Although the Colorado football team is limping to the finish line, receiver Omarion Miller is not.
A junior from Vivian, Louisiana, Miller is in the midst of the best season of his career, and he’s been putting up big numbers during the past five weeks.
Miller has caught 34 passes for 652 yards and seven touchdowns this season, leading the Buffs (3-7, 1-6 Big 12), who are on a bye this week, in all three categories.
With two games to go, Miller has posted just the 15th season in CU history with at least 650 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
Most of Miller’s work has come in the last five games.
Through the first five games (one of which he missed due to injury), Miller had just 11 catches for 200 yards and a touchdown. In the last five, he has 23 catches for 452 yards and six scores – at least one in four of those five games.
During last Saturday’s 29-22 loss at West Virginia, Miller had his first 100-yard game of the season, finishing with six catches for 131 yards and a touchdown.
In that game, Miller surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for his career. He has 55 catches for 1,102 yards and nine touchdowns since coming to CU in 2023.
Miller is the 105th player in CU history with at least 35 career catches and his 20.0-yards per catch average ranks third among those players. Only Mike Pritchard (25.5 average on 51 catches, 1988-90) and Ron Brown (21.4 average on 57 catches, 1981-85) had more yards per catch.
Special connection
Miller has seemingly developed a good connection with freshman quarterback JuJu Lewis, who made his first start at West Virginia.
Lewis is 33-of-56 for 428 yards this season, with Miller as his top target. Miller has nine catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns on 13 targets from Lewis.
No other receiver has more than five catches or eight targets from Lewis.
“Definitely,” Lewis said when asked if he’s developed a special rapport with Miller.
He then quickly added, “Same thing with Joseph (Williams) and Sincere (Brown) and all those guys out there. Just those extra reps after practice are so important. I was the third string (quarterback) last week, so I mean, I wasn’t getting as many reps with those guys, but after practice every day this week, just getting those extra reps we needed just so we can get that chemistry.”
Miller has averaged 23.1 yards per catch on passes from Lewis, up from 17.3 with Kaidon Salter and 16.3 with Ryan Staub. Miller averaged 22.6 yards per catch the previous two years with Shedeur Sanders at quarterback.
Byard leading
Through injuries, as well as a suspension for targeting that kept him on the bench in the first half at West Virginia, safety Tawfiq Byard has become a leader for the Buffs.
The South Florida transfer leads the Buffs with 78 tackles, while adding five tackles for loss, an interception and four pass breakups. And, he’s played the past three-plus games with a hand injury.
“I’m just out there playing with more confidence this season,” he said. “Me personally, it’s my job to kind of … you know, the defense goes as I go, I like to say, and something the coaches like to say. If I’m out there making plays, I’m out there being communicative, and I’m talking, and going back to the offense, the other guys on the team are lifted up, and they want to fight now because they see there’s a guy out there fighting.”
On Saturday, CU trailed 19-9 at halftime with Byard on the bench. In the second half, West Virginia scored just 10 points, while Byard had nine tackles, a TFL and a pass breakup.
“It’s just my job to come in and make plays and, you know, give this defense, this team something to fight for,” he said.
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.