A former Ohio State football player will fly with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels on Wednesday.
Ryan Miller, a linebacker for the Buckeyes from 1992-96, will take to the skies in a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet piloted by Blue Angels No. 7 Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman. The ceremonial flight will occur before the Columbus Air Show at Rickenbacker Airport, a civil-military public airport 10 miles south of downtown Columbus near Lockbourne, Ohio.
At Ohio State, Miller collected 211 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, three sacks, three pass breakups and an impressive 16 forced fumbles across four seasons and 49 appearances for head coach John Cooper and defensive coordinators Bill Young and Fred Pagac.
In 1999, three years after his final season with the Buckeyes, Miller co-founded the 2nd and 7 Foundation with two of his Ohio State teammates – Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel – to promote reading and literacy in young children "by providing free books and positive role models" to them, according to the foundation's mission statement.
When Miller flies with Zimmerman and the Blue Angels on Wednesday, an exercise in which he will experience up to 8 G's on some maneuvers, he hopes it will bring awareness to the foundation he helped establish with Fickell, the current football head coach at Wisconsin, and Vrabel, the current head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
“It is an incredible honor to be selected for this flight with the Blue Angels. The opportunity of a lifetime, really, and a great physical challenge too,” Miller told The Columbus Dispatch. “I hope I can live up to the standard of excellence that the Blue Angels represent, all while bringing exposure to the 2nd & 7 Foundation and its mission to promote reading.”
The Columbus Air Show will take place between June 16-18 at Rickenbacker Airport. Tickets can be purchased on the event's website. Each day of the air show will start at 9 a.m. and continue into the late afternoon.
