As the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team ended practice last Friday at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Roy Simmons III pulled Jovan Miller aside.

It was 24 hours before the Orange was set to take on Johns Hopkins, and the assistant coach with the omnipresent visor had some news for the freshman midfielder from Christian Brothers Academy.

‘He just said, ‘Jovan, you’re going to be taking a lot of shifts,” Miller said. ‘And he said, ‘I don’t want you to do anything out of your abilities,’ and he said that we’re going to trust you.

”Basically, you’ve got the keys to the car.”

All season long Miller wanted a shot, an opportunity, enough time to flash the speed, agility and 5-foot-11, 190-pound frame that had enticed both lacrosse and football scouts in high school.

So as his teammates walked off Homewood, the century-old relic that serves as Hopkins’ stadium, Miller had one thought.

[ITALICS]This is my chance.[/ITALICS]

The next day against the Blue Jays, he made the most of it.

Paired with juniors Dan Hardy and Pat Perritt on the second offensive midfield line, Miller scored two goals in the third period, the first of his career, to keep Syracuse close before it gutted out a 14-13 overtime win.

When the No. 3 Orange (4-1) hosts Binghamton (2-1) Saturday at 3:30 p.m., SU head coach John Desko said the three would probably stay together as the second unit. Seniors Steven Brooks and Brendan Loftus and junior Matt Abbott lead the first line.

On a team with several key freshmen – John Galloway starts in goal, and Joel White has scooped 22 groundballs as a defensive middie – Miller’s athleticism stands out, an old running back able to burst through the midfield and create openings for his teammates.

‘It’s safe to say there hasn’t been one game where he wasn’t the best athlete on the field,’ Perritt said.

Maybe because of that, for a while it wasn’t clear what sort of field Miller would play on in college. He waffled between the two sports, unsure if he wanted to be a midfielder or a safety. He said SU offered both a football and a lacrosse scholarship, but Miller sat on the offers for months, unsure of what to do.

With his status on the football team uncertain, by last March he had settled on lacrosse.

But the transition was difficult at first. He had played football since he was seven. He had only played lacrosse since seventh grade.

So Miller’s nerves jangled when he got on the field. He would freeze up when coaches sent him into scrimmages, anxious, his heart racing.

‘My first few games I just didn’t want to do anything that would draw attention to myself by the coaches,’ Miller said. ‘Like, I just didn’t want to get screamed at or anything.’

Still, Desko and the staff saw the flickers of something, a player agile enough to smother people on defense and quick enough to slip open on offense. He liked the idea of fixing up Miller with the tandem of Hardy and Perritt, roommates who’ve played together for three seasons.

‘Offensively he’s got that speed and quickness so he can separate himself,’ Desko said.

The Orange coaching staff shook up the midfield lines the week after scoring only nine goals despite 57 shots in a 9-8 overtime win against Georgetown.

Hardy and Abbott swapped spots on the first and second lines. Miller replaced sophomore Max Bartig. The changes breathed life into the offense.

‘He brings a lot of energy,’ Hardy said of Miller. ‘He and Pat are both big energy guys. I mean, he’s really starting to figure it out.’

Confidence is high now. The team is off to its best start since 2004, the year of its last national championship.

And Miller is starting to make the influence he wanted to.

‘It feels great,’ he said. ‘It’s something I wasn’t expecting right away – just getting on the field was an honor in the first place. But when you can contribute and feel like you can help the team out, it feels that much better.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on March 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm