Solon’s Cam Miller brings winning background to Las Vegas Raiders after sixth-round selection

IOWA CITY — Cam Miller had plenty of excitement when he heard from the Las Vegas Raiders that he was their choice with the 215th overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

“My emotions were pretty high,” Miller told Las Vegas reporters afterward. “I don’t remember a ton about the call. I was just super excited and very fortunate for the opportunity and can’t thank them enough for taking a chance on a small-school kid.”

Las Vegas’ decision to roll the dice on Miller appears to have at least partly hinged on the former Solon standout’s winning track record as a four-year starter at North Dakota State.

“(Raiders GM John Spytek) has talked to me about how they want to bring in people that are winners, and they’ve been accustomed and used to winning games,” Miller said. “And I think that was really the X-factor in their choice to take me in the draft.”

Miller led the Bison to a 45-11 record and two FCS national championships as the starting quarterback at the Fargodome. He completed 69 percent of his passes in his career while throwing 81 touchdown passes versus 19 interceptions.

“For me, I was very fortunate enough to have great teammates, great coaches around me,” Miller said.

As much as Miller deflects credit, the path to the NFL draft from an FCS school — even one that has won as much as North Dakota State has — is arduous.

Miller was one of eight FCS players to be among the 257 selections in the NFL draft. That’s fewer than what Ohio State, Georgia, Texas and Oregon each individually had in 2025.

The only other FCS quarterback drafted was Montana State’s Tommy Mellott, and he is a dual-position player between quarterback and wide receiver. He ironically also will head to Las Vegas. The Raiders picked him earlier in the sixth round.

Brandon Yeargan, the Raiders’ director of college scouting, said he views Mellott more as a receiver although he “wouldn’t pigeonhole him.” So Miller was the only FCS quarterback drafted in 2025 to be a quarterback in the NFL.

Position questions aside, Miller has the “utmost respect” for his fellow FCS-quarterback-turned-Raider.

“He obviously won the best offensive player in the country this year, that award,” Miller said, “and I wouldn’t have wanted anybody else to win that award. … The way that he carries himself, the way that he plays the game — I’m super excited to work with him.”

As Miller and Mellott’s FCS reunion nears, Miller believes they have a “very similar mindset.”

“We’re very driven, and we want to win games,” Miller said. “And we want to make those around us better. … Having played against him, you understand that he’s a true competitor, and that’s somebody that I want on my team.”

Perhaps most importantly for their new employer, they both have won a lot in their football careers.

“The common theme between those two guys is they’re winners,” Yeargan told reporters. “They faced each other in the national championship game. Both athletic guys, competitive, tough, hard-nosed, and they’ve led their teams for a bunch of years now.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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