Unfinished business fuels Kent State All-American Ian Miller during senior season

Ian Miller (Kent State) at the 2015 NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo. Photo: Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com

Last March, Ian Miller exited the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. with his second NCAA All-American trophy. However, the joy of his fifth-place trophy paled in comparison to the weight of unfinished business clinging to his back.


The 157-pound quarterfinal match between Kent State’s Miller and Brian Realbuto of Cornell was the talk of the 2015 NCAA Championships.


After stunning Miller with two takedowns in the waning moments of regulation, subsequently followed by a takedown in the first 17 seconds of overtime, it was Realbuto with his hand being raised in victory.


Following the match, it was determined a scoring error kept a Miller escape point off the board, ultimately costing the electric Kent State star a return trip to the NCAA semifinals.


“The biggest adversity [I have faced] is, no doubt, nationals last year and just having to get through that, keep my head up and keep pushing through,” said Miller.


Miller was forced with a choice, rebound quickly, or fail to reach his goal of becoming an All-American. For him, there was only one option.


“Growing up, all the great coaches I’ve had, they taught me to always look at the bright side and push through. If you don’t get a call, you can’t complain about it or get mad. My dad always says ‘you just have to grit your teeth and keep going,’” said Miller.


After reeling off three wins in his last four matches of the tournament, Miller finished fifth, to accompany his fourth place finish from 2014.


Entering his senior campaign for the Golden Flashes, Miller is motivated. He has developed a new game plan to put himself in the best position possible to win a NCAA title.


“It fuels me for this season,” Miller said. “The biggest thing this year is I’m going to control every match. I’m not going to let the match get out of hand where that kind of thing can happen again. This year I’m controlling my matches the way I want them to be wrestled. I’m going to make it my style, my way of wrestling.”


Regarding style, Miller is billed as of the most exciting wrestlers to watch on the collegiate level. He places a strong emphasis on high-flying techniques and can finish a match in a hurry.


“I formed my own style around watching other guys and seeing moves they hit, then tweaking them to make them unique to me. It just so happened that I liked throwing people and hitting big moves more than I liked hitting the simple basic moves, which I still like to hit when I need to, but if I can, I like to go big,” said Miller.


One of the more memorable Miller moments came in the finals of the 2014 University National Championships in Akron, Ohio.


Entering the best-of-three championship series against four-time NCAA All-American Tyler Caldwell, Miller was considered by most a slight underdog. Two matches, two falls and 68 seconds later, Miller silenced his doubters and emerged a University Nationals champion.


“When I won University Nationals, having to win it best out of three matches, I’ve never had to do a best-of-three, that was one of my more special moments in wrestling,” said Miller.


Making matters all the more special for Miller, his uncle Zeb Miller was on site in Akron conducting post-match interviews with tournament champions for Flowrestling. Zeb is one of the more passionate wrestling journalists on the scene today. He lives in Kent, Ohio, close to nephew Ian, and adds another layer to Miller’s relationship with wrestling.


“If I ever need anything and I don’t want to go to my parents, I can hit up Zeb, or we can go get dinner or something, so it’s really cool to have him close and have him so involved with wrestling. I always know the scoop with what’s going on in the wrestling world,” said Miller.


This season, Miller has the opportunity to become only the eighth wrestler in history to win four Mid-American Conference championships. He would join Brent Thompson (1998-2001) and Dustin Kilgore (2009-2013) as the only Kent State wrestlers to achieve this feat.


“I don’t know how many people have won four MAC titles, and coming in, winning one as a freshman, and being able to do it every year since is pretty special, especially when our conference just keeps getting tougher and tougher,” said Miller.


Miller won his first MAC title as a true freshman in 2012 at 149 pounds. In addition, he qualified for his first NCAA Championships where he posted a 1-2 record.


“I came into college and saw that we had a pretty good lineup and could potentially win a MAC title. I thought I was good enough, and the coaches did, that I could come in and start right off the bat and I had a pretty successful year,” said Miller.


Following what many would describe as quite the successful true freshman campaign, Miller elected to take a redshirt and focus on becoming a complete wrestler.


“Just being athletic like I was in high school wasn’t going to get the job done in college,” Miller said. “I had to learn a lot of mat awareness. My redshirt year I learned to mat wrestle and just compete.”


Notching back-to-back All-American seasons after his redshirt year, Miller appears poised to make a serious push at a NCAA championship.


He is fresh off a dominating first-place finish at the always-tough Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational where he outscored his opponents by a combined 49-15 margin en route to the title.


Miller is currently ranked No. 2 at 157 pounds in all the major polls behind NCAA champion Isaiah Martinez of Illinois who went undefeated last year as a freshman during his title run. Martinez is the first wrestler to go undefeated as a freshman since Cael Sanderson did so for Iowa State during the 1998-99 season.


The mission to dethrone Martinez looms large for the Kent State senior, but it is a challenge Miller is seeking.


Miller simply stated, “It’s going to be a war.”