COLUMBUS, Ohio — As he stood on the practice field outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, it’d be hard to argue that Braxton Miller didn’t look the part.
Preparing to participate in his first official practice as a wide receiver, Miller donned a new jersey —trading in his No. 5 for a No. 1—a visored helmet and perhaps most importantly, gloves.
At 6’2″ and 215 pounds, the former Buckeyes quarterback stretched with his old position group before the start of Ohio State’s first practice of preseason camp on Monday but soon found himself running routes once individual drills began.
And although Miller may have looked crisper than expected while doing so, it was clear that the two-time Big Ten MVP still has some adjusting to do when it comes to playing his new part.
“He looked like it was his first time playing receiver,” quarterback Cardale Jones said of his former stablemate’s wideout debut.
That’s probably because it was.
Learning to do anything new is going to take some time, even for an athlete as supremely gifted as Miller. Still, the assumption by some seemed to be that his transition to wide receiver would be a seamless one, based primarily on a career that’s seen Miller rush for 3,054 yards and 32 touchdowns in his three seasons as a quarterback.
But scoring on a QB counter or read-option play doesn’t require the same skill set that turning a short pass into a long one does, as Miller found out on Monday.
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Continue Reading: Ohio State Football: Inside Braxton Miller’s 1st Day as a Wide Receiver
