“SLAM!” I suddenly woke up with a jolt of surprise. I look up to my angry geometry teacher Ms. Bortles. “Why are you sleeping David, is my class not exciting enough?” I briefly thought in my mind about how boring this class actually is. I just sat there as Ms. Bortles walked away and all I could think about was the loud bell signaling my freedom from this wretched class. A note was passed to me that said “Can I get an autograph from your dad?” My dad was an NFL quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and he lead them to a couple of Super Bowl victories. Around here in San Francisco, my last name “Miller” was a common household name because of my dad. The city loves my dad and with that for me comes, “Expectations”.

All I have been raised on was football and all I can remember as a child was football. Since my dad was an NFL superstar, that means I had to be too. There was always that constant reminder of how great I should be at the quarterback position when I was in college, but truly football became boring to me because I felt burnt out. Days came and went and my feeling stayed the same. The season for St. Lucas football came and went and then all the football letters came in. It felt like the whole country mailed me. My father and I sorted through them all and picked a couple front runners and my father said to me, “son, I know it seems like I have expected this to happen but I am proud of you for sticking with this sport. I went through the same thing at your age and football taught me so many lessons and that’s why I came to love it. I hope you will too.” That was the first time I ever heard my dad tell me he was proud of me and I didn’t know what to say. I guess my old man was right about what football teaches you and I started to realize that I started to love this sport again. I mean it taught discipline, loyalty, pride, and so many other valuable lessons.

I took the sport serious after that and trained hard. I cut all college football letters to three, Alabama, Florida St, and UCLA. All of these schools showed great potential to me but I decided to stay in California and go the University of UCLA. I went through college breaking records for most yards thrown and touchdowns. My senior year, we won the BCS national championship game and I declared for the NFL Draft.

I was predicted to be the first overall pick in the draft and to me that felt like my dreams were coming true. As I was sitting at my table at the NFL Draft, I thought back to all the great memories I shared with this sport and I learned to never take your gifts for granted because you will never know where it will take you. From boring old Ms. Bortles geometry class to the million of college letters, there is a lesson to be learned in life. Maybe it’s not clear to you at the time but it’s always there, waiting for you to take your next step in life. Then I realized why my parents had “expectations” for me. They knew my potential and they wanted me to succeed with it. Then I heard, “With the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers select, David Miller.”