Brandon Miller opens up about lessons learned, mental health after investigation

Former Alabama freshman Brandon Miller quickly rose to the top of college hoops as one of the best players in the country. And then he stayed in the collective college sporting conscious after it was revealed he had been present at and allegedly inadvertently ferried a gun to a January shooting in Tuscaloosa that left 25-year-old Jamea Harris dead.

Darius Miles, a teammate of Miller’s at Alabama, has been charged along with another person for the shooting. Miles is charged with capital murder and was denied bond on Wednesday by a judge.

Miller has not faced any criminal charges as a result of the shooting an investigation, continuing to play for Alabama through the end of the season before entering the 2023 NBA Draft. Now a potential Top 3 pick, Miller spoke with Stadium’s Shams Charania about his time under the microscope.

“It’s definitely a learning lesson. You can clearly see that your career can change in a heartbeat. And one thing I’ve learned is you always gotta be aware of your surroundings and where you’re at, at all times,” Miller said.

Miller also shared that he started regularly meeting with a counselor amid the furor surrounding him. The teen was suddenly at the center of the biggest story in college sports with every single action under a microscope, for better or worse.

While it was a bit of a foreign experience at first, Miller quickly warmed to his counselor and finds the value in it to this day.

“Definitely. It kind of brought me to be the guy who I am. Just to have a confidence to talk to counselors. Because I’ve never really opened up to anyone about anything to, now I’ve got a counselor,” Miller said. “Feel like everybody should have a counselor to talk to. At first at was hard and it felt kind of weird, just I really didn’t know this person, what can they do for me? And then after a while, you start loosening up and just getting comfortable with your counselor and start building a bond outside of just counseling. I know my counselor came to basketball games, she knew I was a big Alabama football fan, so she was always asking me about Alabama football. So it’s not all about what happens on the court, I think it’s kind of a life experience.”

Miller is projected to be either the second or third selection in the 2023 NBA Draft.