Hungry For More

Before brothers Ethen and Kal Miller became stars for Maryland wrestling, familiarity and forming relationships allowed them to attain success over 1,000 miles away from home in College Park. 

It's a story that the younger Kal loves to tell, according to Terps wrestling head coach Alex Clemsen. Ethen and Kal were at a prospect camp their youth team held as pre-teens in their hometown of Kansas City, MO. The camp was mainly for junior athletes in high school who were being recruited, and Clemsen was in attendance as the associate head coach at the University of Missouri. 

With all the talent the camp had to offer, Ethen and Kal caught Clemsen's attention. 

"Those two little blonde-headed maniacs were always running around and doing some really special stuff," Clemsen said. "I was like, those guys are going to be really good."

Clemsen, who is from Moberly, MO, continued to observe the two brothers who began to stand out even while surrounded by older and more experienced athletes. However, it was Kal that Clemsen decided to approach after a practice. 

"Everybody was giving the older brother a lot of attention and deservedly so," Clemsen said. "But I kept my eye on Kal quite a bit as well. I just walked up to him and I was like, 'Dude, you're gonna be pretty good. You're the truth.' And he grinned real big."

Each brother went on to have a plethora of success while wrestling for Park Hill High School. Ethen became a Missouri state champion, and Kal accomplished the same feat twice. Each wrestler shared many other awards and accomplishments throughout their high school career. Clemsen was aware of each wrestler's success, mainly because he occasionally would come to the high school to run his own camps at the time.

Ethen committed initially to wrestle at Missouri in his home state, but one day he called Maryland assistant coach Nick Brascetta and spoke with him for a while over the phone. The young wrestler left the conversation with a change of heart. He decided to flip his recruitment and committed to Maryland, where he would wrestle in the Big Ten for a pair of coaches he drew a liking to. 

"I just think the coaches here are amazing," Ethen said. "I got along with them right away, and I knew Clemsen for a while, so I think it was just a good connection for me."

Kal committed to Maryland a year later, which was a no-brainer for him. He got to compete for a coach who wanted him from day one and was able to reunite with his older brother. He says in a sport such as wrestling, it's vital to have camaraderie, which each brother shares.

"The sport is brutal, I mean, you can easily get down. You have a tough whole week of practice; it's really hard," Kal said. "I'm fortunate to have a brother like Ethen to do stuff outside of here. Like hey, 'Let's go thrifting,' we thrift a lot. 'Let's go watch a movie.' Hanging out at other friends' house or teammates. It's just important to do that."

The brothers' relationship and their shared successes have only grown since attending Maryland. Ethen and Kal were both 2023 NCAA qualifiers last season. They finished eighth and ninth in their respective weight class brackets at the Big Ten Championships to earn automatic qualifications to the NCAA Tournament in Tulsa. 

Neither wrestler performed as well as they would've liked. But both brothers are much more confident this year and have set higher goals for themselves, especially because the 2024 NCAA Championships will take place in their hometown of Kansas City from March 21-23. 

"I think wrestling in Kansas City is going to be fun, and I expect to be there," Ethen said. "I think just being in your hometown and getting on that podium this year, that's my goal."

Kal shared a sentiment similar to his older brother about competing close to home.

"To do it in Kansas City would be special. I'm excited for it. The main goal is to be all-American. I'm still young, so I really want this really bad," Kal said. "I'm hungry for more and I'm ready to do it in front of the home crowd."

The last time Kansas City hosted the NCAA Championships was in 2003, during Clemsen's freshman season at Edinboro University. He got the chance to wrestle in his home state that year and says he's excited for both Ethen and Kal to seize the opportunity. 

Ethen and Kal are both looking forward to Kansas City. Still, they're also set on performing well at the 2024 Big Ten Championships, which are coincidentally taking place in College Park. Their success at the beginning of the season serves as a great foundation.

As a sophomore wrestling at 141 pounds, Kal, who is 5-0 this season, won his second-consecutive title at the second annual Tiger Style Invite, taking out Missouri's 16th-ranked Josh Edmond to win the title. The tournament took place 10 minutes from his house, and plenty of his family members came out to support, he says. In his next match after winning the Tiger Style Invite championship, he dominated en route to a major decision over a four-time NCAA Qualifier in Pittsburgh's Cole Matthews.

Ethen, a redshirt sophomore wrestling at 149 pounds, is 4-2 so far, highlighted by a ranked victory over Pittsburgh's No. 24 Finn Solomon. He also recently picked up his first tech fall victory of the season at Morgan State with a dominant 20-1 win. 

"The reason that we came to the University of Maryland together was because of our past and [the] successes we've had, and we didn't really want to leave each other," Ethen said about sharing accomplishments with his brother. "Getting into college our relationship has grown a lot more just as we've gotten older. We just like to win at everything that we do."

Clemsen even devised a joint nickname for the two brothers, proclaiming them "Miller Time." He says he got the saying from Miller Brewing Company and the old ads they used to run in the 1990s. Clemsen sees the nickname as a great way to market Maryland's wrestling program and something to get people excited about before Ethen and Kal take the mat. 

Ethen says people used to call his dad "Miller Time" back in college. He and Kal added their twist and created Miller Time Bros. They make T-shirts and other kinds of apparel for people to buy. 

Clemsen is glad Ethen and Kal traveled to the East Coast to be a part of what he's building in College Park. As for the rest of the season and their respective careers going forward, Clemsen is excited to see what the Miller Bros can accomplish. 

"I think the atmosphere that we're providing for them, the opportunities that we're providing for them, the rate at which they're working and the sacrifices that they're making, the sky's the limit," Clemsen said. "I think those guys should be threats to be multiple-time championship contenders."