ROSE BOWL SHOWDOWN / UCLA vs. USC : Miller’s Tale : Linebacker Works Out Legal Troubles and Makes Impact on Field for UCLA

The football field is his refuge. Reporters can’t talk to him there, and he’s out of reach of critics, coaches and temptation.

There, he can set aside his problems, many of them, admittedly, self-induced. When Jamir Miller was kept off the field by UCLA officials, those problems were heavy.

“I live under a microscope,” he says. “Football is an outlet for me for getting rid of stress.”

Little was more stressful than being denied the outlet, as he was, from last spring until September, until problems with the law could be worked out. He is on probation now for carrying a gun and for pleading no-contest to charges of receiving stolen property, and UCLA held him out of its season-opening game against California.

The one-game sentence was handed down after school authorities were told by another student that Miller had been duped in the incident. His roommate last year, nose guard Bruce Walker, was suspended for the season.

It’s an incident that surprises those who knew Miller at El Cerrito, where he attended high school, sent by a mother who wanted him away from the problems of his Oakland neighborhood.

But then again, maybe they aren’t so surprised.

“He’s a good kid, but he’s quiet and I can see somebody in the crowd saying, ‘Let’s do something,’ and Jamir saying, ‘OK,’ ” says Frank Milo, El Cerrito’s coach. “He’s a follower, not a leader.”

Milo wrote as much in a letter to a judge on Miller’s behalf.

Miller says he understands--now.

“They can’t take away my life, but they are paying for school, paying for everything,” he says. “That gives them jurisdiction as to how you carry yourself in public. I can’t fault them. I just want to go on with my life.

“And football is a big part of my life.”

He is a big part of UCLA football.

“He’s a player, I think, who has made a tremendous difference in their defense,” says Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder, whose team beat the Bruins last Saturday, 9-3. Miller did not play in that game because of a pinched nerve in his neck that shot pain down his left arm.

Miller has excelled at rushing the passer. He has 10 1/2 sacks and leads the Bruins, as he has for the last two seasons.

He is called a linebacker, but really plays at defensive end, in a three-point stance. Pro scouts look at Miller and wonder. They are impressed with his size, 6 feet 4 and 233 pounds, and his speed and quickness, but the pro linebacker stands on two feet, now going forward in a pass rush, then retreating in pass defense.

“He has the speed and skills to play stand-up. We just happen to have him down,” says UCLA defensive coordinator Bob Field, who also coached NFL linebackers Marvcus Patton of the Buffalo Bills, Roman Phifer of the Rams and Carnell Lake of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “Jamir will show the pros through their tests that he has that ability.”

But, says Miller, a junior who was accelerated through elementary school and won’t be 20 until Friday, that won’t be for a while.

“No,” he says when asked about making himself available for the NFL draft after this season. “If I was going to, it’s a decision I would have already made. I’m going to stay in school.”

He is concentrating on plays, not plans.

“You have to beat the guy in front of you before you worry about anything else,” he says. “When you see a guy getting knocked back five or 10 yards, it’s because he was concentrating on getting the running back or the quarterback and not on beating the blocker first. It’s how you get embarrassed. Every football player gets embarrassed sometimes, and if they say they haven’t, they’re lying. The game is personal.”

Playing USC is personal, too, because he has friends and acquaintances there, including his pass-rushing counterpart, Willie McGinest, his host on a recruiting trip. They seldom see each other but were thrown together on the telephone Monday by a mutual friend and talked about the game and their lives.

But the rivalry between the schools is for the alumni and fans. Having the Rose Bowl at stake Saturday is more important.

“It’s the reason I’m here,” Miller says. “I wanted to play in the Pac-10 or the Big Ten so I could play in the Rose Bowl.

“I can’t get caught up in SC-UCLA. It’s a good game, a cross-town rivalry and I don’t look down on it. I’m excited to be playing in it, but I can’t get over-excited. I can’t get caught up in the hype. I can’t get too emotional, because emotion lasts only about two minutes in a football game. The other 58 minutes, you’ve got a job to do.”

Besides, talk is private, personal, on the field and off.

“Some tackles who are blocking me talk a lot,” he says. “I don’t. I feel like the game is played with pads, not with the mouth. I figure the pads leave a more lasting impression than the mouth.”

Playing USC is appealing. The Trojans are beginning to run the ball better, but their forte all season has been Rob Johnson’s passing. Passing is Miller’s game, too. He practices thwarting it. He watches the pro game, paying special attention to those who excel in rushing the quarterback, borrowing their best moves and adapting them to his game.

“I probably can prepare a little better for a passing team than for a running team,” he says. “The running game, that’s just tackling.”

He does it well enough to be a finalist for the Butkus Award, which honors the best linebacker in the country. It’s something he wants, if not this season, then next.

“It’s not a real big deal, but it’s something I would like to have,” he says. “It’s something I would like to give my mom to say, ‘I was the best at something.’

“I’m a good student, but not the best student. I’m a good driver, but not the best driver. Everybody wants to be the best at something.”

For now, it is enough to be the best on Saturday, when a prophecy could be fulfilled.

“Losing would be the worst thing I would have experienced,” he says. “Finally, we are in a position to go to the Rose Bowl.

“When I got here, I told Coach (Terry) Donahue that we would go to the Rose Bowl by ’93 if we got some more good players to surround those who were here. We have. I don’t know what made me say that, but I did, and we’re there.”