CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Cedric Miller was headed to football practice the summer of 2004 when he noticed this unusually big kid marching in the high school band. He immediately asked the director for permission to speak to the freshman bass drum player, who at 6-foot-3 and 275 pounds made his instrument seem more like a tambourine.
"The first thing I asked was, 'Have you ever played football?'" recalled Miller, the former (Memphis, Tennessee) Wooddale High coach. "He said, 'No, sir.' I replied, 'Well, now you do. I'll see you tomorrow.'
"He turned out to be one of those special players you are lucky to have come into your program.