CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (Chambana Today) — The Illinois Fighting Illini football team’s senior head coach analyst and Air Force veteran Ben Miller will serve as the team’s honorary captain for Saturday’s Military Appreciation Game against Maryland, which will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on FS1.
Miller is in his fifth year on the Illinois football staff and second as senior head coach analyst. A cancer survivor and liver transplant recipient, he previously served as the Fighting Illini’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach, before going on health-related leave during the 2022 season after being diagnosed with colon cancer in February 2022.
Miller was an all-conference offensive lineman at Air Force, starting at left tackle as a junior and senior. After completing his collegiate career, he played in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns, where he was used as a fullback, tight end, and long snapper from 2002-05. In the fall of 2005, Miller joined the practice squad for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Miller also spent one year in the ManTech Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, before transitioning to the Air Force Reserve in May 2004. During the NFL offseason, he worked as a Public Affairs Officer doing recruiting and public relations activities for the Air Force based out of Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
A 2002 Air Force Academy graduate, Miller spent the 2006 season as the offensive graduate assistant at Illinois under Ron Zook before returning to the Academy. He was an assistant coach at Air Force for 15 seasons from 2002-03 and 2007-2020, before returning to Champaign for head coach Bret Bielema’s first season at Illinois in 2021.
