Philadephia native and former Penn State defensive end Shareef Miller is headed back to the City of Brotherly Love as the Eagles drafted Miller with the final selection of the fourth round on Saturday afternoon.
Miller is the third Penn State player to be called on this draft and second by the Eagles to make the trip across state after Miles Sanders was picked up in the second round. Offensive lineman Conner McGovern was tabbed by the Dallas Cowboys during the third round of the draft on Friday night.
After opting to forego his final year of eligibility, Miller joins quite the room of defensive ends with Vinny Curry, Brandon Graham, Chris Long and Derek Barnett among others at his side. On the interior of the line Miller will line up next to the likes of Fletcher Cox and Tim Jernigan.
For Miller, the return home will be both a reward and a bittersweet moment, his brother Mikal Powell-Miller was shot and killed in the streets of north Philadelphia just a few years ago.
Nevertheless, Miller returns to play for a team so loved by that same city, after three years in a program that helped open him back up to the world, one that was happy to love him.
‘I’m just blessed,’ Miller said following his debut at Penn State a few years ago. ‘Last year I lost my older brother before I came to Penn State and I redshirted. So I waited a whole year for this moment. I played for my brother and just laid it all out on the field.’
‘State College, my first time up here I called up my mom and I just said ‘It’s so different, it’s so different from Philly.’ I love it up here,’ Miller added. ‘How all the people, they were loving and caring. Not like how it is in Philly. It’s a lot of hate, not between everybody but where I’m from a lot of people once you succeed they see you doing good and they want to bring you down.
‘It’s so different, it’s so great, I’m just blessed to honest.’
In his Penn State debut Miller picks up 1.5 sacks and five tackles, in a few months he will have a chance to do that a whole lot more.
