
DATE: Thursday, September 25, 1997          TAG: 9709250553

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  104 lines

MEET KEVIN MILLER. HE'S A GOOD GOLFER. AND MAYBE EVEN A BETTER KICKER. THAT'S WHY HE FEELS HIS FUTURE LIES IN TEEING IT UP ON THE GRIDIRON

Football or golf? The NFL or the PGA Tour?

It's always been one or the other in Kevin Miller's dreams.

Last year it was the PGA. This year the Salem High senior leans toward the NFL.

What changed his mind? Three sand shots and three putts.

On the same hole.

``A round buster,'' Miller called Monday's double-bogey 7 on the par-5 15th at Kempsville Greens.

That one hole didn't totally alter his thinking. He bounced back to shoot a 65.

But it was, after all, just a practice round. Do that under tournament conditions, against a tougher setup and facing pressure that squeezes the air from your lungs and you could be looking at a 73.

``I've played in a lot of national tournaments and in golf there are probably thousands of guys as good as I am,'' he said. ``I haven't seen as many high school kickers, but I can't imagine there are 50 or 100 with the same ability as me.

``I guess I feel like I have a little better chance of success in football.''

Long off the tee describes Miller in both sports. But while distance guarantees nothing in golf - in a recent round at Red Wing he made four birdies, all on two putts - it can be a meal ticket in football.

Miller leads South Hampton Roads in kick scoring - 15 points - and punting - 39.5-yard average. His 102 kicking points and 21 field goals - are thought to be career records for the area.

But it's his kickoffs, Miller believes, that one day could him make him a valuable performer in college and, perhaps, the NFL.

``A lot of kids can kick field goals,'' said Miller, whose longest career field goal is 46 yards. ``But if you can kick off in the end zone 95 percent of the time, it's a big, big deal. My teammates love it when I kick it in there and they don't have to do anything.''

Miller's percentage isn't 95 percent, but it's not bad, either. He's found the end zone on eight of his last 11 kickoffs.

Said Salem football coach Bill McTyre, ``Kevin shortens the field.''

Miller's leg strength is an outgrowth of his soccer days. He was a key member of Al Albert's Williamsburg Wizards elite travel team, but gave up travel soccer last spring to concentrate on golf.

Miller has played on the Virginia State Golf Association junior team the past three years and has the 12 shirts, three golf bags and miscellaneous head covers - all free - to prove it.

But in the area that counts - tournament victories - he's winless since last year's Eastern Region tournament.

In the 1996 state tournament, he was two under par through 11 and played the next five holes in five over. He lost the championship in a playoff.

In the VSGA state junior tournament this summer he shot a first-round 69 and came back with a 77.

Miller's goal this fall is to medal in the Beach District, Eastern Region and state tournaments and he appears to be rounding into championship form. He followed Monday's 65 with a 66 on Tuesday in a Beach District match.

Miller dedicated the season to his uncle, Dennis Drucker, who passed away in March. Drucker lived in California and Miller visited him annually, getting to play courses such as Spyglass Hill.

``He was my golf mentor,'' Miller said. ``I know he would want me to play well.''

Yet it was Drucker's friendship with Green Bay Packers' receivers coach Gil Haskell that helped steer Miller toward a football career.

Miller attended the Packers' May '96 minicamp at Drucker's invitation and spent four days last July at training camp.

``I stayed in the dorm with the players, ate lunch with the players. It was an incredible experience getting to talk to Brett Favre and Reggie White,'' he said.

Miller worked out with the kickers and received his first formal training as a punter. The benefits were immediate; he's averaging 5 yards per kick longer than last season.

Scholarships for kickers are scarce and Miller's only offers have come in golf, from Virginia Tech and Marshall.

However, North Carolina and Wake Forest are recruiting him as a kicker and two weeks ago he made an unofficial visit to Chapel Hill.

``I haven't talked to the golf coaches at either school, but the football coaches are willing to let me play both sports,'' he said. ``Virginia Tech wants me for golf only.

``If I play both sports football will take control.''

That's partly because to play both sports the NCAA requires that he be on a football scholarship.

But mostly it gets back to that competitive streak he mentioned before.

``The guys playing golf at Wake and UNC live and die for the sport,'' Miller said. ``They practice every day and I couldn't do that.''

Wherever Miller goes and whichever sport he plays the school that gets him can look forward to one thing, said Keith Barry, Miller's teammate on the Salem golf team.

``We've been friends for five years,'' Barry said, ``and with Kevin I expect nothing but the best.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

IAN MARTIN, The Virginian-Pilot

Salem's Kevin Miller won the region golf title and lost the state

crown in a playoff. ``We've been friends for five years,'' says

teammate Keith Barry, left, ``and with Kevin I expect nothing but

the best.''

Miller leads South Hampton Roads in kick scoring and routinely sends

his kickoffs into the end zone. ``I can't imagine there are 50 or

100 with the same ability as me,'' he says.