Pandora-Gilboa’s Andrew Miller goes airborne for a few more yards after a hit by Leipsic’s Tavis Bejarano during a game last year.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
PANDORA — Andrew Miller is a man in demand for Pandora-Gilboa’s football team.
In 2023, he led the offense with a team-high 1,139 rushing yards as the team’s lead running back.
Miller also led his defense with 121 tackles from his linebacker position, including eight tackles for loss.
For the Rockets to top last year’s 8-4 finish, they’ll need just as much if not more from the 6-0, 215-pound senior, coach Matt Hershey said.
“In all seriousness, a kid like Andrew, we try to get him off the field on special teams, and that’s about it,” Hershey said. “I think he understands that we need him to be the best he can be on both sides of the ball to be successful.”
His senior season as a two-way starter and two-way star begins Thursday night at perennial power Columbus Grove. Miller knew what he had to do all offseason long.
“It’s a lot of conditioning, a lot of running back and forth, and a lot of that’s done during practice, like running to the ball,” he said. “I try to listen to coaches and do the drills right. Our coaches say do it at full speed, 100%, all the time, and eventually it gets easier and easier.”
The Rockets have other talented players on both sides of the ball. When push comes to shove, they know fellow running back Ben Burkholder can handle the ball too. When it comes to defense, though, it’s hard to replace what Miller brings to the field as a middle linebacker.
It’s not just athletic giftedness. It’s a mental understanding of the game for Miller, a first-team all-Northwest District selection last year who was honorable mention all-state. He also carries a 3.98 grade point average in the classroom.
“He’s in charge of making the coaches look good,” Hershey said. “If the coaches make a bad call or have a game plan, or just the other team is doing whatever they want, it’s up to him to slow the bleeding, make the play and get us into the defense where we need to be.”
Miller chuckled after hearing he made the coaches look good. He credited years of their tutelage and film study to understanding tendencies for those times he overruled the defensive playcall.
“I mean, a lot of times it almost feels wrong because you’re taught to listen to your coach and do what coach says,” Miller said. “But obviously some things look different on the field than they do on the sideline or up in the press box. So we’ll just make those little calls that change things when I see it could stop the plays.”
He’s no slouch on the offensive side of the ball. His highlights from 2023 show a tough runner with good balance who didn’t shy away from making contact and could be hard to bring down. He averaged 7.0 yards per carry and was third in the Blanchard Valley Conference in rushing yards despite missing one regular-season game. He was a first-team all-conference linebacker and running back last year.
“I’ll just throw this out there for offensive purposes, but he’s going to be one of the best running backs in the area too this year,” Hershey said.
The Rockets will aim to be as balanced as they could be, but they know two talented receivers graduated last year. Miller doesn’t shy away from the challenge, knowing more teams could load up the box to stop the running game until some younger ball-catchers prove their worth. Perhaps he can top last year’s average of 103.5 rushing yards per game.
“I just have to let the blocks develop, take my time, slow down and let the line do its job,” Miller said. “That way I can do my job.”
As much as Miller will be on the field, that’s a full-time job.
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
