Michael Miller is not your average seventh grader.
The Westford resident starts his day like any other middle schooler with a 7 a.m. wakeup before hitting the books. Seems normal.
But after school, the 12-year-old soccer prodigy is thrust into an all-intensive training regime with the New England Revolution Academy program. Miller reports to the world-class Revolution facilities in Foxboro, where he is treated like a professional.
Video sessions. Individualized training. And a lot of goals.
Miller, a member of the Under-13 team, has been lighting it up for the Revolution since joining the elite team in August. As New England is off to a 5-1-0 start in MLS NEXT play, the ultra-talented striker has recorded 10 goals and one assist in only six games.
The Revolution Academy is a prestigious player-development program sponsored by the Revolution, which features youth teams ranging from U-13 to U-18 and is a pipeline for players to turn pro with the Major League Soccer team or the Revolution II. That ladder of development recently yielded its 50th promotion to the pro ranks with Revolution II, a professional developmental team of the Revolution, since the academy’s inception in 2020.
When Miller arrives at the team facilities after school, he feels like a pro, looks like a pro and plays like a pro. He’ll never forget the first time he set foot in the same hallways as his idols on the Revolution.
“It was great. I felt like an actual professional,” Miller said.
Miller has played soccer since the age of 3 and began his competitive journey with the Intercontinental Football Academy of New England before he was recruited to join the Revolution’s Academy team. The program is fully funded by the Revolution and brings in talent from across the country.
U-13 head coach Noah Bushey said the scouting department had kept tabs on Miller for a while ahead of recruiting him to join the team. The U-13 age group is a pivotal time in players like Miller’s development, where molding good people is a foundational step in creating future stars.
“Making sure we’re developing well-rounded humans is the most important thing to the club,” Bushey said. “And obviously, the goal of signing a contract is very real to the kids.”
It certainly is. Peyton Miller, a defender on the Revolution’s MLS team, is the most recent success story of a player with Academy roots to rise to the pro ranks. The Connecticut native was the second-youngest Revolution player to make his MLS debut and was once a force for the program’s U-15 team.
That pathway, Bushey said, is visible to the young athletes in the program. Miller said his goal is to one day play professionally and to keep rising through the various age groups in the program. He’s off to a flying start.
Miller scored an eye-popping four goals in the team’s 11-0 win over Rochester NY FC in an October match and followed up that offensive outburst with an assist in a 6-3 win over IFA, his former team, last weekend.
While he is accustomed to finding the back of the net, Miller said he is just as focused on becoming a good passer.
“I can read the play before somebody does it,” he said. “I know where they are going to run, so I just play the ball.”
That soccer IQ has amazed the coaching staff and is an intangible trait that is rare to see at his age level.
“He’s a tall, athletic kid who is quite lethal in front of the goal,” Bushey said. “He just knows how to finish, and he knows how to make things really hard for the opposing team to be able to mark him or things like that.
“So he’s able to create some space for himself to find the back of the net, which is a great characteristic to have. Those things are really hard to teach, just that natural ability to finish.”
Miller, a striker, sometimes finds himself on the wing and is a threat whenever the ball is glued to his foot.
“I’m at the spot at the right time, and when I have a chance to score, I always try to score. But not every time I score,” said a modest Miller.
Miller said he is undecided on his high school plans. His younger brother, Phillip, is also turning heads at a young age with IFA. Phillip is a 2015 birth year but plays with the 2014 team.
The goal of one day donning the very jersey at the MLS stage at Gillette Stadium is real. But until then, Miller will wake up at 7 a.m., go to school and continue to strive to be anything but average.
“To put high intensity into everything you do and have fun and do the best you can,” Miller said of what his coaches instill in him.
