How USC walk-on Kaylon Miller got his moment at right guard vs. Nebraska

Kaylon Miller was on the six-yard line in the fourth quarter, blocking a USC running play when he saw King Miller, his running back and twin brother, run right in front of him.

“Run, run, go, go!” he remembers screaming when King hit him on the outside and crossed the Nebraska goal line for the touchdown that would ultimately be the game-winner in the Trojans’ 21-17 Big Ten victory last Saturday in Lincoln.

When King turned around in the end zone, it was his brother who was the first to greet him; the two brothers shared a moment as their masks clashed. Both are moving forward. Both are finding opportunities to get on the field as redshirt freshmen – and both are making the most of those opportunities.

“You owe me a hamburger,” King remembers Kaylon telling him.

Kaylon was happy to see his brother succeed – King Miller was pressed into service last month due to injuries, and he responded with big games against Michigan and Notre Dame – but he continued to wait for his moment. Then in the first quarter against the Cornhuskers, right guard Alani Noa was injured. Kaylon stood next to USC offensive line coach Zach Hanson, who turned to him.

“This is your opportunity,” Hanson told him. “Let’s go.”

It was Kaylon’s turn.

“Honestly, it’s just a remarkable story that I can tell when I’m older,” he said. “Obviously, everyone wants the opportunity to go play and you just have to be ready when your number is called. Mine happened to be that night.

“I just knew that when I got this opportunity, I was going to make the most of it.”

And he made the most of it. Despite all his practice reps that week at center, Miller stepped in at guard and not only held his own — he elevated the o-line in a low-scoring brawl against a tough Nebraska defense.

Allowing no pressure on the night, Miller recorded an 88.2 pass block grade, third-best in the Big Ten last week and sixth-best among Power Four guards.

“He played great. He really did,” Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said. “He was physical, he completed passes well. He was really physical in his pulling game, he was very precise in terms of tasks, which – I know I’ve mentioned this a few times – was even more impressive considering he really hadn’t been able to do many practice reps as a guard. Completely impressed.”

While Miller still says he feels more confident snapping the ball due to the more compact nature of playing under center, he attributes his success as a right guard to his ability to rely on his teammates. The o-line, especially the on-call line, is a symbiotic relationship. A lot of it depends on tackles and center help (and vice versa), and Miller had 100% confidence in his teammates next to him.

Things could have gone wrong with Miller playing in an intense road environment for the first time at Memorial Stadium. The Huskers and the 86,529 fans in attendance were dressed in black. Black footballs were released by a noisy crowd every time Nebraska scored. But between series, left tackle Elijah Paige — returning from a knee injury he suffered in Week 4 against Michigan State — kept Miller’s mind straight.

“Treat it like training,” Paige said. “Obviously it’s a pretty hostile environment. It’s one of the best environments there is. So obviously it can get to you, the noise can get to you, anything can get to you. But I just tell him to focus and act like it’s a Tuesday or Wednesday practice.”

As the Trojans prepare to host Northwestern for a short week, Miller tries to overthink what happened the week before; he knows that opportunities can be seized as quickly as they are won. He likes to rely on a saying that he repeats all the time to his twin brother:

“Never look back at a situation you have been in, just look forward, because nothing you have done in the past can be taken back. You can only have your eyes in tunnel vision, looking forward.”

As for the burger King still owes him?

“I haven’t figured it out yet, but I have to,” King said with a laugh. “I don’t know when it will be, he’ll keep asking me about it, but I got it one day.”