LOS ANGELES TIMES 1994 : ALL-Ventura / County Football Team : Player of the Year : Caught in the Spothlight, Miller Beats Naysayers

Billy Miller brought this on himself.

By catching 83 passes for 1,431 yards as a junior last season--and by being 6 feet 4 and 215 pounds--the Westlake High wide receiver put himself in the spotlight.

Which made him that much easier a target.

“I think last year people were coming to watch me succeed, and this year people were coming to watch me fail,” Miller said. “It kind of sounds weird, but this year they were saying, ‘I wonder if he can this and do that.’ ”

Despite being the focal point of every opponent’s defensive scheme, Miller did all that was asked of him. In 12 games, he caught 67 passes for 1,057 yards, leading the county in both categories. He also caught 14 touchdown passes on his way to becoming The Times’ 1994 Ventura County player of the year.

“There was never a time where a team just shut him down,” Westlake quarterback Scott Spruill said. “Even if they triple-covered him.”

Miller’s numbers were down from last year, but that can be attributed to his talent, too. Teams focused so much on stopping Miller, they opened up options for the rest of the offense.

Fellow receiver Mike Leibin caught 37 passes for 568 yards. Running backs Craig Walendy, Jamal Harris and Jason Victor rushed for a combined 1,927 yards.

“Just Billy Miller’s being on the field opened up a lot of doors for the running game and other stuff,” said Buena Coach Rick Scott, whose team lost, 38-7, to Westlake in the season opener. “He was, without a doubt, the biggest threat you had to defend against in the county.”

Miller finished his three-year varsity career with 180 catches for 2,946 yards and 33 touchdowns.

But now that he is out of the cross-hairs of high school cornerbacks, he has college coaches breathing down his neck. Because of his size, speed and sure hands, Miller has been listed among the top high school receiver prospects in the nation.

Miller has already visited Washington, and he will also visit USC, UCLA and Colorado, and possibly Arizona State.

“I’m a little nervous,” Miller said. “I want to pick the right thing. This could be the biggest decision I’ll make in my life, spending four or five years in one place, playing football and getting an education.

I’m going to go in with an open mind and see where I feel the most comfortable and see where it goes from there.”