JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jumbo Shrimp player Brian Miller is one of the top prospects in the Marlins organization, but his journey to this moment has been anything but easy.
“Yeah, it definitely hasn’t been a straight liner journey as most people would kind of expect,” Miller said.
Growing up, Miller played basketball, football and baseball, and was even apart of the band.
“I think basketball was always the sport I enjoyed playing the most, you know pickup basketball. There is nothing better than that at least for me.”
It was never the plan growing up for Miller to become a professional athlete or play college sports.
“It was never the plan for me to go and play a college sport. My parents just wanted my older brother and I to do what we loved,” he said.
Although Miller never planned to play college sports, he always dreamed of being a UNC Tarheel.
Just before his senior season of high school, Miller committed to play baseball at UNC, just not the one he dreamed of. It was UNC Asheville. After his commitment, Head coach Tom Smith announced his retirement allowing Miller the chance to get out of his commitment.
“About two days after I graduated high school, I’m still planning on going to Asheville. They are still kind of in between coaches … I got contacted by the North Carolina head coaches and asked if I wanted to do a workout for them, and that was always my dream school and literally about a week later, I moved into summer school with all of the class of 2014 incoming freshmen.”
Brian was never a top recruit in high school and turned himself into a first-round draft pick.
“For me, my faith is very important. It just goes to show me that God’s plan for my life was so much greater than anything I could have anticipated,” he said.