Tajavis Miller comes from a family of athletes; his mother played softball at the University of Iowa and his father played football at Iowa Wesleyan University.
Miller grew up in different places. He was born in Georgia and lived there until he was six, when he moved to North Dakota, then Iowa, then California and finally to Texas when he was a sophomore and finished high school there.
Miller moved around a lot due to his mother coaching softball for different schools including North Dakota State University, Iowa State University, Loyola Marymount University and Texas Tech University. His mother currently coaches at East Texas A&M University.
Miller discovered his love for the game of basketball through his father — Miller would watch games and play basketball video games and from there decided to give it a try. While finding his love for the game, Miller took a liking to the Los Angeles Lakers and his favorite player was none other than the late-great Kobe Bryant. Miller also played football but decided to pursue basketball.
“I got to a certain age where I was able to make the decision of which one I wanted to play more, (I) was in a tough conference in California and just seeing the size of those guys, (I) just realized football wasn’t for me,” Miller said.
Growing up in a family of athletes and taking up a sport himself, Miller had certain morals instilled in him from a young age.
“Never give up, just keep doing what I do. If I love something and I want to achieve something, do anything I can to achieve that,” Miller said.
When Miller finished his high school career, he decided to take his talents back to North Dakota to play for North Dakota State. He spent three seasons at NDSU and spent some time rotating in and out of the starting lineup, making an impact whenever he could. In his last season with the Bison, Miller won Summit League Sixth Man of the Year.
“It was a good experience, got a lot of good memories out there, met a lot of good people, was able to reconnect with some people that I knew from when I lived there from a young age,” Miller said.
Miller joined the University of New Mexico this past offseason, and to say he has made an impact would be an understatement. Miller is a spark plug off the bench for the Lobos, playing like a swiss army knife whenever he is on the court. He is always active, whether it is draining shots from the corner, playing lockdown defense or hustling on every play — Miller is always doing something.
“The coaches say I have a contagious personality, so I try and bring that onto the court whenever I get out there to help the other guys,” Miller said. “If I bring energy it helps the other guys bring energy so I just try and embrace that and do that for those guys.”
Rodney Prunty is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @rprunty05
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