Dante Miller is either one year late or a few weeks early in joining the NFL.
The Giants agreed to terms Friday with the speedy rookie running back who was robbed of a chance to get drafted by an NCAA eligibility error made during his transfer from Columbia to South Carolina in 2022.
He rushed for 1,281 career yards and was a First-Team All-Ivy selection at Columbia.
“He’s about as fine a young man as I’ve ever been around,” former Columbia head coach Al Bagnoli told The Post. “It’s crazy how many Ivy League professors used to come up to me and say, ‘Where’d you get this kid?’ I’d say, ‘I wish we had two or three more of him.’ ”
The slow-moving NCAA ruled Miller ineligible for the 2023 college football season long after the deadline to declare for the 2023 NFL Draft, and it subsequently was determined that he unknowingly has been an NFL free agent for the last year and is not a part of the 2024 draft class, according to an On3.com report.
At South Carolina’s recent pro day, Miller lived up to his “Turbo” nickname by running a 4.27-second 40-yard dash to go with 28 reps on the 225-bench press — both of which would have been the top marks for running backs if he was at the NFL Combine.
Signing a contract now gives Miller a jump-start on the overflow of players who will go undrafted later this month and be searching for free-agent contracts and tryout opportunities.
He can participate in the offseason program with the rest of the Giants beginning April 15.
NCAA eligibility mistake ruined his chances of being in either the
2023 or 2024 NFL Draft. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“It’s low-risk [investment] when you sign him as a free agent,” Bagnoli said. “But he’s zero risk. He’ll represent the place unbelievably, and I don’t say that lightly.”
Miller accidentally burned his final year of eligibility playing sparingly in 2022 when South Carolina’s compliance department reportedly thought he had two years remaining after one of his four Ivy League seasons was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It turned out that he had two years to play one (and redshirt one), but the delayed ruling landed after he competed in South Carolina’s practices last spring.
“That baffled me,” Bagnoli said. “We loved the kid and were trying to make sure we did right by him. I felt so strongly about that second year that I had told him to stay with us for one more year, carry the ball 200 times and you’ll still have another year.”
Miller hung around the SEC program last fall but didn’t have the film to get noticed by many scouts because he carried just six times for 38 yards and played special teams in 2022.
But NFL scouts always are on the lookout for explosiveness.
“He’s very smooth — not herky-jerky at all — and you don’t realize how fast he’s running until defenders that have really good angles can’t touch him,” Bagnoli said. “You’d run an innocent middle-zone or outside-stretch play, and all of a sudden the safety takes one wrong step. He’s not a good kid to try to play catch-up to.”
Bagnoli credits the woman that Miller calls “mom” for teaching him to value education — he is a Columbia graduate — and handle adversity in stride.
Miller was abandoned by his birth mother when he was 2 years old and put into the Connecticut foster care system, according to On3.com.
Antoinette Flowers, his birth mother’s first cousin, ultimately gained custody and raised him apart from the siblings who grew up under his late grandmother’s watch.
“For the hurdles and challenges that he’s had growing up, he’s remained remarkably positive,” Bagnoli said. “He’s never down — that’s his personality. He was disappointed when that thing happened at South Carolina, but he put his mind to training for his pro day.”
Miller visited with the Giants earlier this week and reportedly had other visits scheduled but was enticed by the chance to return to the familiar New York area.
He joins a running back mix led by Devin Singletary in front of fellow unproven youngsters Gary Brightwell, Eric Gray, Jashuan Corbin and Deon Jackson.
He also could emerge as an option as a returner.
“He’s very prideful, and he has an abundance of self-confidence,” Bagnoli said. “He felt he could compete [in the SEC], but once that second year didn’t materialize, that got a little bit murky.”
