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It was the first day of full pads on Thursday for the Georgia Southern football team and while a lot of eyes were on the new players who litter the depth chart at different positions, one player quietly went about his business with little fanfare. He ran onto the field with the 1s to his spot at left tackle, did his job, and ran back off the field to take a knee and chug some water. There's not much he hasn't seen at this point, but Brian Miller knows he still has more to give as he enters his seventh — and final — season in Statesboro.

If you want to get a feel for how long Brian Miller has been at Georgia Southern, take this in.

• He played three seasons with Kindle Vildor and Tyler Bass, who both just finished their third seasons in the NFL.

• The Eagles will enter the 2023 season as a veteran squad with almost 25 players aged 22 or older. But Miller is the eldest statesman. Born Feb. 21, 1999, he just turned 24.

• Miller and his wife, Michelle, were married in 2019 and will celebrate their 5-year-anniversary next month.

• He has been coached by four head or interim head coaches, four offensive coordinators and five offensive line coaches. Through it all, he has been a pillar of the line as he has started 43 games and played in 49.

• Miller graduated with a degree in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in psychology and is close to graduating with a second degree in business management.

"It was fun playing with Coach Helton and this offense, so I didn't give it a second thought about coming back," Miller said. "I didn't want to have a one-and-done experience with him and the staff. I had another year so I figured why not?"

While Miller is excited to start his seventh year, he isn't necessarily fond of the route he had to take to playing as a 24 year old. Heading into the 2019 season, Miller had earned preseason all-conference accolades from several magazines and was expected to be the anchor at right tackle for the Eagles. That all changed on Aug. 18 in the preseason when he suffered a dislocated right hip in a freak, non-contact injury at practice at Beautiful Eagle Creek. He had surgery soon after to repair the hip and began a long road to recovery. There was doubt he would ever play again. But after a rigorous rehabilitation, which included work on a zero-gravity treadmill, Miller returned in 2020 and started six games for the Eagles.

His story was so incredible that he was a nominee for the 2020 Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year, an award won by his teammate Drew Wilson in 2019.

"I'm excited right now, especially having a healthy body," Miller said. "I've been through so much over the past six years, but my hand is doing good and my hip is fully healed. Overall, I just want to have some fun this year and help this team win a lot of games."

In 2020, he played in 12 games, seeing action on 456 offensive snaps. He earned second-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors from Pro Football Focus and was named the Georgia Southern Comeback Athlete of the Year. In 2018, he started all 13 games in his first year on the line at right tackle and was on the field for 732 total plays (659 offensive, 73 special teams). He moved over to left tackle in 2020 and started 12 games in 2021. He elected to use his COVID year to return in 2022 and started 12 games last year, missing only the opener with a broken finger.

Now, he is back in 2023 for a seventh year, utilizing his medical hardship waiver.

The Savannah native came to Georgia Southern in 2017 as a defensive lineman, but moved to the offensive side of the ball his redshirt season.

Miller says he has very specific goals in this, his final year.

"I definitely want to be more of a vocal leader," he said. "I've always been the guy who leads by example, but with all my years of excitement, I feel like I can be more vocal and more of a mentor to the young guys. I just want to have fun. My pops keeps reminding me that this is my last year, so I want to have fun and not take anything for granted. I'm just out there having fun each and every practice."

The Eagles will return to the field on Saturday for the fifth practice of the spring season. The Spring Game, presented by Morris Bank, Southern Exchange and Savannah Airport, will be on April 22 at noon.

Below is the full schedule for the remaining of camp, subject to change due to weather or other unforeseen factors:

Week 2
Sat., April 1; 11 AM

Week 3
Mon., April 3; 4:30 PM
Tues., April 4; 9:30 AM
Thurs., April 6; 9:30 AM
Sat., April 8; 11 AM

Week 4
Tues., April 11; 9:30 AM
Thurs., April 13; 9:30 AM
Sat., April 5; 11 AM

Week 5
Tues., April 18; 9:30 AM
Thurs., April 20; 9:30 AM
Sat., April 22; 12 PM; Paulson - SPRING GAME PRESENTED BY MORRIS BANK, SOUTHERN EXCHANGE AND SAVANNAH AIRPORT; ESPN+

While practices are open to the public and media, we ask you help us keep a competitive advantage by not posting videos and detailed information (including injuries) from practice on social media. 

Original source can be found here.