Now healthy, true freshman WR DJ Miller is making plays for Kentucky's offense

DJ Miller was a significant recruiting win for Kentucky as a borderline top 500 prospect. Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and UCLA were all schools that wanted the St. Louis native on their rosters. But Miller landed with the Wildcats, and now that he’s fully healthy, we’re seeing why he was such a sought-after recruit.

In just his second career college game, the true freshman looked like a veteran against Tennessee on Saturday. He caught five balls on five targets for 120 yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns from his quarterback. It came in a loss as Kentucky fell 56-34, but Miller helped fuel an offense that showed life against a quality opponent for the first time all season.

“It was really good to see DJ,” Head coach Mark Stoops said postgame. “Five targets, five catches, 120 yards, and two touchdowns. That’s encouraging. Because again, the quarterback-receiver-explosive guy, it’s been a while, so that’s good to see that.”

Miller’s first touchdown pass came on a 56-yarder via quarterback Cutter Boley that he ran down the sideline for. He followed it up with a 28-yard catch through traffic in the third quarter, toe-tapping his feet just within the out-of-bounds line. Miller became just the seventh Kentucky freshman with a 100-yard receiving game.

DJ Miller with the 56 yard touchdown. pic.twitter.com/OOeyobSGcY

— Rare Rookies #BBN (@rarerookies) October 26, 2025

.@cutterBoley is the first freshman QB in school history to throw four touchdowns in a single game.

📺 – SEC Network pic.twitter.com/yxNR9mKrBn

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) October 26, 2025

Miller made his college debut last week against Texas, which boasts one of college football’s top defenses. The 6-foot-3 receiver only caught two balls for 13 yards in that one. But he’s quickly finding his groove and was the preferred target for Boley, also a freshman, against the Volunteers.

“It’s just always hard to know with a true freshman in this league until they actually get out there and do it,” Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said. “If the moment’s ever too big or it’s not. He’s a guy who’s a confident kid, he’s been working his tail off for the last two, three weeks to get this opportunity and I’m extremely proud of him.”

Miller knew he had this kind of production in him. “It was just a matter of when,” he said of his breakout performance after the Tennessee game. Earlier this week, Miller explained to reporters that he went down with a quad injury just a couple of weeks before the season began. He pulled the same quad again ahead of the Toledo season-opener and wasn’t officially ready to play until the Georgia game earlier this month.

But he’s 100 percent healthy now — and eager to win ball games.

“As a true freshman coming in making plays, I feel like it was cool,” Miller said of his play against Tennessee. “But I’m not celebrating anything if we don’t come out with the win. I won’t be celebrating anything tonight.”

Kentucky’s season isn’t going as anyone had hoped for, but Miller is among the few young talents on this roster getting better with every passing week.

“We feel like we got a very bright future,” Miller said.

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