The defending National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes competition for a starting QB just got a little bit easier.
After missing the 2014-2015 season after having surgery to repair a debilitating shoulder injury, Braxton Miller has announced that he will be holstering his gun slinging (for now) and switching positions to H-back.
Miller reported to Sports Illustrated that he will still spend time with the quarterback coaches but is looking to spend roughly 80% of his time with the receiving core effective immediately for his final season of eligibility.
Miller stated, For the most part, its going to be H-Back and punt return, Miller said in a phone interview on Thursday night. Its a long process to get back totally to throwing and throwing every day. This is the smarter thing for right now, God blessed me with a lot of talent and different opportunities. Im going to have fun with that and still score a lot of touchdowns and help the team out and be dominant at that.
The 62 215-pound athlete shouldnt have trouble transitioning physically and the new role should take significant stress off of the repaired shoulder. This will allow us to see the full potential of Millers athleticism and contribute in ways that we havent seen from of the Ohio native. Before he was sidelined with the injury, Braxton won back-to-back Big Ten offensive player of the year awards in the 2012 and 2013 season and started 34 games in three years, accounting for 8,346 total yards and 84 touchdowns. He was also a preseason Heisman Trophy contender before injuring his shoulder in last year’s training camp.
The Buckeyes are stacked talent-wise and clearly the favorite to repeat, this move only heightens their chances that they will be hoisting the championship at the end of the college football playoffs again.
All they have to worry about now is which quarterback will be throwing to Miller during the season.
