No. 3 in the Dandy Dozen
MAHS wide receiver Cameron Miller prioritizes recovery.
Growing up with three brothers that play football and a dad that’s a coach, Memphis Academy of Health Sciences wide receiver Cameron Miller has witnessed one too many injuries in his time as a player and fan.
This is what sparked his interest in recovery and physical therapy. Now, three months into nursing a hamstring injury that put him out of commission, Miller has found it even more important to educate himself on the body and how it works to recover.
“Always growing up, I just hated seeing injuries. So I just wanted to be part of the solution to people’s injuries. Everybody has bad injuries you know, careerending or season-ending injury, or minor even, I just want to be that guy, you know, help that guy speed up to the best he can, recover the best way he can,” Miller said.
Focus on the fall
The four-star receiver, according to 247Sports Composite, is No. 3 on The Commercial Appeal’s 2021 Dandy Dozen list, a series of the top-12 college football prospects for the Class of 2022 from the Mid-south picked by the paper.
The three-star athlete is the No. 13 prospect in Tennessee and No. 56 wide receiver in the country according to the 247Sports Composite.
Miller announced his commitment to Tennessee in mid-july following a visit to Knoxville at the end of June. Making the decision prior to the start of his senior season, Miller said, has taken a huge weight off his shoulders and allowed him to focus on another goal: winning every game of the 2021 with MAHS.
To recover from his hamstring injury, Miller plans to sit out on most of the scrimmages this summer and wait to fully participate until the first game of the season. His passion for learning about the body and physical therapy has aided his recovery process immensely, he said.
“I’ve just been taking in notes for every injury I’ve had, learning the process of how to recover it and how to rebuild... So when I had the hamstring, automatically, you know, I knew how to treat it and recover,” Miller said.
Coaching transition
This fall, Miller will be coached once again by his dad Cedric Miller at MAHS. His dad also coached his two older brothers. Cameron knows what to expect with him as a coach. He grew up knowing more than just what schemes his dad might run, but also how he would balance being a coach and a father.
“I think that’s one of the biggest
things I had to realize. He was always the hardest on my older brothers, so I had to realize he was going to be hard on me too,” Cameron said.
According to Cameron, one of the only other coaches he has played for outside of his dad (prior to coming to high school) told him he was not good enough to be play football.
Cameron said one thing that set the Vols apart from other schools he was considering was the staff first-year coach Josh Heupel put together.
“He’s been carrying a good crew, and I think they’re very trustworthy,” he said. “They’re good at what they do on the offensive side of the ball... Coach Heupel likes to have fun, you know, and take care of his players the right way.”
Claire Kuwana is a sports reporting intern. Contact her at claire.kuwana @commercialappeal.com or follow her on Twitter @clairekuwana.