Ohio State football: Ryan Day praises Harry Miller’s courage

“When I think about the whole situation, the thing that makes me the most proud is the work that Harry did to get to this point,” Day said. “He certainly wasn’t where he is right now a year ago, and he did the work. What we did is put structures in place to help him and to help all of our players.

“It’s just like if somebody tears their ACL or sprains their ankle, they need physical therapy. We just put the structure together and are proud that he’s in a better place now than he was certainly at this point last year.”

Miller announced March 10 he was “medically retiring” from football to focus on his mental health, but his story reached a wider audience Monday when he appeared on NBC’s “Today” show.

“I guess I’ve always been anxious and depressed,” Miller told the show’s cast.

Miller starred at Buford High School in Georgia and became class valedictorian, but he found new challenges at Ohio State.

Buckeye football players have long lived under a microscope, and social media has only increased the magnification for today’s players. Twitter also gives fans the ability to reach out directly to players who have a presence there, and the results are often not pretty.

“As a student-athlete, you play a game -- perhaps it’s a hard game, you made a lot of mistakes -- and people will send you messages saying, ‘Transfer. You suck,’” said Miller, who was a five-star recruit who entered the starting lineup as a sophomore in 2020. “Some people got death threats that I know on the team. I’m trying to text my mom (and) that’s the first thing I see.”

He tried to push through but found the negativity mounting as the season went on.

“You can’t worry about it too much because you’ve got an exam the next day, and so you have that for weeks and months, and by the end of the semester, you’re like, ‘What is happening right now?’” Miller said. “It just breaks my heart.”

Helping players maintain mental health has become a major focus across college athletics, but it is a personal cause for Day because he lost his father to suicide when Day was young.

He acknowledged that might have made a difference when it came to Miller deciding he had somewhere to turn when he was struggling last fall.

“I try not to make it about me,” Day said. “This is about Harry, and this is about his journey.

“I just see the the courage to go step out and do that because you’re very vulnerable when you do something like this. You’re a football player and somebody who’s 6-5 and 320 pounds and valedictorian of his high school, you think everything’s just real easy — it’s not that way. There’s a lot that goes with that.

“So seeing him do that has been great, but I am proud that he was able to step out and ask for the help, and then he went to do the work. That’s the hard part. I think you certainly have to have the courage to say something and ask for help, but then you got to go do the work — Wake up every day — and he’s done that, so it’s great to see that.”

Miller remains part of the football program, but in what capacity remains to be seen.

He indicated on “Today” he wants to use his experience and his platform to make a difference for others and let them know help is out there.

“While I was going through therapy, I was seeing stories of Miss Americas and athletes all over the board (going through what I was), and I just kept thinking, ‘If somebody would just say something,’” Miller said. “And I’m just really grateful that I was able to have received the care and love and affection that I did so that I could.”