Blake Miller brims with 'gratitude' as Detroit Lions' top draft pick

"He preached not quitting, he preached toughness, and I feel like that kind of stuck with me," he said. "You wanna be a guy who's tough. You want to be a guy who has grit. You want to be a guy who's gonna finish and not gonna crumble when stuff gets hard."

The wrestling background has played a major role in Miller's career. It taught him leverage and other physical tools that translate to being an offensive lineman, of course, but the part about finishing came up over and over again in comments from coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes on Thursday night when discussing the pick.

That's another area where he shows off the intangibles that the Lions are getting in the 6-foot-6¾, 317-pounder who became the Lions' latest first-round pick on Thursday night. As Miller put it himself when being introduced on Friday afternoon in Allen Park, "It doesn't take any God-given ability to be a guy who finishes."

"Like, it's a mentality, it's a mindset. ... You'd get called out (at Clemson) if you were the guy who was letting guys come off blocks. It was expected that you're finishing your block all the way down the field," Miller said.

Miller has said all the right things about his fit in Detroit since being selected, both in Thursday's initial Zoom press conference and during the in-person press conference on Friday. But Kylie confirmed those very real feelings in a video of Miller's draft call that Clemson Athletics posted on social media Thursday night. When Kylie hears Miller say the words, "Coach Campbell," her face lights up.

As for the clips he was taking in on Thursday night, Miller said, "Everything he says gets you fired up."

"You listen to him speak and you can hear the passion in his voice, you can hear the care in his voice, and that resonates with me," Miller said. "It just gets me fired up. It gets me ready to go."

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

@nolanbianchi

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Blake Miller brims with 'gratitude' as Detroit Lions' top draft pick