2022 OT Braden Miller 'Extremely Excited' By Michigan Offer

Michigan extended an offer to junior offensive tackle Braden Miller yesterday in what was an eventful day for the rising 2022 recruit.

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With the 2022 class taking center stage as the contact period opened up yesterday, the Michigan coaching staff was notably active in the state of Colorado, and Brandon Brown reported that four lineman picked up U-M scholarship offers to boot.

One of those prospects is Centennial (Colo.) Eaglecrest offensive tackle Braden Miller, a three-star prospect who holds eight offers at this juncture. Miller stands at 6-6 and 245 pounds, so he already has the length portion of the equation down, but he'll likely need to continue adding size and strength to make an impact at the Power Five level.

Michigan offensive line coach Ed Warinner delivered the news of his offer yesterday, and it was a banner moment for the rising junior prospect.

“I’m very interested in Michigan,” Miller told Wolverine Digest. “It’s a great school, with a great football history to go with it. I was extremely excited and I was very grateful to be offered by Michigan.”

Miller was teammates last year with current Michigan lineman Reece Atteberry, so the Wolverines have clearly identified Eaglecrest as an important school to monitor in the Rocky Mountain area. The Atteberry connection also gives Miller another link to the Michigan program and could be a selling point for the 2022 lineman down the road.

In addition to picking up his Michigan offer yesterday, Miller heard from Oregon State, Cal, Boise State, Stanford, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech on Sept. 1. Every school that had already offered Miller reached out as well, so it was a busy Tuesday for the Michigan target.

From a game play perspective, Miller has worked on the fundamental aspects of being a complete offensive lineman. At his age, many talented blockers rely on their size to overpower opposing defensive linemen without breaking too much into the technical aspect of OL play, but Miller has taken time to round out his game.

“I like to play aggressive,” Miller said. “I have a good pass set where I feel comfortable being patient. I’m able to move. I can pull well, I can go up to backer, and I can reach the end.”

While those are a few of Miller's strengths, the No. 3 player in Colorado according to Rivals.com has put in a lot of work over the offseason to keep his development on an upward trajectory.

“I developed a few bad tendencies last year, and I’m working on unraveling them,” Miller said. “I tend to drop my hands in pass sets, but I’ve gotten much better at keeping them up and maintaining independent hands. I also was only 225 pounds last year, and I’ve spent this offseason gaining weight, and maintaining my quickness and foot speed.”

Given the amount of attention that Michigan and Coach Warinner paid to Colorado prospects yesterday, it looks like the area will be a focus for U-M in the 2022 cycle. Michigan is already hot in pursuit of Littleton (Colo.) Valor Christian running back Gavin Sawchuk, who looks to be one of the top all-purpose backs in the country. Sawchuk has interest from all over the country, and he also attends the same school as current Michigan quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, so that recruitment will be another focal point for the Wolverines moving forward.

What do you think of the staff's focus on Colorado for the 2022 cycle? Will Michigan be able to pull one or more players from the area? Let us know!