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Miller goes in-depth on sticking with Ohio State

Miller is having a strong week in San Antonio.
Miller is having a strong week in San Antonio.

One of the key components to the 2019 Ohio State recruiting class has been Buford (Ga.) offensive lineman Harry Miller. The Rivals100 product has backed up his high ranking this week in San Antonio with a good week of practice at the All-American Bowl. Miller will make the transition to center at Ohio State after playing a couple of different spots during his time at Buford.

It has been exclusively center during the practice week in San Antonio and Miller has enjoyed his time so far.

"Lots of fun," said Miller. "I've just been trying to get in a groove and the offensive line has been meshing and building relationships so we can communicate better. It's been a real fun experience being down here."

A major challenge in these all-star games is to piece together an offense in just a short practice week, especially up front. Miller and his teammates are embracing that challenge.

"The quarterback position is just built on one person, this is a unit that is built on the formation of five guys so it's the one that takes the longest to build," he explained. "It's the one that makes the most difference. If one guy is off the page, it messes up the entire offense. That's the challenge, but it's also the fun part because you get to see (the progress) throughout the week, the run plays get a little bit longer and the holes get a little bit bigger."

One of those linemates has been fellow Ohio State pledge Doug Nester. Nester has spent most of the week playing right guard, next to Miller. Unlike Miller, Nester did not sign early with Ohio State and will be taking some visits in January. Miller has used the opportunity this week to form a bond with what he hopes will be a future teammate.

"It has been really fun playing with Doug," Miller explained. "I told him that his decision is his decision and I can't make decisions for anybody else because if I did, that would be wrong. It's me presenting why I like Ohio State and just building a relationship with him. It has been so fun playing next to him."

Another player that Miller has started to get to know better this week is defensive end Zach Harrison. Harrison has been a deeply private person during the recruiting process and Miller has enjoyed their bonding as teammates this week in San Antonio.

"I didn't even really talk to him before," Miller said with a laugh. "I think I requested to follow him on Twitter like five times. It has been really fun to kind of open up to him. We met at The Opening in the summer but he was undecided. Now that he's a Buckeye, it has been really cool for him to open up and for us to get to know him. He's a really awesome guy to be around and I'm grateful that he's with Ohio State."

In total, there are five Ohio State commits participating this week with a sixth, Ronnie Hickman, arriving on Thursday as he won't be playing in the game due to injury. The commits got together on Tuesday to watch Ohio State earn a win in the Rose Bowl.

"I sat down with Steele, Doug, Zach, and Garrett and we watched the Rose Bowl game in the the player's lounge," he recalled. "We just kind of sat there and talked about the players and the coaches, it was really fun to hang out with them. It all kind of dawned on us that this was the last time that we were going to be watching this on TV."

Seeing the head coach he committed to go out on a winning note was one of the biggest bright spots for Miller as he watched the game unfold.

"It was awesome of course," he said of Urban Meyer going out with a win. "It was awesome being able to see him enjoy what he has been doing and have some fulfillment and now he gets to live his life. It's a great situation that he just gets to do what he wants to do now."

Miller committed to Ohio State back in the spring. It was a commitment that came earlier than he expected it would. It was then tested with major distractions in the program during the summer from the Zach Smith saga and was then further tested when Urban Meyer announced his retirement in early December.

Miller of course took a close look at things and considered what options he might have, but never seemed to truly waver from his commitment to Ohio State.

"I just trusted the process," Miller explained. "Ohio State was a big step of faith for me and I don't expect people to understand it. I had to deal with talking to my family about it and dealing with everyone at school and everything, but I was uniquely calm about it."

The decision to commit to Ohio State was, according to Miller, a five-year process that led him to Columbus.

"We've been going to Nicaragua (on a mission trip) since seventh grade and we've been praying about this very decision as a family since that time," he explained. "We have prayed about where I would be going with my life and what I would be doing with it. We got to Ohio State one day in March and we went there and everything that we had been praying for for like the past five years was popping up all in one day. We joked with each other and just said, 'what more do you need? A burning bush?' because everything was just there. I was planning on not even committing on campus but I asked myself, how much crazier would I need to be to ignore these signs. So when all these things happened and people were attacking (Meyer's) character and attacking my character, I just trusted the process and what I'd been put through. I'm looking forward to the future."

The totality of that process made Miller's decision to stick with Ohio State the best choice for him.

"How could I be the leader of a class if I was to be scared and run away?" he stated. "I wanted to weather the storm. Of course if things change, you have to think clearly about it and make a decision, but I don't like to take my word lightly. I want to be one-hundred percent serious about every decision I make. If you find yourself just sailing with the wind, you're going to be changing (directions) a lot."

Miller will enroll at Ohio State in June.

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