2022 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Khalil Miller, OL, Davidson College

• Name: Khalil Miller
• Position: OL
• College: Davidson College 
• Height: 6’4″
• Weight: 303 lbs.
• Twitter: @KhalilMiller74

1.What type of energy do you bring onto the football field?

Personally I feel like I bring a fun but also focused energy onto the field. A lot of the harder aspects of football come before the game with watching film and practicing so once I step onto the field it’s all fun. I know all my rules and responsibilities so the only thing left to do is go out and fulfill them, something I take joy in doing. Of course I always take care to remain focused so that I’m not a detriment to the team. 

2.If you could hang out with any football player past or present for a day who and why?

If I could hang out with any football player it would definitely be David Bakhtiari. My favorite team has always been the Packers even though I’m from Atlanta and he’s one of the most dominant offensive lineman in the league. I feel like I could learn a lot from him and plus he seems like a fun guy to hang out with. 

3.What sets you apart from other offensive linemen?

I think the biggest thing that sets me a part from other offensive linemen is my inner drive. To outsiders, linemen are often stereotyped as being lazy and fat.  I try my best every time I’m on the field to disprove that. I believe that every play is an opportunity to get better, so if you take a play off you’re only hurting yourself. Whenever there’s a pile to push, I’m behind. Whenever I block a linebacker and my running back gets into open space, I’m running after him so he has something to cut off of. I refuse to stop until I hear the whistle. 

4.What role do you hope to have if you make it into the NFL?

If I ever am blessed enough to earn a spot in the NFL, I just hope that I can be put into a role where I can have a positive impact on the team. The NFL is a business and has no place for people who are a cancer or don’t contribute to the success of the team. If the decision is made for me to be on the practice squad, then I’ll be the best practice squad linemen you’ve ever seen and work hard every day to get better while making my teammates better. Ultimately, I want to be a reliable starter who can adapt and be counted on to do his job no matter the situation. 

5.What are your favorite things about playing football for Davidson?

My favorite thing about playing football at Davidson is the brotherhood. When I joined the program in 2018 it was in the middle of being heavily restructured. The team had gone almost decades without a winning season and an almost entirely new coaching staff was being brought in. Despite this, I can say without a doubt that every guy I saw on that roster believed that we could do something special and turn that program around and we did. For the past three years I’ve been surrounded by some of the most mentally tough and caring guys I’ve ever met. We’ve gone through so much as a team especially in this past season and I’m incredibly grateful to have gone through all of that with my brothers by my side. 

6.What do you think are the keys to success on the football field?

I think the biggest keys to success in football are to never get too high or low and to enjoy the process. So many people only focus on the outcomes of things, like winning, but to be successful you have to love to grind leading up to winning. You have to take pride in and enjoy those early morning workouts or that conditioning because those are what’s gonna make you better and take you to that next level. Winning will just come naturally. In addition to that, it’s important to understand that there’s gonna be good moments and bad moments in football just like life. What’s important, is to never let your energy sink to low or rise to high. Keeping a calm head is one of the hardest things to master, but it’s also one of the most beneficial. 

7.What is your favorite workout?

My favorite workout is bench pressing. The reason for that is just that it was the first major weight lifting exercise that I ever got access to so I see it as a big marker of just how far I’ve come as an athlete. Every time I bench press it makes me feel happy knowing how far I’ve come from an out of shape high school freshman that struggled to rep 135. 

8.What is a moment that improved you as a football player?

Surprisingly, the biggest moment that helped me improve as a player was are out of conference loss to Campbell my sophomore year. We had just lost one of our starting guards the game before with a broken ankle, and I had previously never even touched the field. Now all of a sudden I was expected to play meaningful minutes against the best opponent the program had ever played to that date. However, I had been working hard for the moment so I made sure that I went out and had a great game.   Unfortunately we still lost but that game filled me with so much confidence because I was able to see just how good I could be if I kept working. In my mind I was just like “If I’m moving guys this much and it’s only my first game, imagine how good I’ll be once I gain some experience “.

9.What is your mindset when you are on the football field?

When I’m on the field my mind is empty of everything other than football. Every time I line up I think about my role in the upcoming play and how I’m about to dominate the guy in front of me all the way up until I hear the whistle. In all honesty, I’m not satisfied with just winning. My goal is to impose my will onto whoever I’m up against play after play until mentally he just wants nothing to do with me. I feel like that’s how battles are supposed to be fought in the trenches. 

10.What would a team get in a player like you?

A team is getting a player like me who would be the equivalent of someone buying a piece of fine art. I’m a work horse who strives to give his best in everything he does and I’m only going to appreciate in value. Getting better is like climbing a mountain without a peak, there’s no end. I believe in growing as a player and pushing myself to get better every day so that I can be better than I was the day before. As a team, by picking up a player like me you’d be making a sound investment. 

11.What are you still trying to learn as a football player?

As a football player I’m still trying to learn how to be a better leader. I’m currently a guy that my teammates can look to as a good example of what type of energy and effort they should be bringing to the team but I want to make an effort to evolve even further than that and take a more active role in lifting up and inspiring my teammates. That’s one of the biggest non-physical aspects of the game that I plan on working on for this upcoming season. 

12.What are your biggest traits on the football field?

My biggest traits on the football field are my determination, my ability to quickly adapt and my ability to find patterns shown by the defense.