CLEMSON — One might think, winning an ACC Championship and clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff, on the leg of a freshman kicker, might be Blake Miller’s favorite moment in the 54 games he started at Clemson.

If you did, you would be wrong.

Moments after becoming the first Clemson offensive lineman to be selected in the first round of an NFL Common Draft, Miller said it was the Tigers’ victory at Pittsburgh, in that same championship season, that stood out the most to him.

“Our left tackle had gotten hurt, so after the first play of the game, I had to switch over to left tackle and our right guard, who I was very close with, had to bump out to right tackle,” Miller said Thursday night after being picked No. 17 overall by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

Elyjah Thurmon was the left tackle that went down on the first offensive play that chilly November afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pa. Thurmon’s injury had Clemson scrambling on the offensive line. As Miller said, he moved over to left tackle, while Walker Parks kicked outside to right tackle, a spot he had not played since he was an underclassman.

Trent Howard had to slide in at one of the guard spots, while Harris Sewell was at the other. Ryan Linthicum was the only starter in his usual spot that afternoon. Yet, Clemson found a way to beat Pitt, 24-20, helping them advance to the ACC Championship Game.

“It was kind of a back-and-forth game. There was a lot of grit shown by our defense and shown by our offense and we ended up winning the game,” Miller recalled. “After the game and celebrating with everyone and looking at (Parks), who had to play tackle in that game and saying, ‘Man! We did it!’ and giving him a big hug. It is moments like that, I really cherish those.”

As he begins his NFL career with the Lions, Miller says it was the culture head coach Dabo Swinney built at Clemson that allowed him and others to succeed in moments like at Pittsburgh. And it is that culture that made him a first-round pick and has him ready to play in the NFL.

“The culture Coach Swinney has I can’t say enough good things about,” Miller said. “As a player, he really emphasized finishing, finishing blocks, getting to the ball, making sure you were getting down the field. You never saw anyone walking down the field.

“Physicality, obviously, Coach emphasized that one a lot. Aggression, being the toughest team on the field – those were really emphasized to me.”

It was not just on the playing field that Swinney emphasizes those things. He also wants his players to have the same attitude off the field and in life – attack the moment and be the best person they can humanly be.

“As a person, just genuinely being a good human being, making sure you are doing what you are supposed to and not just on the football field and in the film room, but off the field and engaging with community. In general, just being the best person, you can be,” Miller said.

Those are the traits that got Miller to the NFL, and it was those same qualities that made him the first Clemson offensive lineman to be drafted in the first round of any NFL Draft since 1960.

• Clemson NOTES ON THE SELECTION OF BLAKE MILLER:
• Miller became the 87th NFL Draft selection in Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure (plus an additional Supplemental Draft selection) and the 19th first-round pick of his tenure.
• Miller became the highest-selected Clemson offensive lineman in the Common Draft era (since 1967), surpassing guard Dave Thompson’s selection by the Detroit Lions with the No. 30 overall selection of the 1971 NFL Draft, a slot that would be in the first round in current day but represented the fourth pick of the second round during that 26-team era.
• Miller became the highest-selected Clemson offensive lineman of any era since 1960, when Lou Cordileone was selected by the New York Giants with the No. 12 overall pick and Harold Olson was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the No. 13 overall pick.
• Miller became the first Clemson offensive lineman selected in the first round in Swinney’s tenure. 
• Miller became the seventh Clemson player selected by the Lions all-time, joining E Joe Blalock (1942), E Dreher Gaskin (1953), T Dick Marazza (1956), G Dave Thompson (1971), LB Jonathan Brooks (1979) and DE Austin Bryant (2019).
• Miller becomes the first offensive lineman selected by the Lions in the first round since 2021, when Detroit selected four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro selection Penei Sewell.
• Miller became the second Clemson player selected with the No. 17 overall pick all-time, joining DT Dexter Lawrence (2019). Entering 2026, Lawrence is a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro.
• Miller was selected at the same overall pick (No. 17) as four Pro Football Hall of Famers: DB Mel Renfro, G Gene Upshaw, RB Emmitt Smith and G Steve Hutchinson.
• As Clemson’s first selection in the 2026 NFL Draft, Miller’s selection snapped a four-year streak in which Clemson’s first pick of each draft was a defensive player. His selection marks the third time in the last 12 drafts that an offensive player was Clemson’s first selection of a draft. He joins RB C.J. Spiller (2010), WR DeAndre Hopkins (2013), WR Sammy Watkins (2014), WR Mike Williams (2017) and QB Trevor Lawrence (2021) as one of six offensive players to be Clemson’s first pick in a draft in Swinney’s tenure.