Meet the Coaches: John Miller Leading Indiana Running Backs Fresh Off Playing Career
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It didn’t take long for John Miller to find his footing in the coaching world.
After his playing career as a wide receiver, running back and return man at James Madison from 2014-17, he joined former Dukes head coach Mike Houston’s staff as an offensive graduate assistant in 2018. And following two seasons as an offensive quality control coach with the Texas Longhorns, he returned to James Madison as the running backs coach under Curt Cignetti from 2021-23.
Now Miller is coaching Indiana’s running backs as Cignetti aims to turn the program around.
“Our goal is to create the all-purpose back,” Miller said in an interview with Indiana radio analyst Rhett Lewis. “You gotta be able to be the 3rd and 1 back, and you gotta run routes outside of the backfield.”
Miller began his James Madison career as a running back, totaling 83 carries for 371 yards and five touchdowns. He had just eight receptions, but he switched to wide receiver for his final three seasons and helped the Dukes win the FCS national championship in 2016 and reach the title game the following year.
He finished with 865 career receiving yards, five touchdowns and two historic plays that earned him the No. 20 ranking on a list of “JMU’s Most Impactful Players of All Time,” published in 2021 by Greg Madia of the Daily News-Record.
“He doesn’t have the astonishing career numbers like most do on this list, but John Miller was on the receiving end of two of the most important passing plays in JMU history,” Madia wrote. “Miller, now a running backs coach for the Dukes, is referred to as ‘clutch’ by former teammates who played with him. He hauled in a 17-yard score from Lee with 27 seconds left to give JMU its 48-45 win at SMU in 2015. The following year, in the FCS national semifinals, he corralled a 25-yard touchdown from Schor in the yellow-painted end zone at the FargoDome during fourth quarter to help the Dukes separate from North Dakota State and punch their ticket to Frisco.”
In addition to Miller’s receiving talents, he also developed into a premier punt and kick returner for James Madison. Miller was named CAA Special Teams Player of the Year as a senior in 2017, returning 18 punts for 210 yards and a touchdown and three kickoffs for 53 yards.
Across three seasons with Miller as the running backs coach, James Madison led the CAA in points per game in 2021 and in 2022, when it moved up to the FBS and Sun Belt. Running back Percy Agyei-Obese finished second in James Madison history in rushing touchdowns and attempts, as well as third in rushing yards.
Now at Indiana, Miller brought along James Madison’s top two running backs in 2023, Kaelon Black and Ty Son Lawton. They formed a balanced attack last season, with Black carrying the ball 142 times for 637 yards and one touchdown, and Lawton taking 126 carries for 568 yards and five scores.
Both were used in the pass game, too, which speaks to the type of running back Miller aims to build. He knows he’s asking a lot of his running backs, but said James Madison’s success demonstrates his approach works.
“We’re going to ask our backs to do everything,” Miller said. “Obviously run between the tackles and the different run schemes we have within our offense, but pass protection is one thing. We’re big on drop backs, so pass protection is really big. I’m coaching it, I’m preaching it every day. Then the way we incorporate our guys in the pass game, different routes coming out of the backfield, empty formations, putting them in the slot. So we’re going to use our backs a lot in our offense.”
Indiana also added transfers like Justice Ellison from Wake Forest and Elijah Green from North Carolina, who figure to contribute alongside Black and Lawton in 2024. Ellison rushed for 1,901 yards across four seasons, and Green totaled 668 all-purpose yards in 2022. It’s that kind of production that Miller and Cignetti looked for in the transfer portal.
“You gotta show me that you can really go out there and do it,” Miller said. “You can look good in the drills and you can say all the right things in the meeting rooms, but it’s gotta show up on the field.”
Growing up around a family of coaches, Miller knew he wanted to pursue this profession. His uncle, Erik Campbell, coached Michigan receivers like Braylon Edwards and Mario Manningham. And his grandfather, John Campbell, was an Indiana Hall of Fame track coach at Gary Roosevelt High School.
Through his own experiences and background, Miller has learned that the impact of coaching goes beyond results on the field.
“I’m really into it for my guys, seeing those guys develop,” Miller said. “That’s what really gives me joy. And it's all about creating habits on and off the field, so I want to preach to my guys creating the right habits that last a lifetime will help you be successful in football, academics, business. That’s the foundation that I want to instill into my guys.”
No one knows this better than Black, who’s played for Miller since his first season coaching James Madison in 2021. Black said his receiving skills have grown a lot under Miller’s direction, which is important with how football has evolved in recent years.
In practice, Black said, Miller challenges his running backs to know the responsibilities of the offensive line and wide receivers in addition to their own tasks in order to have a full understanding of the offense. He believes football is a mental game just as much as it is physical.
“[Miller] is a great guy, very funny but very chill at the same,” Black said. “He relates to us really well since he just finished playing not too long ago, and he’s definitely a great mentor. That’s someone you look up to as far as being a football player and a man.”
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JACK ANKONY
Jack Ankony is a Sports Illustrated/FanNation writer for HoosiersNow.com. He graduated from Indiana University's Media School with a degree in journalism. Follow on Twitter @ankony_jack.