Dante Miller is either one year late or a few weeks early in joining the NFL.
The Giants agreed to terms Friday with the speedy rookie running back whose chance at getting drafted was robbed by an NCAA eligibility error during his time transferring from Ivy League standout at Columbia to South Carolina.
Miller sat out all last season but hung around the Gamecocks program after it was determined that he mistakenly burned his final year of eligibility playing sparingly in 2022, as detailed Friday by On3.com.
The slow-moving NCAA did not declare Miller ineligible until long after the deadline to enter the 2023 NFL Draft – after he competed with South Carolina in spring practice.
The technicalities continued: Because Miller should’ve been in the 2023 draft, he is not eligible in 2024, which means he has been an unknowing NFL free agent for about one year.
The issue reportedly stemmed from South Carolina thinking he had two years of eligibility after one of his Ivy League seasons was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he really had two years to compete once (and redshirt once).
But with limited FBS film available – Miller carried six times for 38 yards and played special teams at South Carolina after he rushed for 1,281 yards over 26 games in three years at Columbia – he had another to stand out.
At South Carolina’s Pro Day, Miller ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash and put up 28 reps on the 225-bench press – both of which would have been the top marks for running backs if he was at the NFL Combine.
The showing gave him a jumpstart on the overflow of players who will go undrafted later this month and be searching for free-agent contracts and tryout opportunities come April 28.
Miller visited with the Giants earlier this week and reportedly had other visits scheduled but was intrigued by the chance to come back to the New York area.
He can participate in the offseason program with the rest of the Giants on April 15, joining a running back mix led by Devin Singletary in front of fellow unproven youngsters Gary Brightwell, Eric Gray, Jashuan Corbin and Deon Jackson.
Miller was abandoned by his mother when he was two years old and put into the Connecticut foster care system, according to On3.com, until his mother’s first cousin gained custody and raised him apart from the siblings under his grandmother’s watch.
