Kingsbury, for offering me the opportunity and scholarship to play for Texas Tech,” he wrote. I am truly blessed that I was coached for 3 years by a great man like Kliff. Coach Kingsbury taught me exactly what it means to be a college athlete.”More from Wreck'Em RedTexas Tech football: Red Raider fans need to know about these MountaineersTexas Tech football: Red Raiders land first commit for class of 2025Texas Tech football: Why have the Red Raiders struggled on the road under McGuire?Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders can compete for a Big 12 titleTexas Tech football: Plenty of questions remain as conference play arrives"
Being as he has nary a word for the coaching staff he spent the 2019 season under, one has to believe that Miller’s departure from the program was a sort of no-fault divorce in which both parties were more than happy to move on. But why Miller believes he can parlay what he did (or didn’t do) at Tech into an opportunity to go to the NFL early is puzzling.
This seems like the type of player the transfer portal was created for. Not getting snaps to put on film in Lubbock, no one would have been shocked if Miller would have tried to play his final year somewhere else in hopes of opening the eyes of pro scouts.
But to declare his intention to head to the NFL after never starting a game as a collegiate just seems strange. Perhaps another professional football league, the newly resurrected XFL, which will begin play this spring, might be a possibility but again, given the absolute lack of game reps he can show prospective teams, one has to wonder why Miller believes skipping his senior season is the best play.
Many had high hopes for the high school tackling machine when he signed with Tech in 2016 as a 6-foot-3, 237-pound DE. He was rated as the No. 112 player in Texas and the No. 60 weakside DE in the nation by 247Sports.
But the 6-A first-team All-State selection and Fort Worth Star-Telegram Defensive Player of the Year never became even a rotational piece at the collegiate level. However, it wasn’t just Tech that overestimated him as a prospect given that he held offers from Colorado, Cal, Duke, Minnesota, and Iowa.
The news here isn’t that the Texas Tech football program is losing Houston Miller. Given that he was only a special teams player, he isn’t even considered a depth player on the roster. What’s most eye-opening is the fact that he believes he is destined for the NFL despite being unable to even make the slightest of impacts as a Red Raider. Regardless, we wish him the best of luck in proving everyone wrong.