Before we get too far into it, this is not meant to be anything representative of either myself or the Eleven Warriors team picking sides in Ohio State's epic quarterback battle. It's also not meant to blow up Braxton Miller, the soon to be fifth-year senior who owns a pair of Silver Footballs, more than he deserves. His accolades and popularity are well-documented for obvious reasons.
Late Friday, Miller sent the tweet below from his personal, verified account.
#latenights pic.twitter.com/UaTmQoai9u
— BRAXTON MILLER (@BraxtonMiller5) June 6, 2015
No, this is not the first time Miller's posted a photo of a workout on a summer Friday night. Who knows if it'll be the last, but the picture — much like anything else — can be taken a multitude of ways:
- Miller's been working feverishly to get back to his flashy style on the gridiron, just more than nine months removed from his second surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. Friday night is just another example;
- The quarterback is donning red shorts, and while we are unable to see an Ohio State logo on them or anywhere else in the photo, simple brain function shows it's further confirmation Miller's staying in Columbus this fall;
- Urban Meyer wasn't lying: "He's in the best shape he's ever been in his life," Ohio State's head coach said May 29. "He's working his tail off." Miller looks even more cut than he did before he went down with his initial shoulder tear in Ohio State's Orange Bowl loss to Clemson in January 2014. Clever camera filter or not, it's hard to believe Cardale Jones or J.T. Barrett looking that ripped right now;
- Miller's bored, didn't have anything better to do on a weekend evening as one of the more popular people in the city of Columbus, so he took it upon himself to lift alone and take a selfie;
- And plenty more.
While writing something about "what this Braxton Miller tweet means" seems slightly senseless and shortsighted, Miller doesn't really tweet that often (not even 1,800 sent as of Saturday from an account he's had since December 2010). So when he does, people clearly take notice. Jones and Barrett have less tweets than that from their accounts, but the former's social media track record is against him and the latter's barely had his account six months.
Miller's high school coach, Jay Minton, told me last month he couldn't see his former star playing anywhere else than Ohio State, and if he was a betting man, he'd push his chips into Miller's pot. It isn't odd for a former coach to support his guy — he doesn't know the other two players, and is fully aware how much Meyer and Ohio State love Miller. Coaches at any level in any sport are sure to do the same.
But Minton's seen Miller bounce back from injury before, seen him compete as an eighth grader, freshman and sophomore for a spot on varsity before taking over and knows him outside the lines better than most.
"You can't describe it what that kid is," Minton said. "That young man, just when you think he can't get better, he gets better. Competition only makes him get better."
Gene Smith, Ohio State Vice President and Director of Athletics, echoed Minton's sentiment the following week, saying he plans to stick around this fall and compete for the job with Barrett and Jones. And if he's healthy, look out.
"He's not going to just back down because he had to sit out a year," Smith said.
No one expects him to. No one expects Jones or Barrett to do that either. That's not what Meyer, their families, or teammates want them to do.
And while Miller is really the only of the three to post photos of himself doing extra work on weekends, his most recent one shows he appears to be building his body like never before with the hopes of avoiding a nagging injury like ones he's sustained in the past.
Meyer said Miller's been throwing "up to 35 yards, I think" and aggressively at 25 yards recently during his rehab. Fall camp opens in roughly two months, so while one piece of the Ohio State quarterback trifecta shone in the spotlight of Cleveland Indians baseball Friday, another continued his plight to take back the starting job.
