The smile planted on Chris Miller’s face Thursday night wasn’t leaving any time soon.
His opportunity had been a long time coming.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga walk-on running back had a team-high 89 yards rushing in the sixth-ranked Mocs’ 66-0 win over Shorter University.
The 5-foot-8, 180-pound redshirt freshman from Hiram (Ga.) High School was recruited some by UTC before an injury his senior season ran a number of programs – including the Mocs – away. He still kept coming to UTC games every opportunity he could, as he was a close friend of current junior Richardre Bagley.
“I would keep asking Coach (Rusty) Wright if I could come to the games, and he told me I was welcome any time,” Miller said Thursday. “They made it feel like home; that’s the main reason I came here.”
All of his rushing yards Thursday came in the second half, with the Mocs sporting a 45-0 lead after two quarters led to an emptying of the bench by head coach Russ Huesman. Miller had 33 yards on one drive, with rushes of 15 and 11 yards on his first two attempts and a run of 3 yards for his first career touchdown.
The next drive he broke free for a run of 19 yards in helping lead to backup quarterback Tyler Roberson’s second score of the day.
On both occasions, the bench erupted, nearly getting a penalty for celebration.
“Chris ran hard,” Huesman said. “He made some really nice cuts. He works hard, loves this team; the players love him. It’s neat when those guys have success some guys that haven’t played a ton, to see how the team reacts.”
Miller spends most of his practices as the primary scout-team back, going up against the likes of preseason All-Americans Keionta Davis, Nakevion Leslie and Lucas Webb. His elusiveness is well-documented and was on full display against Shorter.
Will it be seen again? Senior receiver Xavier Borishade thinks so.
“I’m so proud of him,” Borishade said. “He has worked his butt off for a year, longer than that. He’s done a great job, and we’re going to use him definitely this year. For him to come in and do what he did today, we all knew he could do it. It was just a matter of time for him to actually get the chance to.
“He took the chance and ran with it.”
So that’s why that smile was firmly planted on Miller’s face as he interacted with friends and family Thursday night. He’s waited his opportunity, and when he had a chance he took full advantage.
“I never got frustrated, because in the end I knew it was going to pay off,” he said. “All the hard work, getting through power hour, playing against the first-string defense – we’re pretty good on D – just makes you better in the end. I actually love it.
“Tonight was amazing. I just want to give all the thanks to the O-line, my family, God for everything. It just felt amazing.”
McMillan honored
UTC senior Vantrel McMillan was honored by SouthernPigskin.com for the top opening-week defensive performance in the Southern Conference. He had two sacks for 17 lost yards, while Shorter had only 16 yards of total offense.
Mocs mentions
Not everything received praise Thursday night. Huesman was frustrated with senior kicker Henrique Ribeiro, who while making all nine of his extra points and a field goal, was “pathetic” on kickoffs. According to the head coach, one kick went out of bounds.
“If he doesn’t get better, we’ll be in a world of hurt,” Huesman said, while also noting that Ribeiro kicked well for points. He set a school record with his 111th consecutive extra point in the first quarter and now has made 117 straight.
Huesman said sophomore running back Alex Trotter, who missed last week with an AC sprain in his shoulder, will be back for this week’s 2 p.m. home game with Presbyterian.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.