South Eugene to look for respect with Miller back coaching
Steve Mims @SteveMims_RG
When Chris Miller left South Eugene in 2006, the Axemen had made four straight playoff appearances including a run to the quarterfinals in his final season.
The Axemen haven�t made the playoffs since, and Miller has returned this season to take over a program that has won twice in the past three years, including one game by forfeit. The goals have changed since the time that Miller left and returned.
�I have three goals for these kids,� Miller said. �One is to learn how to compete. Two is to earn respect, because there is no respect for South Eugene football and these kids in this community or the Southwest Conference. The third one is to win the first game. The first two goals are most crucial for the program, and the third one is critical because we have only won once in three years.�
Miller, the former Oregon quarterback who played 10 seasons in the NFL, was in a similar situation when he was first hired in 2002, as South had not reached the playoffs in the previous eight seasons. This time Miller said he has 75 kids in the program, up from 52 last year, and has bigger kids than he had at the start of his first stint at South when he compiled a 31-21 record before leaving to become the executive director of Kidsports.
He left Kidsports to coach quarterbacks with the Arizona Cardinals for three seasons and said he learned a lot through that experience he will take into his second stint with the Axemen. Miller will wait to see just how much of his offense he can install in the first season.
�We�re going to line up and put the ball on the field and see what we can do,� he said. �It will be a grab bag. I have some packages built and developed for different kids, so we will see what works.�
Quarterback Liam Duncan is a returning starter at quarterback as the Axemen prepare to open the season Friday against Churchill.
�He�s a very good athlete who has some good physical tools and is continuing to grow in the mental part of the game to become a leader,� Miller said.
Tight end Connor Still earned honorable mention all-conference honors his junior season, and Mike Bennett and Quinton Richardson return on the offensive line. Ian Oakerson, a fullback and middle linebacker, is out with an injury until the middle of the season.
Bennett and Richardson return on the defensive line, and Still is a starter at linebacker. Safeties C.J. Hodgson and Michael Selvan lead the secondary.
�I feel like we�ve got some bullets in the gun,� Miller said. �They are working hard and putting in time, but this group needs a lot of work and things don�t happen overnight. We are working diligently and meticulously trying to get to where we want to get as quick as we can.�
Miller brought back two of his former assistants, defensive coordinator Kevin Leonard and running backs coach Dino Philyaw, and added a handful of his former players from South to the staff.
�There is a lot of basic teaching going on,� he said. �How to tackle, where to line up, be sure skill guys look at the football and don�t jump offsides. We are trying to address all those things, but we are working on a short calendar.�