USC offensive lineman Kaylon Miller charged at his blocking assignment at right guard during the Trojans’ game at Nebraska. His twin brother, King, zipped to his right side and up into the end zone.
Ryon Sayeri hit a successful PAT afterward to complete a walk-on trifecta that got USC the fourth-quarter points it needed to pull away with a 21-17 win.
“You kind of think maybe where we might have been, had we not had some of those guys,” head coach Lincoln Riley said.
Being a college football walk-on comes with its own unique set of challenges — and even more so at a costly, competitive academic school like USC. Nevertheless, the Trojans have three who have kept the team competitive this season.
All of them come from Southern California schools. Kaylon and King both prepped at Calabasas High School and Sayeri is a Chaminade College Preparatory product.
USC has brought them together, and the Trojans’ culture is helping them fulfill their potential.
“No matter your position, you’re very well connected to every single person,” Kaylon said. “That’s why when you get that opportunity to step up in any particular role, you automatically feel like you’re suited in.”
Winning the job
Sayeri made it very clear that he was going to go to USC when he started to train with Cole Murphy, a private coach and former professional kicker, as a high school freshman.
Murphy was cautious, as he is with all high school recruits, and was realistic about the unlikelihood of that happening. Not because of a lack of talent, but because of the cutthroat recruiting process that specialists now endure.
“Ryon, since day one, has been that kind of guy,” Murphy said. “He’s been determined and he’s always put his mind to something and made it happen.”
His high school career culminated in a program-record 52-yard field goal and a No. 2 spot in the Chris Sailer rankings. He nailed a 65-yard field goal in a last-man-standing competition to secure a spot in the All-American Bowl.
Walking on to a college team as a kicker isn’t uncommon, but what Sayeri has done has been nothing short of unlikely. When USC brought in Caden Chittenden, who was a freshman All-American at UNLV, Sayeri — without a scholarship — stuck it out.
“I talked to him like two weeks later and asked him what’s the plan,” Murphy said. “And he’s like, ‘win the job.’ It’s worked out pretty damn well.”
Sayeri became a semifinalist for the Lou Groza award and has made 17-of-19 field goal attempts for 89.5% accuracy and is 6-for-6 in attempts over 40 yards. His only misses had banged off an upright in Purdue and Oregon.
If he makes two more field goals, he’ll tie the program record for most field goals in a single season. He’s a perfect 44-for-44 on PATs.
“Me and my brother talk about this a lot — he always tells me that the delivery man doesn’t celebrate when he makes deliveries,” Sayeri said after the Nebraska win. “It’s his job. I’ve gotta go out there and make kicks. Don’t need to celebrate, don’t need to do anything because my only job here is to make kicks and to hit kickoffs.”
Murphy often pairs up his younger kickers with older ones to keep them humble and help them find ways to improve. When Sayeri got to be the best in the group, he went up against Murphy, who was an NFL free agent at the time.
The redshirt freshman is still chasing the next level while at USC. Special teams coach Ryan Dougherty has a critical eye, Sayeri said, and is honest about what can be improved even when he has a perfect practice on paper.
“It was always like, envisioning,” he said. “Me and my dad always had step-by-step goals. In high school, it was the All-American game. Ended up blessed to play in that. Now he’s like, first, let’s get to playing. Blessed to start playing. And now he’s like, keep going higher and higher.”
Seeing the potential
Kaylon Miller will never forget the day that Riley and offensive line coach Zach Hanson showed up at Calabasas High School to watch him and King. Coyotes coach Cary Harris — a former USC and NFL defensive back — said nothing to prompt them other than telling them that someone was there for a visit.
“Me and my brother turned around the corner, and we saw Coach Riley and Coach Hanson there and we were really shocked. We’re like, oh, OK. It took a minute to look at each other and be like, OK, lock in right now.”
Kaylon had no offers out of high school and King had four offers from Group of Four schools, despite rushing for 1,587 yards and 15 touchdowns on 221 carries in his senior year.
Hanson saw potential in both of them, and Kaylon, especially, had quickness and power that surpassed his size.
“I worked hard to get those guys here because I saw the long-term development and what they could be,” Hanson said. “And they have far exceeded everybody’s expectations. Obviously, they’re tremendous players and really great kids.”
King was the first Miller brother to become a major contributor for USC. Running backs Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders both left the Trojans’ game against Michigan at halftime due to injuries, leaving then-third-string rusher Miller to enter.
He ran for 158 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries to help lift USC over the Wolverines. Altogether, he’s collected 745 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 114 carries and earned recognition as a Burlsworth Trophy semifinalist.
Kaylon has gotten into seven games as part of a versatile offensive line, which also includes a former walk-on in center Kilian O’Connor.
“It is a new chapter of being a running back at USC,” King told reporters. “Actually going out there on that field and actually putting on for not only the team but for the culture at USC — it’s really just learning to be confident in whatever I’m doing, regardless of that’s to be leader, being vocal or just running the ball.”
King always knows where his brother is during games, catching him warming up on the sidelines or hurrying to the line of scrimmage out of the corner of his eye.
He knew when Kaylon got his opportunity to play in the Nebraska game, filling in for an injured Alani Noa at right guard. And when King scored, he was the first one in the end zone celebrating with him.
“I’m blocking, I just see him run past me and I’m just like — run, run. Go! Go! And as soon as he got the touchdown, I ran up to him and I was like, you got this,” Kaylon recalled. “You know what you came to do. You’re in this moment. You have everything out in front of you, you’ve got to make the most of your opportunity.”
A product of a culture
Finding just one player who is willing and able to meet USC’s demands as an academic institution is a challenge, and the football team has found three of them.
Base tuition for two semesters at USC costs $73,260, and that doesn’t cover housing, a meal plan and books. The acceptance rate is 10%.
Once a player becomes part of the football program, though, they’re treated just the same as scholarship players. The Trojans thrive off unity, walk-ons and all.
“We try to treat everybody the same in opportunities, how we coach them, what we demand of them, just how they’re treated on a daily basis,” Riley said. “Once you come in these walls — if you’re one of us, you’re one of us.”