Dante Miller is either joining the NFL a year late or a few weeks early.
The Giants on Friday agreed to a deal with the speedy rookie running back, who lost his chance to be drafted due to an NCAA eligibility error when transferring to South Carolina from Ivy League powerhouse Columbia.
Miller missed all of last season, but was confirmed Friday to have been part of the Gamecocks’ program after it was revealed that he inadvertently played his final year of eligibility in 2022 without playing much. detailed. On3.com.
The slow-moving NCAA didn’t declare Miller ineligible until well after the 2023 NFL Draft entry deadline, after he competed with South Carolina in spring practice.
The technical talk continued. Miller was supposed to participate in the 2023 draft, but is ineligible for the 2024 draft. That means he has been an NFL free agent for about a year without knowing anything about it.
The issue reportedly comes after South Carolina thought it had two years of eligibility after one of its Ivy League seasons was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it actually It took him two years to appear in one game (and redshirt once).
However, with limited FBS footage available, Miller carried six times for 38 yards and rushed for 1,281 yards in 26 games over three years at Columbia before also playing on special teams at South Carolina. There was one more thing that stood out to him.
At South Carolina’s pro day, Miller ran the 40-yard dash in 4.27 seconds and did 28 repetitions of the 225 bench press. Both would have been the highest-scoring running backs at the NFL combine.
His performance has energized him at a time when there are a glut of players who will go undrafted at the end of the month and are looking for free agent contracts or tryouts on April 28th.
Miller visited the Giants earlier this week and reportedly had other visits scheduled, but was interested in the opportunity to return to the New York area.
He was able to participate in the offseason program on April 15th with the rest of the Giants, led by Devin Singletary in front of fellow unproven youngsters Gary Brightwell, Eric Gray, Jashuan Corbin and Deon Jackson. He will be added to the running back mix.
According to On3.com, Miller was abandoned by his mother at the age of two and placed in a foster care system in Connecticut, where his mother’s cousin gained custody and he was raised separately from his siblings under the supervision of his grandmother. That’s what it means.
