College football coaches around the country turned their attention to San Francisco on Thursday.
Sacred Heart Cathedral linebacker RL Miller, he of the six defensive touchdowns in 11 games this season, officially reopened his recruitment. Miller, rated as a 3-star recruit by 247Sports (opens in new tab), had committed to Arizona State on June 29, but announced his decommitment via Twitter on Thursday evening (opens in new tab).
The announcement comes in light of recent coaching changes at ASU. Herm Edwards was fired on Sept. 18 after a 30-21 loss to Eastern Michigan, and while most of his staff finished out the season under interim head coach Shaun Aguano, Kenny Dillingham was hired on Nov. 27. Dillingham, a 32-year-old ASU graduate, is bringing on his own staff.
Linebackers coach Chris Claiborne had recruited Miller, and the two had developed a close personal relationship. Claiborne attended SHC’s Oct. 21 win over Bellarmine, in which Miller returned an interception and a fumble for touchdowns and scored a third TD as a receiver. His fumble return was voted National Play of the Week by SBLive (opens in new tab).
Claiborne is not part of Dillingham’s new staff. FootballScoop reported that A.J. Cooper was named as the new linebackers coach (opens in new tab) in Tempe. Cooper had previously served as the defensive run game coordinator at Washington State.
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Later on Thursday, Miller announced that he’ll be visiting Fresno State this weekend (opens in new tab). Riordan edge rusher Isiah Chala will also be in Fresno at the same time (opens in new tab).
Miller confirmed via text message that he’s got his sights set on playing in either the Pac-12 or Mountain West Conference. 247 shows he currently still holds an offer from Arizona State, and he also has an offer from rival Arizona. Fresno State and San Jose State are the two Mountain West schools currently vying for his services.