John Miller is a linebacker at Utah State who has not played in Utah State's 8 games this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025.
The consensus depth chart of May 27 lists Miller at LB, No. 1.
Utah State lists 33 linebackers this season.
Utah State is 3-5. Next: vs Fresno State, Sat Nov 7.
John Miller is on trial in Utah State's fan jury — the eye test against the résumé.
Utah State fans keep putting the player's case on trial, week to week.
Minority viewA vocal minority sees it the other way.
AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-11-04
Play style
Is steady in every phase without a signature trait.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
118 tackles. 3 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 10 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Utah State | 118 | 40 | 10.0 | 8.0 | 3 |
| 2024 | Utah State | 52 | 29 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 2 |
| 2023 | Oregon State | 11 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 |
| 2022 | Oregon State | 5 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 |
| 2021 | Oregon State | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- |
| Career | 190 | 78 | 16.5 | 10.0 | 7 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 28-16vs UTEP | 10 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 22-44@ No. 19 Texas A&M | 7 | 4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 3 | W 49-30vs Air Force | 16 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 16 tackles |
| Wk 4 | W 48-7vs McNeese | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 35-55@ No. 18 Vanderbilt | 12 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 26-44@ Hawai'i | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 30-25vs San José State | 9 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 14-33@ New Mexico | 10 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 51-14vs Nevada | 7 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 26-29@ UNLV | 11 | 4 | 2.5 | 2.0 | — | 1 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 13 | W 28-17@ Fresno State | 5 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 24-25vs Boise State | 14 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
 Bowl | L 21-34vs Washington State | 9 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 118 | 40 | 10.0 | 8.0 | — | 3 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
118tackles this seasonTFL rate
8%10 TFLSack rate
7%8 sacksPD rate
3%3 pass breakups118 tackles · 10 for loss · 8 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 9.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Road6g | 8.3 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 8.9 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 9.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Bronco Mendenhall
Pass share
47.9%
403 pass / 439 run
Plays / game
64.8
13 games
Team sack rate
9.8%
439 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
First team in his league at the position.
The All-Conference 1st team honor is earned — and the box score backs it up emphatically: #7 of 583 FBS linebackers by CFB Zeitgeist Score.2025 profile
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #7 at the position.
2026 outlook
In the mix for All-Pac-12
Based on 2025: #1 of 45 Mountain West LBs — his program moves to the Pac-12 for 2026
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 49% of returning players who ranked #1–3 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 43–54%). It was measured on players who stayed in the same conference and is not adjusted for the move to the Pac-12.
Returning starter at linebacker for a 6-7 Utah State team that went +10 in the portal.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST · 1ST TEAM
All-Mountain West 1st team (2025)
Coaching lineage · 2020–2026
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 2 schools: Jonathan Smith, Nate Dreiling and Bronco Mendenhall.
