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National Signing Day 2015: Welcome to Penn State, Shareef Miller

It wasn't easy, but the Philadelphia-based defensive end gave his commitment to Penn State earlier this year.

By Bill DiFilippo

Welcome to Black Shoe Diaries' coverage of National Signing Day 2015. We're here to make sure that you know exactly who the newest Nittany Lions are, where they come from, and what we can expect of them. Each of these reports will include their vital information, their high school statistics, highlight tape analysis, outlook for their freshmen seasons and more. We sincerely hope you enjoy getting to know the stars of tomorrow. If you've been reading along with our recruiting coverage all year, we appreciate the support and are glad you hung around with us for the ride that was the 2015 recruiting class. If you are a new reader, welcome! We're glad you're here, and we hope you stick around for 2016!

To navigate your way to other members of the 2015 recruiting class, simply head back to our draft board and click on the player of your choice.

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It always seemed like Philadelphia's Shareef Miller was eventually going to end up at Penn State, it just happened later than everyone anticipated. Miller figured to be a PSU lean, but he attracted interest from a ton of schools. Penn State's main competitor for the 6'5" defensive end always figured to be Florida, but the Gators never offered. However, after the school replaced Will Muschamp with Jim McElwain, that changed, and it looked like Miller could have headed south. Instead, he stayed in-state, and the intriguing defensive end who has all of the athletic ability in the world is coming to Happy Valley.

Stats

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

High School: George Washington

Position: Defensive End

Height/Weight: 6'5"/230

247Composite Rank: ★★★ (0.8681)

Positional Rank: #28 Strongside Defensive End, #12 Player in Pennsylvania

Commitment Date: January 25, 2015

247Sports Crystal Ball:

High School Stats

MaxPreps didn't have anything on Miller. Sorry, everyone.

Highlight Tape

Scouting Report

Physically, it's obvious that none of the high schoolers that were playing against Miller had any chance against him. He has the measurables that would make scouts drool over his potential. Miller's ability to overpower offensive linemen and get to the quarterback quickly is impressive, but doing that in high school and doing that against Big Ten athletes are two totally different teams. Still, this is an excellent foundation to build on. He does a really good job getting into the backfield whether his hand is in the ground or he's standing up as a linebacker, mostly because he's lightning quick off of the line of scrimmage and has the uncanny ability to know when the ball is being snapped.

One thing that Miller really needs to work on is that he needs to get more refined as a lineman and a pass rusher. Of course, he needs to bulk up a bit and get stronger, but more importantly, it would really help if he developed some kind of move off of the line. A spin move, a swim move, anything. He just kind of plows through people and it works, which would be awesome if he could do that in college, it's just unlikely.

Immediate Outlook

Redshirt, Yes

Miller is big and fast and (relatively) strong, but right now he's more of an athlete than a football player. He needs to add some weight to his slender frame, and if he's able to keep some of the skills that make him an interesting prospect after adding 15-20 lbs. to his frame, he has the potential to be a really special football player. Miller is also coming in with several other players who can make an impact right away at the defensive end position, and there are already a few guys who are experienced DEs on the roster, so him sitting out a year wouldn't really hurt the team that much. Let Dwight Galt work his magic for an entire year and Miller will be fine.

Everything Else

Welcome to Penn State, Shareef!

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