Arizona State confirmed Wednesday that former football player and coaching assistant Steven Miller has died at 29, days after he suffered a medical issue following a team practice on April 7. Miller, who played offensive line for the Sun Devils from 2016 to 2019, had rejoined the team on Tuesday after missing the next two practices.
The cause of death was not immediately known. Sun Devil Athletics said Miller had been a valued part of the program as both a player and coach for nearly a decade, and described him as a Gilbert High School graduate who would be deeply missed. His playing career included 35 starts across four seasons, with full-time starting roles in 2017 and 2019.
After his time on the field, Miller coached at the University of Florida and Louisiana-Lafayette before returning to Arizona State as a graduate assistant in 2023. At the time of his death, he was serving as an assistant strength coach, extending a run with the school that linked him to the program as a player, coach and mentor.
That long association is why the loss lands so heavily inside the Sun Devil Football facility. A school website bio said Miller did everything “big” and with others in mind, called him a dominant force in the trenches and said he developed strong bonds with fellow Sun Devils. The same bio said the move into coaching came naturally, and that his legacy of putting others first would live on within the program.
