CATHOLIC'S CRUNCH: Miller fights through injuries in leading the Knights to similar heights
Catholic’s Kam Miller (9) worked through medical setbacks to lead the Knights’ defense this season. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
Catholic coach Kirk Johnson had his linebacker on a limited snap count for his first game back, but Johnson could just sense a different Catholic defense on the field with Kam Miller participating.
“You knew he was out there,” Johnson said. “You miss Division I linebackers because they’re different, they’re big and they’re physical. But he’s lost every bit of 15 pounds and he’s had to go down in racks (in the weight room) because he can’t overexert himself. It’s an every-day process he has to monitor.”
The Knights (9-0, 6-0) find themselves in a similar situation as last year, facing Andalusia (9-0, 6-0) for the Class 4A, Region 2 championship on Friday at Knights Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
For Miller, getting back on the field for the Booker T. Washington game helped him block out the medical setbacks that have plagued him for much of the last four years and play the game he loves.
“It felt great,” he said. “Just seeing my boys go out there, working hard throughout the week and seeing them do their thing, that felt great because I can do it with them now. I don’t have to just sit on the sideline and cheer them on, I can actually hype them up, make sure they’re locked in, make sure their energy level is good.”
He was a wide receiver and linebacker in the eighth grade when he suffered a season-ending injury to his left knee. After rehabilitation, he was participating in a summer camp prior to his freshman year when he suffered a season-ending injury to the other knee that forced him to sit out that year as well.
“It was hard, just getting back the speed and the conditioning,” he said. “And then I had to start my sophomore year. I felt like it could be my spot -- I can go in there and do it -- but I was struggling the first five games so that’s why we were sharing reps. I had to get back used to it because I hasn’t been playing football since the seventh grade.”
After Miller’s sophomore season came to an abrupt end in the semifinals of the 4A playoffs -- he had his best game of the season with nine tackles against Andalusia at Cramton Bowl -- he was looking forward to a promising junior season.
“I felt great going into this season,” he said. “I was just glad to be back out there. I knew next season I wouldn’t have to worry about injuries because at the end of the season I had to go have surgery again to get rid of all the scar tissue (from his knee surgeries). So I was like, no more injuries with the knees, no more problems holding me back, now I can just go out there and play football.”
Then came more bad news. As the Knights prepared for the 2023 season with seven-on-seven workouts and other organized team activities, he developed debilitating body cramps that seemed to get worse with each workout.
“He was cramping every day and we knew from last year that he had struggled with some cramps,” Johnson said. “His parents, who are phenomenal, started monitoring what he eats, his salt intake and things like that, but it got bad. He spent the first part of the season trying to figure out what his body needed and wanted.”
Knee injuries were bad enough, but now Miller was sidelined by an unseen force that doctors were struggling to identify.
“I’m a real bad sweater, so just working out I would get real dehydrated,” Miller said. “I’d be cramping and stuff, but it would get worse and worse. The coaches are thinking I’m not conditioned, I’m not eating right, but it’s just my body telling me I need to slow down. I had to go see the doctor and he said my creatinine was high.
“They said maybe we’ll just sit him out for the rest of the week. Then I go back the next week and it’s getting worse and worse. We had a two-a-day and it (creatinine level) was 107. Before the practice was over, I was about to have a full-body cramp. We had to go to the ER and I had to stay in the hospital for six days.”
When doctors finally diagnosed his issue, Miller was told he had rhabdomyolysis, a rare condition that is created when muscle cells burst and leak their contents into the bloodstream. In addition to the weakening of the muscles, the muscle protein in the bloodstream create toxins that can cause muscle damage or damage to the kidneys.
The breakdown of the muscle tissue is detected as an increase in creatine kinase levels and rhabdomyolysis is diagnosed when it reaches five times the normal level.
“Being in the hospital for six days, it was like, you’re out for two weeks but you can come back for the ACA game (the second week of the season),” Miller said. “Then, it was ‘you’re definitely not playing this week’ and it was come back for BTW, but I was on limited play.”
In his absence, the Knights alternated Charles Chappelle, Miles Kharti, Kenneth Bell and Zay Rudolph among the linebacker positions. Miller returned on a limited snap count for the third game -- against Booker T. Washington -- and has been in the lineup for the last six, recording 61 tackles, including eight for loss, to rank second on the team behind Kharti.
“I always hydrated good before, but now I hydrate more,” Miller said. “Every two Thursdays, I go get an IV to make sure I’m hydrated because we can’t let the same thing happen again.”
With Miller in the lineup full time, the Knights have not allowed a point on defense, posting six consecutive shutouts.
“It’s just our mindset, week in, week out,” Miller said. “Every day (in practice), we want to beat the offense. We keep a (mental) tally about who wins this period, who wins that period, who wins the whole practice. Those are things we work hard for. Every day, we want to go ‘goose egg,’ we don’t want anybody to score on us. We don’t care if it’s our offense, just working on something. We want to be a dominant defense that runs to the ball. We want to keep that standard because when we start dropping the standard -- ‘oh, let the offensive player run by you and don’t tag him’ -- that’s when things started trickling down. You have to keep the standard.”
The “standard” over the last 37 games is a total of 224 points, an average of 6.1 points allowed per game.
“I think it’s just the amount of successful kids we’ve had come through this football program,” Johnson said. “We’ve had several guys go on to play college football and have come through this defense, setting the standard. When you’re talking about a decade of averaging 10 points per game (allowed by the defense) in this modern-day football, that’s unreal.
“I knew (this defense) would be a year better. Only three seniors -- Jaden (Jones), Zach (Underwood) and LJ (Green) -- graduated, along with (Brennan) Binns, who emerged and played good ball down the stretch. This year, it was like the whole defense was coming back.
But there was still that one piece missing until Kam Miller returned to the lineup.
“I feel like I’m close to 100 percent,” Miller said. “I couldn’t play football for a month, so I’m trying to get back the moves I use, the things I like to do and what I don’t like to do. I’m adding those back now and I feel like I’m getting better and better each week.”