Junior Miller

"Well, you know, coming out of high school in Texas I really didn't know too much about Nebraska. Matter of fact I didn't even know Nebraska had a football team. You know, that's kind of strange... strange. I love football. When I started to play, the Dallas Cowboys were my favorite team and Billy Joe DePree was my favorite tight end. You know, I just loved watching him and I thought he was a great player.

Keith Bishop was going to my high school, and he was getting recruited by the University of Nebraska where he went and he loved it. Him and Jerry Moore... Jerry Moore was one of the recruiters here at that time and I think Midland, Texas was his area and him and Keith Bishop kind of worked on me.

I had the chance to go visit the University of Kentucky, University of Oklahoma, and... oh, there was one more... Texas Tech. But when I came here to University of Nebraska I fell in love with it because of the weather and that kind of stuff... I love cold weather. My wife, she... she loves the hot and the humidity and all but I can't stand that. But the colder it is the better it does for me so...

Well, you know, strangely enough, Turner Gill told me he came here because of the weather. And I think we did an FCA banquet, oh recently, and... I think we was asked that particular question and... me and Turner Gill said we came here because of the weather and then Scott Frost said, "Well, he left because of the weather." So... I guess each to his own.

He (Osborne) did come and visit me during the recruiting time and... that was the first time a... a white man had ever really just came in and sat down in my house. You know, in Texas. And I... you know, he was a little different.

You know, at the time I can remember thinking about him. I... you know, he had this scout with his red hair and he was... real, you know, red. I didn't know if he was just kinda scared... you know, being there or not... nervous. But he was real... polite and kind and... and talked real... you know... not slow but... he made sure the things that he said... he meant what he was saying at the time.

You know, and I was impressed with him. But I was more impressed when I got here to the University, with the people that I met and the people within the city of Lincoln because I had a chance to get out and...

The other schools... the other three schools that I did go and visit... I kind of lost interest in those quickly because I was offered things and... when I got to the University of Nebraska they only offered me an education and an opportunity to play football. And that's what I was looking for and I wasn't offered anything else. So that made a huge decision for me.

He just talked about the academic opportunities that were here at the University of Nebraska. He talked about the winning program, the success. I really didn't know that he was... you know, almost getting started. I was getting recruited in '75-'76. I got here, and so he hadn't been really... the head coach that long. But there was tradition... winning tradition there at the University. They had won the national championship with Johnny Rodgers at the helm at the time and Coach Devaney.

And... so he basically just talked a little bit about the... you know, the winning tradition... the academic program with Ursula Walsh at the time. I think she was the... the head honcho at the time. And he talked about the program that she had and... how she could help me get the classes that I wanted to get. And he also talked to me about the opportunity that I would have to play football at the University and he told me that I would have a chance to play basketball too if I chose to.

You know, he helped bring me here. Keith Bishop played a major part also because playing with him in high school and him telling me how much he enjoyed Lincoln, Nebraska and playing football here at the University helped a lot too.

You know, first impressions of a lot of people means a lot. And you know, his first impression was very important because once again, he wasn't a fast talker... you didn't get from him that he came in to hoodwink you... you saw the honesty and the sincerity coming from his voice and as he spoke. And being a young man, you know, you're not as sharp as you need to be but yet, and still, you can sense sincerity and you knew what he was saying. It was real compared to the other guys that were recruiting me at the time. You could tell... all they wanted was, you know, that person as a football player on the football field and... and any time they would offer you money you know the education part wasn't going to be part of it anyway too, so... So it played a major part.

Well, the first thing that surprised me was that... I drove around Lincoln for awhile because I had my driven own car down here from Midland. The first night I got here I couldn't get in touch with anybody. Went down a couple of one-way streets, spent the night in my car the first night. Slept on O Street as a matter of fact... I parked on O Street in an alley and just locked the doors and slept in there. And it was a little Chevelle... Next morning I got in touch with one of the coaches... I can't remember the coach I got in touch with. Maybe it was Jerry Moore. And they kind of laughed at me and... helped me out."