BOULDER — In a span of 72 hours, Omarion Miller got kissed by Michael Irvin and blessed by Snoop Dogg. In other words, your typical three-day weekend on Planet Prime.
“He sent me a picture (Monday),” said Eddrener Long, mother of Miller, the CU Buffs’ stellar freshman wideout who lost to USC but won the internet. “He was just like, ‘It’s crazy that it’s just blown up like this.’
“They all were asking, ‘Who is Omarion Miller?’ Now they know.”
Who is Omarion Miller?
Holy heck on wheels, for starters. The freshman out of Vivian, Louisiana, ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard dash as a prep and turned up in Boulder this summer with a 6-foot-5 wingspan.
His coaches growing up likened him to a baby version of former LSU stars Terrace Marshall Jr. and Ja’Marr Chase, so maybe, in hindsight, we should’ve seen that breakout game against the Trojans coming. Over the course of a second half, basically, the 6-foot-2 teen from the Bayou set new Buffs single-game records for receiving yards by a freshman (196), most receiving yards by a freshman against a ranked team and most receiving yards by a freshman against USC.
“The (first) three games, he hadn’t been getting in, and I’d be calling him and encouraging him,” Long told me by phone Tuesday in advance of CU’s visit to Arizona State this weekend. “I’d tell him his time was coming. It was his time (last) Saturday. And he did what he had to do.”
Who is Omarion Miller?
A speedster who flies with an angel on his right leg. Instead of going out with friends late Saturday night following CU’s 48-41 loss to the Trojans, Miller decided to celebrate his collegiate coming-out party by honoring his late father.
Otis “Pookie” Miller died in July 2018 after a one-car accident. Hours after the USC game, Omarion got a tattoo honoring Otis on his right leg. And he’s saving the left as a canvas for his late grandfather, Dexter “Big D” Long.
“He said, ‘In a couple weeks, I’m going to get a Big D on my other leg,’” Mom said.
Who is Omarion Miller?
Big D’s pride and joy. Dexter Long loved kids, spending much of his life as a titan for youth sports in Vivian, a town of about 3,600 tucked into the northwest corner of the state, some 32 miles north of Shreveport.
Omarion’s grandpa founded Vivian’s “Biddy Ball” youth basketball program and even served as the community’s Little League director.
“He was sitting on the porch (in 2020), giving Omarion and my nephew a talk,” Eddrener Long recalled. “And he said, ‘You get your weight up and get serious, you’re going to be a Division I player.’”
Big D was right on the money. As always.
Sadly, he died in December 2020 after complications from COVID-19. Four days before “O” celebrated his 16th birthday.
“To be so young,” Long continued, “(and) not having a father figure … (Omarion) just did what he had to do to make his father and grandfather proud. He never gave up.”
Who is Omarion Miller?
Pride of North Caddo High, the former home of new Blazers (and ex-Celtics) big man Robert Williams and Phil Robertson from the reality series “Duck Dynasty.”
Omarion saw himself as a basketball player first, and you could see those instincts manifesting themselves against Lincoln Riley’s finest. The hops. The quick twitch. The concentration. The ability to high-point the ball and corral it like a rebound that had bounced hard off the rim.
It’s why former LSU coach Ed Orgeron fell in love with Miller back in 2021. And why Orgeron’s old pal Mickey Joseph secured a Nebraska commitment from the kid a year after that.
“I’ll tell you what’s crazy,” Mom continued. “Omarion hated football. He really only played football because of his cousins and his grandma.
“My dad used to take him to practice, and he’d say, ‘Momma, tell them I’m sick, so I don’t get to go.’ And as a parent, I’m like, ‘I don’t want football. I don’t want anyone hitting him and hurting him.’”
That’s assuming, of course, that they can catch him.
“I challenged him (Monday),” Buffs coach Deion Sanders said of Miller. “And I got a dear friend that called me and summoned me to get him on the phone to FaceTime, wanted to talk to him and wanted to let him know that he has a tremendous gift.
“And I don’t know what the conversation was, but I know I just handed (Miller) over the phone. I said, ‘Somebody wants to talk to you.’ He looked at the phone like, ‘Oh my God.’”
Snoop. With his mind on his Ralphie and his Ralphie on his mind.
“Snoop wanted to talk to him. He wanted to challenge him,” Sanders continued.
“And I challenged him about (how) it’s one thing when they don’t expect (anything). Now, if you expect something … we want to see what we saw against USC. So to prepare with the expectation is tremendous.”
Who is Omarion Miller?
“My baby,” Eddrener said softly. “And he’s making me very proud.”
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