A 'weird addiction' describes Brandon Miller’s personality off the court

It wasn’t unusual to see two sets of feet poking out from under the Miller family car. The bigger belonged to Darrell Miller and the smaller to his curious son Brandon.

Growing up, Brandon would often have to pause from shooting hoops in order to pass his father a tool beneath the car. From there, Darrell provided a demonstration of how it was used before sending his son back on his way. Over time, those two-minute tutorials turned into hours.

Slipping past the watchful eye of his mother, Brandon followed his father under whatever project was waiting in the yard, accompanying him in the restoration of American classics long before he understood anything about them. Darrell doesn’t remember how old Brandon was when he first started following in his interest of fixing up automobiles, but those early moments spent cramped up together on their backs sparked a passion.

“I know he was too young for me to tell his mom that he was under the car with me,” Darrell told Tide Illustrated. “He wouldn’t even be doing anything, but it would look like he was doing something. He was too young to loosen a bolt or anything back then, but he enjoyed watching me. If I was ever in the yard working on something, he would always come out.”

Brandon’s size 13 shoes no longer look small coming out from under the car. Now 6-foot-9, the freshman forward has grown up to become one of college basketball’s most prolific scorers, serving as the driving force behind Alabama’s historic run this season. However, his biggest off-court interest still lies under the hood.

Living in a suburb 20 minutes south of Nashville, Tennessee, Darrell, a former Alabama football player, would often drive his two sons 75 miles up I-65 South to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. That’s likely where Brandon’s love for American muscle cars was born.

In an era where flashy foreign imports have become en vogue, the Miller boys get goosebumps every time they hear the roar of a Charger or Challenger.

“If we’re in the car together and we hear a muscle car riding past us, we’re always turning our heads,” Darrell said. “I may slow down, and we’re always trying to find out where it’s coming from. My wife will have to tell me to keep my head straight and pay attention to the road.”

These days Brandon’s the one getting noticed.

You’ll have a hard time getting much out of the five-star forward off the court, but drive around Coleman Coliseum long enough and you’re sure to hear one of his two Dodge Chargers do the talking for him.

Brandon’s baby is his Dodge Charger Scat Pack 392 which he has customized completely to his liking.

“It’s got a whole lot of muffler deletes,” Brandon told Tide Illustrated. “It’s probably one of the loudest cars. I love the sound of my car. It’s not very high-pitched, kind of deep-toned. It sounds real aggressive.”

While Brandon’s interest in cars stems from his dad, it ramped up around his eighth-grade year when he began watching YouTube videos of souped-up Dodge Challengers and Dodge Chargers. The obsession grew throughout high school and has come to fruition now that he can afford his own builds.

“I came into college knowing exactly what car I was going to get,” Brandon said. “I kind of built it on my own, so it has exactly what I want in it. That’s the biggest thing for me, I know what it has under the hood, so I know what I want. Right now I have two Chargers. I feel like it’s a weird addiction.”

Brandon’s preference in cars reflects his personality.

Take his customized Charger for example. The ride used to be covered in a chameleon vinyl wrap that changed colors depending on how the light hit it. However, after attracting too much unwanted attention, he stripped it back down to its original black paint job in an attempt to blend in better on campus.

“Now it looks like a regular Charger coming down the street,” Brandon said. “Then you get inside, and it’s like a spaceship. I’ve got stars on the roof, custom speakers, custom stars in my trunk, a whole lot of other custom stuff. It’s a whole nother world when you get in there.”

Brandon carries himself in a similar fashion — modest and reserved at first but intense once you step into his element.

During one of his several recruiting visits to Alabama, the five-star talent had the opportunity to talk cars with Nick Saban. His biggest critique of the head football coach’s Mercedes was the lack of tinted windows.

“I joke with him about it,” Brandon said, shaking his head. “He never has tints on any of his cars, so you can just see right through them. I’m like, ‘Man Saban, you got to get some tints so nobody can see you.’”

Despite his love for loud cars, Brandon prefers a sense of anonymity when he steps out in public. Darrell even had to put his foot down when his son expressed a desire to tint his front windshield.

“He told me he didn’t want people to be able to see it was him,” Darrell chuckled. “I told him, ‘Brandon, people are going to know it’s you the second you get out of the car.’”

Fortunately for Alabama, that bashfulness doesn’t follow Brandon onto the court. The same player who’s paranoid about being spotted in public isn’t shy to rock defenders to sleep with his arms following big shots in front of thousands of fans.

“He’s kind of like his car when it comes to being that silent attacker,” Darrell said. “His car doesn’t show that it’s a Super Bee [engine], but you can hear it. I guess that’s pretty much like basketball. You aren’t really going to know it by looking at him, but on the court, he’ll put that foot on the gas.”

In the midst of putting together arguably the best season in program history, Brandon’s busy schedule has forced him to take his car to the shop for recent upgrades. However, when basketball dies down, he won’t be afraid to get his hands dirty once again.

“It can be a stress reliever,” Brandon said. “But at times when you’re out there all day under the car, it can get pretty tiring. It’s kind of like practice every day. You learn new parts of the car just like you learn parts of your game. I sat outside for at least three hours one day and worked on putting new mufflers on my car. Now I’ve got a whole new exhaust system.”

Those long afternoons under the hood might have helped shape his game. Darrell believes his son’s persistence in the garage could have led to his level-headed approach on the court

“He’s got those big hands, and there are these tight spots in the car,” Darrell said. “It may take you a while just to get this one bolt off. Him building patience with stuff like that could have easily led to his patience in basketball when things may not be going the way he likes it. That bolt’s still going to come off, and his shot is still going to drop.”

That patience has paid off for Alabama several times this season.

In December, Brandon went 0-for-8 from the floor against then-No. 1 Houston only to sink all six of his free-throw attempts in the final minute to seal a 71-65 road win for Alabama. After getting shutout in the first half at Arkansas last month, he exploded for 14 points after the break, hitting a pair of 3s in the final five minutes to close out an 84-69 victory.

“He’s done better at being patient,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said last week. “He’s making the right plays, being a great screener, moving the ball, not pressing and taking bad shots when teams are trying to play him a certain way. … I think he’s getting fouled off the ball more than anybody I’ve seen in college basketball this year.

“I think he’s handled it pretty well. He could easily get really frustrated with how he’s being guarded, but they won’t get away with the in the NBA next year.”

Over the weekend, Brandon became the fastest Alabama player to reach 500 points, hitting the plateau over 27 games. So far this season, the forward leads the SEC averaging 18.7 points per game while ranking third in the conference in 3-point percentage (42.9) and tied for fourth in rebounds per game (8.0).

That production has earned him a top-five projection in this year’s NBA Draft and the promise of a hefty pay day in the near future. It’ll likely see him add another car to his collection as well.

As for what that will be, don’t expect him to stray too far from what he knows best.

“Part of me wants to go foreign, but that’s not really me,” Miller said. “I’ve got to stay true to myself. I think I’m going to stay with American muscle.”