30 | JULY 13 • 2023 

M

ori Miller is going 
back to where it all 
started.
The two-time All-State 
midfielder on the Birmingham 
Groves High School boys soccer 
team will continue his soccer 
career on the collegiate level 
this fall at Pomona-Pitzer in 
California, a Division III team 
that’s a co-op with Pomona and 
Pitzer colleges.
Miller, 18, was born in Santa 
Monica, California, and lived 
there for two years before his 
family moved first to Houston 
and then to Birmingham in 
2014.

He’s the son of Mark Miller, 
senior rabbi at Temple Beth El in 
Bloomfield Township since 2014.
Mori Miller was recruited by 
Division III and NAIA colleges. 
Going out of state for college was 
important to him.
“I wanted to go someplace 
new and explore the area,
” he 
said.
His parents supported his 
decision.
They both went to out-
of-state colleges. His father 
grew up in Denver and went 
to Northwestern, and his 
mother, Rachel Ann, a part-
time accountant, grew up 

in California and went to 
Washington State.
Soccer is in Mori Miller’s 
blood.
His mother signed to play 
Division I soccer at Washington 
State, but her soccer career 
ended when she hurt her knee 
before her freshman season.
Cam Gale, Miller’s first cousin 
(He’s Mark Miller’s sister’s 
son), was named Mr. Soccer in 
Colorado a few years ago when 
he was in high school.
Gale didn’t play soccer in 
college, opting to focus on his 
studies, “but he 
helped me through 
the recruiting 
process,
” Mori Miller 
said.
Miller’s brother 
Abe, 17, who will be a 
senior at Birmingham 
Seaholm High School 
this fall, also is a good 
athlete.
He plays football 
and boys basketball 
for the Maples, and will be a 
co-captain on the Seaholm 
basketball team next season.
Mori Miller had 12 goals and 
nine assists while serving as a 
co-captain for the Groves boys 
soccer team last fall.
He had even more impressive 
statistics while playing at the 
same time for the Groves 
football team, which make a 
surprising run to the regional 
round of the Division 2 state 
playoffs.
Miller was the football team’s 
placekicker. He was 31-for-33 on 
extra points and made his lone 
field goal attempt. Nine of his 
kickoffs went into the end zone 
for touchbacks.
That’s not bad for someone 
who had never been a place-
kicker until his junior year at 
Groves.
“I worked a lot with the 
football team’s kicking coach,
” 

Miller said. “Doing the two 
sports in the same season made 
for some long days, but I enjoyed 
it. On most days, I went to 
soccer practice, changed in the 
locker room after practice, and 
went to football practice.
”
Besides placekicking, Miller 
got into the action on the 
gridiron a couple times. The 
5-foot-9, 155-pounder assisted 
on a few tackles on kickoffs and 
got tackled himself when a snap 
rolled to him on an extra point.
The biggest adjustment Miller 
had to make between the two 
sports was getting used 
to the pace of the game 
for a football kicker.
“In soccer, I’m on 
the field all the time, 
locked in and focused,
” 
he said. “In football, I 
was standing around a 
lot, waiting to get into 
the game.
”
Miller played a third 
sport at Groves. He 
was on the boys golf 
team as a junior and senior.
Miller first found out about 
the Pomona-Pitzer men’s soccer 
team from his mother, who grew 
up in Redondo Beach.
After a family visit to the 
campuses in California, Miller 
sent an email to Mike Ditta, then 
the associate coach and now the 
interim coach of the Pomona-
Pitzer men’s soccer team.
“College soccer coaches get a 
lot of emails,
” Ditta said. “I was 
impressed with Mori’s email and 
decided to give him a call.
”
That call began a string of 
emails and calls between Ditta 
and Miller, and a Zoom call with 
the coach and Miller’s parents 
last summer.
Ditta did more recruiting 
work.
“I got some game video 
of Mori and talked to his 
soccer coaches (Groves coach 
Paul Thomas and United FC 

SPORTS

Birmingham Groves All-State boys 
soccer player Mori Miller, son of a 
rabbi, heads West to play college 
soccer.

California-Bound

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

REZ SAZGARI

Mori Miller takes 
a shot during a 
game against 
Detroit Country 
Day last season.

Mori Miller

