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On Wednesday the Pittsburgh Steelers announced the signing of a pair of free agents, namely, linebacker Jarvis Miller and wide receiver Mathew Sexton, the latter of whom was discovered at Michigan State’s Pro Day on March 24, where he ran a “low 4.3” 40-yard dash.
As for Miller—6-foot-2, 220 pounds—he worked out at UMass’s Pro Day on March 25, as he played his final college season (2019) as a graduate student at UMass, this after graduating from Penn State with a degree in criminology in December 2018.
In his lone season at UMass Miller appeared in 12 games (11 starts), and was fourth on the team with 60 tackles. He was also responsible for 4.5 tackles for loss, one sack and a quarterback hurry. After the season he was named Phil Steele All-Independent Second Team (Linebacker).
Jarvis Miller’s Career at Penn State
Yet Miller wasn’t quite as productive at Penn State. After redshirting his freshman year, he appeared in 33 games between 2016-18, finishing his Nittany Lions career with 23 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, one pass defensed and one fumble recovery, having made the transition from defensive back to linebacker in 2016.
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In a 2018 game against the Pitt Panthers, Miller recovered a fumbled punt snap that helped propel Penn State to a 51-6 victory.
All told, the Suffield, Conn. native finished his college career with 83 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Coming out of high school he was a 3-star prospect and a top-6 prospect in the state of Connecticut.
He is now pursuing a Master’s of Education in Learning, Media & Technology from the University of Massachusetts College of Education. He is also a friend of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, as well as the godfather to Barkley’s daughter. (Miller and Barkley were teammates at Penn State before the latter was selected No. 2 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Giants.)
Miller can be found on Twitter at @Jarvis_9.
The Steelers Have Signed 3 Players from the Class of 2020
Miller and Sexton are the second and third players Pittsburgh has signed from the Class of 2020, bringing its total number of players under contract to 68.
A week ago the Steelers inked former University of Georgia wide receiver Tyler Simmons, who went undrafted last year after Georgia’s Pro Day was cancelled due to the pandemic. Simmons did sign with the Houston Texas as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 Draft and subsequently spent two weeks on Houston’s practice squad, but that was as far as he made it.
Meanwhile, it’s no surprise that the Steelers are continuing to look for linebacker help as Pittsburgh has lost three members of its 2020 linebacker corps. Early in free agency outside linebacker Bud Dupree went to the Tennessee Titans on a five year, $82.5 million contract. Shortly afterwards, reserve Ola Adeniyi also agreed to terms with the Titans. The Steelers also terminated the contract of veteran inside linebacker Vince Williams, making the former Florida State product an unrestricted free agent.
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