Veteran Penn State defensive back enters portal after disappointing season in starting role

Penn State veteran defensive back Cam Miller is reportedly set to enter the transfer portal after his junior season in Happy Valley and first as a regular starter in the secondary. Miller struggled in the slot and split time with sophomore Zion Tracy, and now will look for a new home with one year of eligibility remaining. 

A former four-star recruit in Penn State’s loaded 2022 recruiting class, Miller got his first audition for the starting lineup in the 2023 Peach Bowl against Ole Miss. After Kalen King and Johnny Dixon declared for the NFL draft, Miller was forced into action and struggled badly. Miller allowed seven catches for 120 yards on 12 targets with most of that production going to Ole Miss’s star receiver Tre Harris. It was such a disheartening performance from Miller and an inexperienced secondary that head coach James Franklin went into the transfer portal to add not one but two cornerbacks, AJ Harris and Jalen Kimber, who declared for the NFL draft on Sunday. 

Miller was sent back to the bench for 2024, but injury gave him a second chance. Starting safety Kevin Winston Jr. was injured in Week 2 and out for the season, which moved senior safety Jaylen Reed out of the nickel and back to deep safety and left Miller to fill the void in the slot. By the end of the year, however, Tracy had replaced Miller as the primary nickel for defensive coordinator Tom Allen, and both were torched in the Nittany Lion’s biggest games of the year. 

In the Big Ten Championship Game, Oregon slot receiver Tez Johnson caught 11 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. Then, in Penn State’s Orange Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame, Miller gave up two catches on three targets for 65 yards and a touchdown in 27 snaps. As he departs the program, the lasting image of his tenure will be him falling to allow Jaden Greathouse to catch the game-tying touchdown for Notre Dame. 

While it was time for Miller to move on, his departure along with Kimbers will leave Penn State with a significant lack of depth at cornerback. Franklin may need to go back into the portal to find his replacement if he hasn’t already. Amidst the roster movement of Sunday, Franklin arranged a reunion with former Nittany Lion safety King Mack who spent last season at Alabama.