By Jim Mone, APVon Miller, center, is the only draft prospect named as a plaintiff in the NFL players' antitrust suit against the league.
By Jim Mone, APVon Miller, center, is the only draft prospect named as a plaintiff in the NFL players' antitrust suit against the league.
"It's a huge honor," says the linebacker from Texas A&M and this town just south of Dallas.He'll step out in a new suit for his moment on the stage in New York with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. "I've got a couple of choices … probably like a dark, navy blue or a brown," he says.
Miller already has made his choice about a suit of an entirely different color.
He is among 10 players — including star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees— who have filed an antitrust suit against the NFL. Of the 10, Miller is the lone rookie-to-be. As the NFL world waits for U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson to rule on the suit's request for an order ending the lockout, Miller still wants to savor his upcoming moment of NFL normalcy.
"I'm about setting a goal and getting it done and moving to the next one," Miller, 22, says from a TV chair in his family's spacious home. "The task that's on my priority list is just getting drafted. I just want to get drafted and be a part of a team again."
With his ability to sack quarterbacks, shown at Texas A&M and reinforced since, Miller figures to be a top-five pick.
"He's going to be a good get for whoever gets him," says Buffalo Bills coach Chan Gailey, whose team has the third pick. Bills scout Shawn Heinlen on Miller's pass rushing: "One word: freak. … In the 10 years I've been doing this, I have not seen anybody at that position be able to change direction and have the explosion that he has."
His career has been all about choices in direction. He turned that truck around. When he could have entered the 2010 draft, he stayed in college. Faced with the option to join the lawsuit, he took it.
Before the recent Super Bowl in Dallas, Miller participated in the week's events. He said he learned the players wanted a rookie in their prospective suit. At a dinner, he spoke with veteran New York Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
"I didn't tell him I was going to be a part of it. I just asked him how he felt about the whole lockout," says Miller. "I was able to pick his mind and get some knowledge about what was going on and that kind of fueled my decision. … I wanted to help out the guys before me and that are coming after me."
Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman on Miller's decision: "I don't think in any way shape or form it's any disrespect to the commissioner or the National Football League. That's just the way he is. I've seen him help older ladies at the (A&M) basketball games get down the stairway. … So it doesn't surprise me."
Miller's agent is Joby Branion, executive director of Athletes First of Irvine, Calif.
Also with Athletes First is agent Andrew Kessler, son of Jeffrey Kessler, a lead attorney in the players' suit. Branion says that connection was not the "driving force … by an means" behind Miller joining the suit.
But Miller says Andrew Kessler has helped him understand the case: "Andrew has kind of like been my tutor," he says.
Might Miller's role in the suit prompt any teams to shy away? His agent says the opposite, based on his talk with NFL clubs.
"There are more people that once they've talked to him about it believe it shows a real element of maturity. … He's taking a principled stand," says Branion.
Says Sherman, a former Green Bay Packers head coach: "He's all about his teammates. … The minute he gets on the field and sacks the quarterback, this will be in the past."
Sherman took over at Texas A&M in 2008. Miller had done well the previous fall as a freshman, but that spring Sherman suspended him for the intra-squad game.
"I was just immature. … I was missing classes. I was late to class," says Miller.
At the time, though, he was distressed enough to start toward home.
"I was just trying to get him to do things the right way and be accountable," says Sherman.
After talking with his dad by phone, Miller turned around.
"The understanding in our household is that we don't avoid or run away from responsibilities," says the father, also named Von. "The day he committed to A&M, I made it clear to him that was binding. … That was something that as a Miller, he was bound to do."
As an end in a 4-3 defense his junior season, Miller led the nation with 17 sacks. As an outside linebacker in a 3-4 as a senior, he had 10.5 sacks despite an early-season ankle issue. He won the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker.
In January, he starred in the Senior Bowl and its drills. At the NFL combine in February, he demonstrated the measurables. He bettered his times at A&M's pro day.
Never mind the numbers, however. Just watch video of Miller's pass rush.
"The kid gets like that motorcycle driver coming around the corner," said ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper. " … I don't know how he keeps his feet. He gets a tremendous leverage advantage."
He also has family leverage.
The walls of the Miller home are covered with family photos. At the draft, he plans to have about 15 people, including his father, his mother Gloria, his 20-year-old brother Vince (attending culinary school), coach Sherman and his grandmother on his father's side, Della Johnson.
"The special portion of it is that Von gets the opportunity to live a lifelong dream, walk along the stage when his name's announced and shake the commissioner's hand," says the father. "One of the most important other pieces is that my mother gets to see this first hand."
The father, 52, is an entrepreneur. A former high school football player, he went to technical school and worked for two battery firms. Now, he and his wife own and operate PowrGuardian, which sells and services batteries and backup power sources. Its motto: "We've got your backup!" It has occurred to the father that he was the backup when his son wanted to leave A&M. "I've always tried to be that," he says.
In between his early jobs with battery firms, the father was a Payless Shoes store manager. He now has another company, Tasforus, which provides everything from custom apparel and limo service to spring cleaning. It will provide the shoes Miller will wear on draft night.
The Millers used their business savvy in screening agents for Von. The father set down rules. That started a year ago, after Miller decided to play his senior season. One parameter, according to the father: "I asked them not to contact Von in college playing football, especially when the season started, or they would be automatically disqualified." Some were disqualified that way.
Athletes First was the choice. In each of the past three seasons, it has represented linebackers drafted in Round 1, including the Packers' Clay Matthews.
Miller's mother, a former high school volleyball player and track and field athlete, will be there when he does get to play in the NFL. "I haven't missed any games," she says. " … Wherever he goes, I'll be there."
Miller says the best-case scenario is that the judge ends the lockout so he can get signed: "I don't want to hold out or any of that stuff. … I'll just trust my agent until we get my contract done and then play ball."
He has visited six teams scheduled to pick in the top 10. His trip to the Denver Broncos coincided with a visit by Goodell: "He came up, and he said hi, and we talked for a second. It was all good."
In New York, he plans to enjoy himself: "I'm doing the (players' association) events and all the NFL. I don't want to make anybody upset about anything."
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