Duquesne Football’s Miller Has Crucial Impact In Team Success

The final whistle had blown, and Duquesne Football sophomore linebacker Luke Miller is all smiles as he danced his way into a huddle celebrating coach Jerry Schmitt’s 150th career victory.

Miller, a Pine-Richland product saw a ball in the first half of Saturday’s 35-0 win over West Virginia Wesleyan that hung up for what felt like an eternity.

He had dropped into being a middle runner in Duquesne’s defensive scheme making it a hard read for the quarterback and with pressure up front, Miller was all alone to make the interception.

“I was looking in the air ‘this one’s mine,'” recalled Miller. “It seemed like that ball was in the air for 10 seconds. It worked for the Dukes.”

Luke Miller is THAT GUY!

Reigning NEC DPOW gets us going early with an interception💪 pic.twitter.com/DafUr4J5DD

— Duquesne Football (@DuqFB) September 21, 2024

While the interception itself was a momentum-changing play, there was far more meaning behind that interception.

Miller redshirted last season after suffering an ACL injury and given that he did not play a snap there was a lot of motivation for himself to try and work through it, while progress might not have been easy to see.

“You just have to put your head down and keep working,” he explained. “That’s hard for a lot of guys who are told they are out for a whole year and can’t make an impact on the team they’re on. All of your work is just in the athletic training room so doing my best in there with the other guys, helping them get better, them helping me get better, working with each other. It just really motivated me to keep going. Last year, when I was out, seeing my guys on that field making plays like we did today, it’s just like I want that to be me. That’s something internally that grinded my gear for the past year and I was ready for it today.”

This season, Miller has had the opportunity to have a role for Duquesne’s defense, which is in its first season under the watchful eyes of coordinator Mickey Jacobs. Already, Miller has been named NEC Defensive Player of the Week on one occasion and his 26 tackles are tops among the Dukes.

Miller has a huge sense of pride in his defense, feeling the side has stepped up in a big way and is on the trajectory to be one of the best units in the country.

For his part, Schmitt had a clear sense of pride when Miller’s name was brought up.

“We knew he was a really good football player, and he transferred here, suffered the knee injury and has been through a lot,” offered the 20th-year coach. “I knew if there was anybody that could do it, it was him. He’s such a positive young man, and very happy with his ability and what he’s doing.”

As Miller watched Saturday’s action unfold, it was easy for him to feel a sense of pride. The smile across his face was evident, all of the hard work to come back to the field has been worth it.

“You can’t put it into words,” he concluded. “We got here July 28, grinded out a month of fall camp and that’s just time. You and your boys are in there blood, sweat and tears working. You’re just working.”