dream now a reality for ex-DV star Miller
Miller, family, friends play draft day waiting game
By Christopher Drexel
For Zach Miller, football has been a natural progression.
The Ahwatukee Foothills native first gained national recognition as the No. 1-rated high school tight end in the nation while playing for the Desert Vista Thunder.
Then he became a collegiate All-American during a three-year career with the Arizona State Sun Devils.
And now, he is a second-round NFL Draft pick of the Oakland Raiders.
The 21-year-old Miller reached football’s pinnacle Saturday when he was taken with the 38th overall pick by the infamous Al Davis-owned Silver and Black.
Miller is just the second Ahwatukee native to ever be drafted into the NFL, joining fellow Desert Vista product Bobby Wade, who was selected in the draft’s fifth round by the Chicago Bears in 2003.
“It was pretty amazing to hear I am an NFL player and to be playing for Oakland,” Miller said. “It will be nice because it’s a quick flight over there, so my parents will be able to make it to a lot of games. I stay on the West Coast. And I’ve always been a little bit of a Raider fan.”
Getting the call
More than 30 people gathered at the Miller family’s Ahwatukee Foothills home to watch the draft. There were old Desert Vista teammates. There was Miller’s college roommate, ASU offensive tackle Brandon Rodd. There were aunts, uncles and cousins. There was his sister, Kara, and his parents, Tom and Jaki — older brother Brent was participating in an ASU class project.
Miller used each and every person in attendance for support, as he endured the longest first round in NFL Draft history while waiting to hear his name called.
“Oh man, the first round, I think they said, was six hours and seven minutes,” Miller said. “The previous one was like four hours and 50 minutes. So it was long.
“You see teams up there you talked to and that expressed interest in you and you think they might be the one to call you. Then you don’t get the call, you keep waiting and you get more nervous as time goes on. Finally, when you get that call, you’re so relieved that you finally got drafted.”
That call didn’t come until 4 in the afternoon, after the draft had started at 9 a.m.
When Miller’s cell phone rang everyone in the household went silent.
“It came up as an unknown number,” Miller said. “A girl came on the phone, and I was like, 'What are they messing with me right here?’ She said, 'Hey, I’m with the Oakland Raiders. I’m going to put Coach (Lane) Kiffin on the phone, just hold on a second. And welcome to the Raiders.’”
While he awaited a quick chat with his new coach, Miller peeked his head up from his phone and blurted out, 'Raiders!’ at which point the room erupted in cheers, he recalls.
“It got nerve-racking when the first round was over and they hadn’t picked him yet,” Jaki Miller said. “It’s nice having all these people over to support him. Everyone who is here has been here since forever, since Zach was little. There are friends and neighbors that our kids have grown up with.”
Miller said the Raiders had expressed interest in him since he declared himself eligible for the draft in January, but did not contact him much since scouts watched him perform drills at ASU’s pro timing day earlier this spring.
“They were definitely one of the 10 or so teams that were really interested,” Miller said. “As the draft went on, teams who I really thought would take me didn’t end up taking me. Oakland was a little unexpected because they kind of cut off contact the last few weeks before the draft.”
But according to what Kiffin told him, Miller was a player the Raiders coveted with their second-round pick all along. The team originally had the first pick in the second round, 33rd overall, but traded it to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for the 38th pick and a fourth-round selection.
Miller said Kiffin explained the situation when he called. The announcement of Miller’s selection was broadcast on ESPN and the NFL Network as Miller was already talking to Kiffin.
“Of course I would have liked to go sooner, but I knew my range was late first round, early second, and that’s where I ended up falling,” Miller said. “The Raiders actually had me penciled in at 33rd and had me there for a week and a half.
“Coach Kiffin actually said they looked at the teams that were picking four or five after them and knew they could trade back. So they started making some phone calls, traded back to 38 and knew they could get me then.”
Part of Raider Nation
Miller leaves the Valley on Thursday for his first mini-camp with the Raiders. Following an introductory dinner Thursday night, he will be a part of his first three practices throughout the weekend.
Storylines are aplenty for Miller as he begins his latest conquest in football.
He will be reunited with former ASU quarterback Andrew Walter, who was a senior while Miller was a true freshman in 2004. Together, they hooked up for 56 catches, which stands as a school freshman receiving record.
“I talked to him in January, and we actually joked about me getting picked to the Raiders,” Miller said. “I even said, 'Hey, maybe we’ll wind up being on the same team again.’ It’s crazy how life happens like that.”
Walter sat atop the Raiders’ depth chart at quarterback prior to this weekend, although his time with Oakland could be numbered as the Raiders selected LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell with the first overall pick in the draft.
“I’m sure we’ll talk a little about that — that’s the way football is in the NFL,” Miller said. “But you can always get traded next week or next year and be a franchise quarterback somewhere else. I think he’s going to be all right. I’m not worried about him at all.”
Miller will also be playing for a rookie coach in Kiffin, whose biggest resume highlight until this offseason was being an assistant coach under Pete Carroll at USC.
Though the Raiders went just 2-14 last season and are breaking in a new coaching staff, Tom Miller is happy with where his son is headed.
“Coach Kiffin did a great job at USC, so obviously he knows what he’s doing,” he said. “This is kind of jumping in the frying pan as they say, so I guess he’ll have to learn quickly.
“Oakland, obviously they struggled some, so there has be opportunity there to get in the limelight. So we’ll have to see what Zach can do.”
Miller added he liked the opportunity to begin his professional career along with his head coach.
“We get to build the Oakland Raiders, so it’s going to be fun,” he said. “We’re going to turn it around. We got the quarterback — quarterbacks to do it — so I’m ready for it.”
