Williamsville senior running back Matthew Miller made the most of his time as the SJ-R's Small School Football Player of the Year.
Matthew Miller relished every morsel of the football season, big and small.
Even practices he embraced with equal fervor.
The Williamsville senior running back conjured 299 rushing yards and four touchdowns in a glistening Week 8 performance against Sangamo Conference rival Maroa-Forsyth. There was also senior linebacker Devin Fulgenzi’s catch during one particular practice that set off a maelstrom of celebration that will happily remain among Miller’s favorite memories.
Miller truly loved football, pure and simple.
He ultimately ran for 1,323 yards and 28 touchdowns on 135 carries and caught 23 passes for 222 yards and three scores to become The State Journal-Register's Small School Football Player of the Year after former teammate Braddock Cates won the award last year.
Miller picked up a few cues from Cates, but he also carved out his own path with his own flair.
He developed a physical presence through wrestling, while he added more explosiveness over the offseason through track and field. It forged a potent blend of power and speed as a key cornerstone of the Williamsville offense that pivoted back to its traditional spread attack.
“Junior year of football, I was like, ‘Man, I’m quick, but I don’t have that breakaway speed,’” Miller said. “So, I did track over the junior spring and it really helped me getting my top speed faster and really focused.”
Last year’s Wing-T equipped Miller with reps, but he more than welcomed the schematic change with a host of other weapons around him — not to mention a robust offensive line.
“I think it was almost easier to run out of the spread because teams couldn’t load the boxes and our pass game did so well,” Miller said. “We could throw the ball as much as we could run the ball, which just opened up everything. It was definitely nice to go back to the spread.”
Miller and Company cruised to a second straight Sangamo title and reached the Class 3A quarterfinals for the first time since the state runner-up campaign in 2022.
The Illinois High School Football Coaches Association voted Miller to the Class 3A all-state team along the way. Miller was also all-Sangamo first team offensively. He finished his career with 2,148 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns. He averaged nearly 10 yards per carry over that span.
Miller reflected how the team rallied together over the offseason after a couple of disappointing postseason appearances. Those offseason meetings set the tone for the year, according to Miller.
“We did it because we just thought the culture wasn’t the same as years prior,” Miller said. “We just thought we weren’t tight with each other and we had only won one playoff game in the last two years. We needed to figure out things and focus on the correct things.
“When we did that, we had to change our culture. It was just a way we could bond together in those meetings and talk about what we needed to change so we could enjoy practice and enjoy being around each other without getting burned out during the long season.”
Miller indeed did not burn out and even bounced back from a concussion he sustained against Maroa. Miller got this unbridled zest for football from his older brother, Michael, who graduated from Riverton in 2018.
“He was my (JFL) coach in fifth grade and led us to a Super Bowl title,” said Miller, who transferred to Williamsville the following year. “He was always waking me up. He really pushed me to my limits and beyond my limits to make me the best I could be on the field and always want to be the best on the field.
“He set the tone for me. He would always tell me, ‘Are you going to be better than me or are you going to let your big bro be better than you?’ He made it a competition, but it was to make me more hungry.”
Miller continued to turn to his older brother for advice over the phone through high school, where he made the transition to running back.
Whether or not Miller pursues football at the next level is undecided at the moment.
One thing is certain, however. Miller hopes the Bullets can build on the past season and go even further.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Williamsville's Matthew Miller is Small School Football Player of the Year
Category: General Sports
