Wyatt Miller 6’ 4” 306 lbs OT UCF #78

Wyatt Miller was an offensive tackle for the Golden Knights who started 4 seasons in college. He played in 49 total games in his career with 34 starts at right tackle and 13 starts on the left side. He was twice named to the AAC All-Academic team and earned AAC Second Team honors two times for his play on the field. He helped UCF establish a single season rushing record as a senior even though UCF was primarily a passing offense.

Draft analyst Tony Pualine was at Miller’s Pro Day wrote this about Miller; “Offensive tackle Wyatt Miller, who a lot of people consider an inexpensive utility blocker for a next-level roster, had a solid day in position drills. Miller has already worked out for the New York Jets and will be visiting the Cincinnati Bengals. He already has had a workout with the team that was 60 miles SW of him in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”

Although Miller started all his games at the tackle position he will definitely need to move inside in the NFL.

Miller has very good short area quickness with some very good technical skill, but he lacks the height and length needed for edge protector in the NFL. He also is woefully lacking in both upper and lower body power.

Interestingly, some of the solid day Pauline talked about came while Miller was playing center and doing pulling drills from an interior line spot. Though his punch is seriously lacking in power, he has very good hand usage otherwise and is quick enough to stay in front of smaller players. Here he is against Cincinnati. He is #78 playing LT at the top of the screen.

He pushes his man wide then drops his hips to set his anchor. He keeps his hands inside the shoulder pads so he is able to control his man for the length of the play. He has a tendency to play a little high in his sets but gets away with it with the hand usage. If he plays against someone with more power he will not be so lucky.

Like I said he has some good technique, moves well in space, and can make combo blocks. Here he is pinning down a DT on a double team. He makes sure to great position, putting his body between the defender and the hole.

You can see his lack of drive power on the play. His defender is even in a poor leverage position, and he still only keeps him from play. He should be able to drop his pads and drive that player away from the LOS. The result is good technique but poor power.

The next play he attempts a combo block, but the play is read too quickly by the two LBs, the SAM and the MIKE who are shading to the wide side of the field.

Miller is able to come off the ball quickly and put a seal block on the end. Then he makes a dash to the second level. He finds no one to block because play was read so rapidly, but it makes no difference as the back beats them to the corner and into the end zone.

This next play Miller is in a two point stance. Miller played from both two and three point stances at UCF which will aid him to his move inside. I mentioned lack of height earlier, and this is where you see it come into play. Watch his kick slide; The first two steps eat up little ground, and he has to take a huge third step to get enough depth to handle the OLB who is rushing from a wide “9” position.

This makes Miller play too tall and off balance. He then get jacked under the chin which exacerbates the problem. He is able to quickly regroup and use those good hands to get control of the OLB, pushing him wide. The OLB is only 6’ 2” 238 lbs. If this was a larger player then Miller would have landed on his backside, and the QB would have been meat.

The next play has a larger rusher who has a quick first step. He gets to the outside shoulder of Miller quickly and uses a chop to get his hands down. This is where Miller needs a strong punch to the breastplate of the defender to stop his momentum, but it isn’t there.

The defender is using a combo move chop/rip, but the rip is far too late. Miller gets his hands up quickly enough to push the defender wide, but this is a short set on a swing pass so the defender had no shot at a sack with the arc he was traveling. Miller also has insufficient length to play outside in the NFL. Short kick slide and poor length are two reasons Miller will need to move inside.

It is not all bad for Miller. He just needs to play in a more confined space and increase his power and work on the punch. Here he is going against a player with far less quickness who tries to muscle his way to the QB.

You see Miller has no problem mirroring the defender. He keeps his hands inside the shoulder pads and then does a little dance for a few seconds. Miller has a lack of lower body strength, but when he sinks his hips he has a surprisingly stout anchor.

Even against smaller defenders Miller has the short area quickness to stay with them. Here he is going against a 6’ 2” 225 safety who is reading the play fake and not aggressively attacking the edge.

Miller was in a three point stance but was off the ball quickly to gain good position on the smaller man. Once the safety gets into a wrestling match with Miller he is basically done on the play. By taking the outside man (which is what he is supposed to do) he left the guard to take on Rashard Lawrence who is a possible top 20 player in the 2020 Draft. The guard is no match for him as he flies by him easily for the sack.

We just watched Rashard Lawrence blast by a guard, and now you can see him handle Miller as well. Miller does not get enough depth on his kick slide, and once Lawrence gets to him he knocks down his hands and slaps him like a tackling dummy to get by.

You can see Miller try a punch to slow Lawrence down, but it is too weak and ineffective. Lawrence is not a super quick player (he weighs 317 lbs). He also has superior power, but for him to get on top of Miller and get by so quickly is really bad. Lawrence will not be playing DE in the NFL.

Summery

Wyatt Miller is a developmental prospect with quick feet in small areas and will need time to mature before he is NFL ready. He will need time to switch positions because he has never played inside before. The good news is it is easier to move from tackle to guard than vice versa. He will also need severe development with the strength coach on his upper and lower body. He needs more lower power in drive blocking and only did 14 reps on the bench on his pro day. He will need better core strength as well to handle some of the NFL behemoths he will definitely work against.

Miller has practice squad player written all over him. He will need at least one and possibly two years to develop strength and the knowledge to play on the interior line in the NFL. He is a smart kid with the right frame of mind and has a shot to be a player if he puts in the work. We will see if he makes it through training camp first.

What do you think?