The future stars of Ohio State football officially begin their college careers, as standouts from all over the country put pens to their National Letters of Intent.
For the first time in five years, Ohio State has signed the original quarterback commit in its recruiting class.
West Midwest. Welcome to C-Bus, @jackjamesmiller.#GoBucks #XXclusive pic.twitter.com/IgjNOINhfY
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 18, 2019
The Miller File
- Class: 2020
- Size: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds
- Pos: QB
- School: Chaparral (AZ)
- Composite Rating: ★★★★
- Composite Rank: 14 (PRO)
Jack Miller, who has been recruited by Ohio State since his freshman year of high school and committed to the Buckeyes since July 1, 2018, officially signed with the Buckeyes on Wednesday morning.
Unlike Tristen Wallace in 2016, Danny Clark in 2017, Emory Jones in 2018 and Dwan Mathis in 2019, Miller’s commitment to Ohio State and Ohio State’s commitment to him was strong from the beginning and stayed that way until the end, even after rumors of a potential decommitment surfaced earlier this year.
Miller was offered by Ohio State in May 2017, when he was still in just his first year of high school, after then-quarterbacks coach Ryan Day went to watch Miller throw at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Miller’s connection with former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer dated back even further than that; as documented by The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman earlier this year, Miller’s father has been friends with Meyer since they were introduced by mutual friend Tim Tebow in 2015. Miller got to know Meyer and Ohio State even better when the Buckeyes stayed at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort, where Miller’s dad is the general manager, in their trips to the Fiesta Bowl to end the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
The first quarterback to receive an offer from Ohio State for the class of 2020, Miller was favored to be a Buckeye from the beginning of his recruitment, and he made his commitment to play in the scarlet and gray shortly after attending Ohio State’s Friday Night Lights event in the summer of 2018.
Even after Meyer announced his retirement following the 2018 season, Miller remained committed to the Buckeyes as Day become head coach.
After Ohio State began to pursue a second quarterback for the class of 2020 earlier this year, questions arose of whether Miller would look to explore his options elsewhere, but Miller remained adamant that he would come to Columbus and compete with any other quarterbacks they decide to bring in, and he put those questions to rest for good when he inked his name on his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday.
Miller’s signing marks the first time Ohio State’s initial quarterback commit for a recruiting cycle has followed through on his commitment since Joe Burrow in 2015.
He’ll have a chance to see the Buckeyes in his hometown once again next week, when Ohio State heads out to the Fiesta Bowl again for its College Football Playoff semifinal game against Clemson, then will enroll at Ohio State in January with a chance to quickly climb the depth chart and potentially start for the Buckeyes as early as his second year on campus.
Ohio State will have only two returning scholarship quarterbacks on its roster next season, Justin Fields and Gunnar Hoak, and both of them will likely be gone in 2021. Assuming Fields enters the NFL draft after his junior year, the starting quarterback job will be open for competition in 2021, and Miller will be right at the forefront of that competition.
Ranked as the 14th-best pro-style quarterback and the 290th overall prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the recruiting class of 2020, Miller isn’t quite as highly rated now as he was earlier in his recruiting cycle, but that’s largely because he has been plagued by injuries over the past two years. His junior season at Chaparral was shortened by a knee injury, he was limited at the Elite 11 quarterback competition this summer due to a back injury and missed time during his senior season with a shoulder injury.
When healthy, though, Miller has demonstrated the ability to be the high-level passer that Day wants leading his offense. He's an accurate passer who threw for 9,440 yards and 115 touchdowns in his high school career, has enough arm strength to make the plays he'll need to succeed in the Buckeyes' offense and offers enough athleticism to extend plays with his feet and make throws outside the pocket, even though he's not quite the dual-threat that Ohio State currently has running its offense in Fields.
Miller will have to compete with other highly touted recruits to be Ohio State’s starter in the future – the Buckeyes are hoping to sign another four-star quarterback, CJ Stroud, on Wednesday afternoon, while 2021 commit Kyle McCord is currently the No. 33 overall prospect for his recruiting class – but Miller has a longtime believer in Day as his head coach and the potential to develop into an excellent collegiate starting quarterback.
