Florida's Ventrell Miller Misses Senior Bowl Following Procedure

Former Florida linebacker Ventrell Miller missed Saturday's Senior Bowl following a procedure for a foot injury.

Photo: Ventrell Miller; Credit: Alex Shepherd

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify a previous injury to former Florida wide receiver Van Jefferson.

Former Florida linebacker Ventrell Miller underwent a procedure to repair a Jones fracture in his foot that caused him to miss Saturday's Senior Bowl, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on Saturday. 

Per Rapoport, Miller is expected to be cleared from surgical recovery by April and can already place weight on his mended foot. 

Rapoport described the operation as a bone graft to address an injury Miller played through during the 2023 season. The six-year Gators linebacker hurt his right foot against Kentucky in Week 2, missed Week 3 versus USF as a result, and returned to action in Week 4 at Tennessee. 

Miller isn't the first Gator to have played through a Jones fracture in some capacity recent years. Doctors discovered such an injury in wide receiver Van Jefferson's right foot after he participated in the 2020 Senior Bowl, leading to surgery amid his NFL Draft process. Edge rusher Brenton Cox Jr. (left foot) suffered one as well in 2020 and underwent an offseason procedure in 2021 to fix it. 

Head coach Billy Napier likened Miller's injury to a pain tolerance situation prior to his return against the Volunteers, foreshadowing his potential availability after ruling Florida's starting middle linebacker questionable for the week.  

“It is really a very subjective injury, if that makes sense,” Napier said. “This will be Ventrell’s [decision] — he’s got a good pulse for his body. He’s a veteran player. He knows where he’s at. The injury he has is simply about where he’s at."

Miller proceeded to play in every game for the remainder of the regular season, although he did not start in the campaign's finale at Florida State as the result of an ejection for targeting against Vanderbilt the week before. Due to scheduling conflicts for his graduation, Miller also did not take part in Florida's Las Vegas Bowl appearance.

Instead, Miller formalized his entry into the 2023 NFL Draft upon announcing that he would not play in the postseason, having accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl the week before. He finished his Gators career with 240 total tackles, 7.5 sacks, 23.5 tackles for loss, an interception, eight pass breakups and two forced fumbles across his 49 appearances and 33 starts.

Former Florida offensive linemen Richard Gouraige and O'Cyrus Torrence both played in Saturday's Senior Bowl. 

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