Brandon Miller, I'm liking that he's getting the opportunity to play this early in his career!<div></div><div><div style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">Hard work pays off for UW
running back Brandon Miller</div>
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<div style="font-size: 12px;">The former walk-on earned a scholarship for his
sophomore season thanks to his work last year.
By Robert Gagliardi
rgagliardi@wyosports.net</font>
LARAMIE
-- You see it all the time.
An unknown walk-on puts up big numbers in the
spring or in fall camp. Yet when the season begins, you never hear or see that
guy do much of anything.
Brandon Miller isn't that guy, but he's been
down that path in his brief career at the University of Wyoming.
Miller
walked on as a receiver in 2009 as a true freshman out of Mountain Vista High in
Parker, Colo. He redshirted then, and he was pretty far down the depth chart
when the 2010 season started.
Injuries at running back forced the coaches
to move Miller, and in six games, he had five carries for 22 yards.
About
a week before the spring semester started, he got a call from UW running backs
coach Jason Ray, who told him to call head coach Dave Christensen.
"I was
kind of suspicious about that," Miller said.
Miller made the call, and
Christensen told him he was one of three walk-ons to earn a scholarship for
2011.
"I was pretty excited about that," he added. Miller remains at
running back and has seen a lot of action this spring with injuries to juniors
Alvester Alexander and Ghaali Muhammad. In two spring scrimmages, he has run for
91 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown.
Miller and sophomore Nehemie
Kankolongo have been the only two healthy running backs on scholarship this
spring.
"He hasn't done it against the backups; he's played against the
(starting) defense," Christensen said. "He's proven to the staff he can
contribute this year and play for us."
Miller's last chance to contribute
in spring drills is today in the Cowboys' annual spring game at 2
p.m.
Miller's journey to UW isn't unlike most walk-ons. He wanted to play
Division I football, but no one offered him a scholarship. There were
opportunities at some smaller schools, but playing Division I was the dream, and
Miller felt UW gave him the best option.
Not all walk-ons earn
scholarships, especially as early as Miller did.
But now that he's done
it, Miller isn't satisfied or content.
"I guess it was more rewarding to
earn (the scholarship) than to just have it given to me," he said. "I still
consider myself a walk-on. That's the mentality I have and the one I want to
keep. It's something not every player has been through, and it's in the back of
my mind every day."
Added Christensen: "We'd like to have 10 kids like
him walk on a year and put a whole bunch of them on scholarship."
Spring
game
Today's annual Brown and Gold spring game is scheduled to be played
in War Memorial Stadium at 2 p.m., but could be moved to the Indoor Practice
Facility if the weather turns bad.
The contest will include four
12-minute quarters with a running clock up until the final two minutes of each
half.
At halftime, awards will be presented for the "Most Improved
Players" at each position during the spring as well as a new award, the "Earn
Your Spurs Award."
Out for the game
UW officials said Friday that
two players -- running back Nehemie Kankolongo and linebacker Korey Jones --
have been suspended for today's game.
Kankolongo was one of just a couple
of healthy running backs for UW this spring, while Jones had been making
progress at his linebacker position.
UW said both players were suspended
for violating team rules.
Several UW players will miss today's game due
to injury. They include: offensive linemen Daniel Fleischman and Travis Hillen;
defensive linemen Miraldo Michel, Kurt Taufa'asau and Mark Willis; wide
receivers Drew Martinez and T.J. Smith; linebacker J.J. Quinlan; and running
back Ghaali Muhammad.
UW announced Friday that junior running back
Alvester Alexander, who has missed almost all of spring practice due to injury,
could see limited action today. </div></div>
. He moved to RB from WR during spring. There are no starting white WRs right now, but several are in line for playing time in Sam Stratton and Spencer Bruce. White backups to look for are QB Adam Pittser, H-Back Shane Sullivan, LT Clayton Kirven, LG Skylar Hinton, C Travis Bogard, RG Zach Rushing, RT Josh Leonard, DT Ben Durbin and DE Matt Birkeness. Since 2005, Wyoming has started 15, 17, 14, 16, 15, and 13 whites. Wyoming will look to start 14 whites this year, an increase of one.
