Bears Land Michigan State Portal OT Braden Miller on Official Visit

Braden, welcome to you and your family (again) to Cal Football. Wishing you the best of success on and off the field. Go Bears!

Nice, 6'6 300 So is a good start. Hopefully he's got good feet too, congrats to the coaches though, it's never bad news to start building a stable of offensive lineman that want to compete. Hope the young man enjoys his time in Berkeley and is able to take advantage of his educational opportunity.

Love these Millers! Welcome to Cal, Braden: Go Bears!

Sibling pipeline says a lot about the team culture and opportunities at Cal.

Oakbear said:

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Hope he does well, but a reserve for a very poor team does not excite me

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So you're not excited by any of the underclass non-starters on Cal's current team? I am.

It takes linemen time to develop. I'm "excited" to see Ca sign an athletic and huge tackle anytime, particularly a guy who has been playing D-1 for two years. He projects higher, but even if he's just a reserve, that has a ton of value to a very thin Cal OL unit. Cal has been trying to sign a player like this for the past 2 years.

Honestly, your response is pretty awful, particularly in a thread welcoming a new player to Cal.

I certainly don't mind that he's also coming from a team being coached by Coach Michalczik.

Edit: I realize that Michalczik just arrived with Jonathan Smith from Oregon State so realistically Miller wouldn't have had that much time outside of maybe spring with him.

I'm optimistic about Braden Miller. Note which other schools recruited him out of HS. Stanford, Tennessee, Michigan, Utah and Miami were among the list that offered Miller a scholarship. No, he's not a sure-thing, but that's a pretty good endorsement of his potential. Post-Tedford, when Cal wins a recruiting battle, the competition for the player is frequently Eastern Washington, UNLV, UNR, Utah St, etc. with maybe one other P5 school offering. So, yeah, I think this is a good pick-up.

rkt88edmo said:

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Sibling pipeline says a lot about the team culture and opportunities at Cal.

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My thoughts exactly. Barrett Miller spent 4 years at fURD and 1 year at Cal, but obviously pumped Cal to his younger Brother (who also had a fURD offer as a portal transfer) over fURD based on his 1-year of experience with the culture at Cal. Awsome.

Oakbear said:

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Hope he does well, but a reserve for a very poor team does not excite me

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Awesome.

How many frosh OL hit the front door at a D1/P5 program as anything other than "a reserve"? Takes a minute for "most" of them to adjust to the huge leap in overall talent while at the same time being developed, and while adjusting to college life and workloads. Dude is just a Soph, now, right?

Oakbear said:

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BearGoggles said:

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Oakbear said:

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Hope he does well, but a reserve for a very poor team does not excite me

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So you're not excited by any of the underclass non-starters on Cal's current team? I am.

It takes linemen time to develop. I'm "excited" to see Ca sign an athletic and huge tackle anytime, particularly a guy who has been playing D-1 for two years. He projects higher, but even if he's just a reserve, that has a ton of value to a very thin Cal OL unit. Cal has been trying to sign a player like this for the past 2 years.

Honestly, your response is pretty awful, particularly in a thread welcoming a new player to Cal.

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being honest is such a bad thing , our OL play has been wonderful over the last few years (dischonest)

as I said I hope he does well, but I am not optimistic, look how MSU did against top teams, they got killed, didn't score much etc .. at least as a reserve he was not as responsible for their poor play, but still be honest, all the tinted glasses don't do anything...

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It's beginning to sound like you consider our players as meat. If they don't come from prime carcasses, butchered by Michelin star chefs, you won't eat it. Never mind that they are prepared by our own and presented for the honor of our institution, in addition to trying to better themselves in the process. That is the deal, isn't it?

I've had my gripes, for sure, but your damning with faint praise is getting tiresome and more than a little transparent. You are one of us, or are you?

Rushinbear said:

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Oakbear said:

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BearGoggles said:

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Oakbear said:

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Hope he does well, but a reserve for a very poor team does not excite me

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So you're not excited by any of the underclass non-starters on Cal's current team? I am.

It takes linemen time to develop. I'm "excited" to see Ca sign an athletic and huge tackle anytime, particularly a guy who has been playing D-1 for two years. He projects higher, but even if he's just a reserve, that has a ton of value to a very thin Cal OL unit. Cal has been trying to sign a player like this for the past 2 years.

Honestly, your response is pretty awful, particularly in a thread welcoming a new player to Cal.

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being honest is such a bad thing , our OL play has been wonderful over the last few years (dischonest)

as I said I hope he does well, but I am not optimistic, look how MSU did against top teams, they got killed, didn't score much etc .. at least as a reserve he was not as responsible for their poor play, but still be honest, all the tinted glasses don't do anything...

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It's beginning to sound like you consider our players as meat. If they don't come from prime carcasses, butchered by Michelin star chefs, you won't eat it. Never mind that they are prepared by our own and presented for the honor of our institution, in addition to trying to better themselves in the process. That is the deal, isn't it?

I've had my gripes, for sure, but your damning with faint praise is getting tiresome and more than a little transparent. You are one of us, or are you?

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You could have just disagreed, but you decided to make it personal by questioning Oakbear's loyalty to Cal. This is the sort of behavior that drives participation on this forum downwards. Is it any wonder that the number of regular posters is, what, a couple of dozen?

HearstMining said:

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Rushinbear said:

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Oakbear said:

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BearGoggles said:

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Oakbear said:

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Hope he does well, but a reserve for a very poor team does not excite me

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So you're not excited by any of the underclass non-starters on Cal's current team? I am.

It takes linemen time to develop. I'm "excited" to see Ca sign an athletic and huge tackle anytime, particularly a guy who has been playing D-1 for two years. He projects higher, but even if he's just a reserve, that has a ton of value to a very thin Cal OL unit. Cal has been trying to sign a player like this for the past 2 years.

Honestly, your response is pretty awful, particularly in a thread welcoming a new player to Cal.

---

being honest is such a bad thing , our OL play has been wonderful over the last few years (dischonest)

as I said I hope he does well, but I am not optimistic, look how MSU did against top teams, they got killed, didn't score much etc .. at least as a reserve he was not as responsible for their poor play, but still be honest, all the tinted glasses don't do anything...

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It's beginning to sound like you consider our players as meat. If they don't come from prime carcasses, butchered by Michelin star chefs, you won't eat it. Never mind that they are prepared by our own and presented for the honor of our institution, in addition to trying to better themselves in the process. That is the deal, isn't it?

I've had my gripes, for sure, but your damning with faint praise is getting tiresome and more than a little transparent. You are one of us, or are you?

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You could have just disagreed, but you decided to make it personal by questioning Oakbear's loyalty to Cal. This is the sort of behavior that drives participation on this forum downwards. Is it any wonder that the number of regular posters is, what, a couple of dozen?

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After having read repeated denigrations of guys who have chosen to commit their futures to us? I can't have strong opinions about that? especially, after having held my tongue so many times?

Nice! Welcome to Cal, young man, and good luck.

Pittstop said:

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Oakbear said:

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Hope he does well, but a reserve for a very poor team does not excite me

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Awesome.

How many frosh OL hit the front door at a D1/P5 program as anything other than "a reserve"? Takes a minute for "most" of them to adjust to the huge leap in overall talent while at the same time being developed, and while adjusting to college life and workloads. Dude is just a Soph, now, right?

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Exactly. I have been saying for many years, going back to Tedford days, that if 5 of your 22 starters are OL, you should have 20 to 25% of your roster be OL at a minimum. There have been years when we had 12.

However, given the fact that, unlike other positions, few can start as freshman and there is a need for them to develop physically and learn your system, with a lot of uncertainty in the result, you are going to need even more rosters spots dedicated to OL. Especially to have quality depth for injuries, which are inevitable.

In the past I thought we should have a good walk-on OL program to increase the numbers. However, the transfer portal allows us to bring in guys from other programs who are further along on the development path. Guys who developed at lower levels or have spent a year or two being developed at another P4 program. That is exactly what this news is. Better than landing a highly rated HS OL, a highly rated HS guy that has spent a year being developed by someone else. It is to be celebrated.

Oakbear said:

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After having read repeated denigrations of guys

repeated? also is it denigrating to state the truth, he was a reserve on a team that sucked on offense, esp against top teams, they didn't score at all against PSU and UM and managed a field goal against OSU

as I have noted, I hope he does well, but I ain't going to make it sound like based on info available that he is the answer to our dreams

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Keep swinging Quixote. No one is saying he's the answer to "our dreams."

What we are saying is your "truth" is questionable (relying on some pretty significant uninformed conclusions) . And in any event, maybe don't crap on a player in the commitment thread. Save the comment for somewhere else.

Unquestionably, Cal is better with Miller on the roster than without and he adds depth at a position of dire need. That's all that really matters. And on top of that, he seems like a high character guy to add to the mix.

oak bear=uniformed

Shocky1 said:

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oak bear=uniformed

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much uniformed

Imagine being a new bear and you come on here and read boomers arguing with each other instead of them being happy you will make their team better.

Welcome to Berkeley!

Oakbear said:

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Shocky1 said:

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^ yeah ur dropping outta berkeley after 3 years wuz probably not good timing, how's that decision worked out for u?

yet u criticize a 4.0 gpa offensive lineman that u have never seen play with multiple sec & big 10 offers that has committed to cal

maybe u should focus more on ur own dumb decisions/timing & not true student athletes on their announcement day

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actually dropping out for a year was a very good thing for me, you don't know me and should not make assumptions, I found an occupation that year that led to me doing very well both career wise and financially

I never criticized the guy, I said I was not excited by the announcement, some of you guys are just too thin skinned ..

MSU had a terrible offense and to be excited by a transfer that was a reserve? I would not have been excited had he been a started, their offensive production was that poor

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He is a good prospect in an area of need. We need to fill the OL room with guys with good potential to give us a chance to have good OL in the future. Freshmen OL generally don't start even on bad offenses even if they are future greats. It is the nature of the position. Thus, It is like celebrating landing a solid HS recruit. Probably not going to move the needle this year, but it is still a reason to celebrate.