Since the beginning of spring practices, Brit Miller has been the centerpiece of countless football story lines. His affable, off-the-cuff jokester personality has ensured that throngs of reporters seek out the Illinois senior linebacker first for the most vibrant quotes to put into print.

This season, Miller will again be the center of attention when the Illini defense takes the field. Following J Leman’s graduation, Miller was moved to the middle linebacker position Leman vacated. As a result, Miller has been asked ad infinitum whether he has the ability to notch tackles the way Leman did. But the real question is: How will he replace Leman’s long, haphazard hairstyle? The Daily Illini sat down with Miller to answer this and other questions.

Daily Illini: Your last game was back in January, and since then you’ve talked with reporters during spring practices, Big Ten Media Day in Chicago and Camp Rantoul, among other places. Are you officially getting sick of this?

Brit Miller: The media? It’s all right. I mean, it’s just part of the game, and there were times when the media didn’t come, so it’s all right that you guys are showing up now. You guys get some good, free food, hang out, whatever.

DI: What’s the question you’ve been asked more than anything else during the offseason?

Miller: It’s the – there’s so many different versions of it – but it’s the, ‘you used to be the hunter, now you’re the hunted, how’s that feel?’ or, ‘the bulls-eye’s on your back,’ or whatever, but that’s the question being asked. When you go out and beat the caliber of teams we beat last year, that’s going to happen, those guys are going to come, try and get us. We expect their best game, and we’re going to come and play hard. That’s what we want, that’s why we play the game.

DI: After all these interviews, are you ready to release the Brit Miller Book of Sports Cliches?

Miller: Hey, I hang out with the best of them – the coaches, you can just ask those guys. I just copy what they say most of the time, because those dudes are goons, man. They make up some stuff. They’ll educate you.

DI: With Ron Zook recruiting nationwide, your teammates come from all over the country. You’ve got Arrelious Benn from Washington D.C., and you’re a Decatur guy …

Miller: Rejus just made his first trip to “the Dirty” the other day.

DI: He had never been to Decatur before?

Miller: Not until a couple of days ago. We didn’t really make it into the city, we just went to an Illini pep rally deal, but it’s different around here. Those guys have their own language out there, but I think he enjoys it in the Midwest. He’s well respected and loved, and Champaign’s a great college town, so he’s adjusted well. If he ever wants to come to Decatur we’d love to have him.

DI: You’re replacing J Leman at middle linebacker, so when are you going to grow your hair out like him?

Miller: I can’t, I’ve got this receding hairline, it’s not very good-looking. I tried – I had a sweet mullet back in the day, I think I was 5 or 6, and it was picture day, so my mom gave me a mullet. Looking back, it’s a well-respected hairdo, but I couldn’t grow the moustache to go with it. Being 6 years old, I guess that’s just a hazard of the job.

DI: What about the J Leman diet?

Miller: No. I’m not eating 10 eggs before a game. His diet was a little weird, but I’m going to miss him too. We used to always eat an onion every year at camp, just a raw onion, so now I’m going to have to trick somebody else into doing it.

DI: Everybody rushes to you for the good quotes, seeing as you’re the funny man of the team. Who among your teammates cracks you up?

Miller: Oh, everybody. These guys are all goons. I laugh just being around these guys. If I don’t want to understand somebody I’ll just go to Vontae (Davis). Here’s what I realized: All the guys from D.C., they’ll say maybe half of a sentence, and then after they say it they’ll just say, ‘Yeah.’ So I’m assuming you can just finish the sentence any way you want.