How USC walk-on Kaylon Miller got his moment at

Kaylon Miller was on the six-yard line in the fourth quarter, blocking on a USC run play when he noticed King Miller, his working back and twin brother, blow proper past him.

“Run, run, go, go!” he remembers shouting as King bumped it exterior and crossed the Nebraska aim line for the go-ahead landing that in the end could be the sport winner in the Trojans’ 21-17 Big Ten win last Saturday in Lincoln.

When King turned around in the end zone, it was his brother who was the first to greet him; the 2 brothers shared a moment as their facemasks clashed into each other. Both stroll ons. Both discovering alternatives to get on the sector as redshirt freshmen — and both making the most of those alternatives.

“You owe me a burger,” King remembers Kaylon telling him.

Kaylon has been completely happy to see his brother succeed — King Miller was pressed into obligation last month due to accidents, and he responded with big video games against Michigan and Notre Dame — but he continued to wait for his moment. Then in the first quarter against the Cornhuskers, proper guard Alani Noa went down with an injury. Kaylon was standing next to USC offensive line coach Zach Hanson, who turned to him.

“This is your opportunity,” Hanson told him. “Let’s go.”

It was Kaylon’s flip.

“Honestly, just a remarkable story that I’ll be able to tell when I’m older,” he said. “Obviously, everybody wants their opportunity to go and play and you just have to be ready when your number’s called on. It just so happened that mine had to be that night.

“I just knew that when I got that opportunity I was gonna make the most of it.”

And make the most of it he did. Despite taking all of his observe reps that week at middle, Miller stepped in at guard and didn’t just maintain it together — he elevated the o-line in a low-scoring slugfest against a powerful Nebraska protection.

Allowing zero pressures on the night time, Miller recorded a move block grade of 88.2, the third-best in the Big Ten last week and the sixth-best among Power Four guards.

“Played awesome. He really did,” Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said. “He was physical, he pass pro’ed well. He was really physical in his pull game, was really sharp assignment-wise, which — I know I’ve mentioned several times — was all the more impressive because he really hadn’t been able to take a lot of practice reps at guard. Thoroughly impressed.”

While Miller still says he feels more assured snapping the ball due to the more compact nature that comes with taking part in middle, he attributes his success at proper guard to having the ability to rely on his teammates. The line, particularly at guard, is a symbiotic relationship. So a lot of it’s relying on the tackles and middle for help (and vice versa), and Miller was 100% assured in his teammates next to him.

Things may’ve gone south with Miller taking part in for the first time in an intense highway atmosphere at Memorial Stadium. The Huskers, and the 86,529 followers in attendance, have been dressed in all black. Black balloons have been launched by a raucous crowd each time Nebraska scored. But in between collection, left sort out Elijah Paige — who made his return from a knee injury he suffered in Week 4 against Michigan State — stored Miller’s thoughts proper.

“Just treat it like practice,” Paige said. “Obviously, that’s a pretty hostile environment. It’s one of the best environments out there. So obviously that can get to you, the noise can get to you, everything can get to you. But I kind of just tell him to focus in and act like this is a Tuesday or Wednesday practice.”

As the Trojans put together to host Northwestern on a short week, Miller’s attempting not to assume an excessive amount of about what occurred the week before; he is aware of alternatives may be taken away just as rapidly as they’re earned. He likes to lean on a saying he tells his twin brother all the time:

“Never look back upon any situation that you’ve ever been in, just look forward because nothing that you did in the past can be taken back. You can only have your eyes in tunnel vision, forward.”

As for the burger that King still owes him?

“I ain’t get him it yet, but I got to,” King said with a snigger. “I don’t know when it is, he gonna keep asking me about it for sure, but I got him one day.”