by Brenton Crozier
After the Matt Jones experiment, the Jaguars picking up a quarterback from the University of Nebraska-Omaha to play tight end, probably elicited some groans from the fan base. Although there is a huge divergence between a first and sixth round pick, it was the first draft class of a new regime. Zach Miller hasn’t put up big numbers, but he has ingratiated himself to the fan base with a tenacious work ethic and his down-to-earth personality. And while he’s not a fan of the label that was put on him after being drafted as the poor man’s Tim Tebow, any association with Tebow in this area doesn’t hurt your popularity. EU sat down with Miller and discovered he is definitely his own man.
EU: What was your initial impression of Jacksonville?
ZM: It reminded me a lot of where I’m from, Omaha, Nebraska. It’s not as fast paced as other NFL cities, which makes it feel more like being back home. But there are way more things to do here, I really like it. You can relax and the beach is awesome with being from Nebraska. It’s good for us, for me and my wife and my family.
EU: What would a fan be surprised to learn about you?
ZM: I’m learning how to play the guitar.
EU: Lessons?
ZM: Nope, teaching myself. A lot of YouTube videos. It’s an efficient way to learn.
EU: What do you do in your downtime?
ZM: Just hang out with my wife and daughter. We go to the beach, run around with the dog, dinner and movies. We have a nice family life going on.
EU: Fill in the blank: If I weren’t a professional football player, I’d be _________________.
ZM: I’d be a professional guitar player.
EU: Do you have a nickname?
ZM: I don’t. I had someone hit me up on Twitter and asked me about that. I said you guys have to come up with something, be creative. Mike Sims-Walker called me 86 Special, I don’t know if that can be tagged or not.
EU: Who do you consider the funniest person alive?
ZM: I would have to go with Mike Epps.
EU: How have you gotten involved in the Jacksonville community?
ZM: Just doing whatever these guys ask me to do. Any time they have something, I’m willing to do it. As far as taking initiative, I’m still trying to figure out what I can do to tag my own thing to be in the community. We’re still searching and throwing around ideas.
EU: Any thoughts on the helmet to helmet brouhaha?
ZM: It’s such a fine line. Do you take away from the game, do you protect people? It’s hard to say either way. It’s one of those things that happens, it’s the game that we play. To take a part of a guy’s game away, he’s paid to hit and if he’s got to scale back, that could really affect things.
EU: What’s a major misconception about the NFL?
ZM: That everybody is a millionaire.
EU: You’re on the QB depth chart, would you be ready to go if your number was called?
ZM: Ah man, I’d have my chin strap strapped up faster than they could say “Zach, let’s go.” I’m ready to do that whenever. I’ve played quarterback forever so, I feel like I know the offense. Would it be different? Yes. I feel like we could go in and manage.
EU: When you were drafted, some called you the poor man’s Tim Tebow, what did you think about that?
ZM: I didn’t like that and I don’t know who started it, but it stuck and I hated it. It’s not against anybody, obviously people love Tim Tebow around here. I’m myself and I dislike that so I have to do something about it.
EU: With you converting to Tight End from Quarterback, would you consider yourself a project?
ZM: I think of a project as, you try it, and I don’t like those terms. I came here to contribute. As far as moving to Tight End, there’s going to be a learning curve. But there are things I can do right away and use my athletic ability to make plays and learn along the way. They’ve put me into positions that I can do things successfully right away and just add a little bit at a time. So it’s a process, not a project.
While it’s easy to put different labels on a player like Zach Miller, it seems like it’s a sure bet that he will transcend them. Despite the fact that the Jaguars have been on the wrong side of some one-sided games, players like Zach make the company line of rebuilding easier to accept. And considering our first and second string quarterbacks are injured, why not throw 86 Special in? It may eventually beg the question, “Tim who?”
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