Braxton Miller Transfer Rumors Heating Up Again, Why Nick Saban Will Almost Certainly Come Calling
ByThanks to an NCAA rule allowing graduate students to transfer without penalty, Braxton Miller would theoretically be a welcome addition to virtually any team in college football, Alabama especially.
Though he may not technically be allowed to discuss it openly - nor would he want to - Nick Saban has to be considering attracting Miller to Tuscaloosa. ESPN and AL.com both published op-eds laying out the reasons Saban has to at least be entertaining the idea of a graduate student transfer to come in and make the starting QB competition a bit more competitive.
"I'm not really allowed to talk about any other players on any other team. I know nothing about any such rumors," Saban said at a press conference last week, according to 247Sports.com. "I don't even know who you're talking about."
Miller is in a tight competition for Ohio State's starting QB job alongside J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones. Unlike his teammates, Miller has only one year of eligibility left. He is the only one of the three that could transfer and be eligible to play immediately and ESPN SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum is at least giving it "a chance."
For his part, Miller has not done or said anything to suggest he would leave the school where he earned his undergraduate degree, the team on which he has won two Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year awards. Not even his fellow QBs believe Miller is going anywhere.
"I'm not Braxton, but being that I do talk to him every day, I think that would be something me and you both be shocked if he was to leave. I think it's ridiculous honestly," Barrett told Cleveland.com.
Without a QB on his team emerging as a favorite for the starting job, Saban has to be considering looking for outside help.
"If there was somebody out there that I thought could help our team, we have a spot or two available that we could probably," he said at the presser. "But it would have to be the right person in the right place that could make a contribution because that would be something that would have to be good for that person and it would have to be good for us."