Taylor Miller, a 6-foot-2 guard from Las Vegas, has been practicing with the BYU basketball team since he returned from a church mission to North Carolina late last year.
The former prep star at Nevada’s Palo Verde High School who signed with Southern Utah in November of 2015 when Nick Robinson was the head coach must have impressed Dave Rose, because the Cougars’ coach announced Wednesday that Miller will be added to the roster for the 2019-20 season.
Miller will be considered a redshirt freshman next fall. He will be a non-scholarship roster player, a BYU basketball spokesperson said.
Miller has been sitting behind BYU’s bench during recent home games with Gonzaga transfer Jesse Wade, who will become eligible to play in 2019-20 as well.
The other new players will be former Cal signee Trevin Knell, a Woods Cross High product who is nearing the end of a mission in Uruguay, and current high school players Benardo Da Silva and Shengzhe Li.
Like Da Silva and Li, Timpview’s Nate Hansen also signed with BYU last November, but will go on a church mission before enrolling. Da Silva, from Brazil, plays at Wasatch Academy and Li, from China, plays at Santa Margarita Catholic in California.
Two seniors on this year’s team — center/forward Luke Worthington and guard McKay Cannon — will exhaust their eligibility, while junior forward Yoeli Childs quite likely will leave early for professional basketball. Childs has said he will decide after testing the NBA draft waters and getting advice from various experts, just as he did last year before deciding to return.
Junior guard Jahshire Hardnett could also leave a year early as a possible graduate transfer.
Miller played for the Las Vegas Prospects, a traveling AAU team, prior to his church mission and senior season at Palo Verde, the school that also produced former BYU guard Michael Loyd Jr.
As a senior, Miller led the state in scoring with a 27.0 average and also averaged 3.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.3 steals per game. He earned all-state first-team honors from USA Today and NevadaPreps.com and a spot on the Las Vegas Sun’s Super Seven.
He averaged 14.2 points his junior year and helped Palo Verde get to the Division I state championship game.
