Bye Bye Bearcats Seniors: #14 Tony Miliano
By Chris Bains
The first special teamer on our farewell tour is kicker Tony Miliano.
A local kid from Elder High School, Miliano redshirted his first year in Clifton with all-everything Jake Rogers manning place kicking duties from an extra point, field goal, and kick off standpoints. The young kicker, meanwhile, used the season off to hone his abilities.
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When Miliano took the reigns as a redshirt freshman, he performed well, nailing 17 of 25 field goals and 94% of his extra points. He made the natural improvement as a sophomore, bumping up his field goal rate to 77% (17/22) and extra points to 96%.
But then the nightmare that was his junior year hit like a stack of bricks.
Miliano struggled mentally and technically to make field goals on a consistent basis. He shanked an eye gougingly 10 of 17 attempts and couldn’t be relied upon to make one outside of the 15 yard line. It was painful to watch and excruciating for him to go through. It was visually apparent that no one was more disappointed in Miliano’s performance than Miliano himself.
Unfortunately that showing along with the emergence of redshirt freshman Andrew Gantz shrunk Miliano’s role on the team during his fifth and final year at Cincinnati. He was relegated to kickoff duties and kickoffs alone but it proved to be a win-win for everyone.
Not only did Gantz appear to be the second coming of Jake Rogers but Miliano thrived in his reduced responsibilities. Reborn as a kickoff man, the redshirt senior showed off his leg on a game-to-game basis. Miliano booted the ball an average of 62 yards per kickoff, good for 32nd best in the country. He also forced 41% of his kickoffs to result in touchbacks, effectively preventing the opposing team from even attempting to take it to the house. That was 46th best in college football.
Few Bearcats of late have undergone the roller coaster ride that Tony Miliano went through during his time at Cincinnati. From the highs of a starting role as a redshirt freshman to the lows of his junior year to one of the better players on kickoffs in recent UC history. It wasn’t easy, we as fans knew, but it’s encouraging that Miliano was able to finish his Bearcat career on an extremely high note.