For the next installment of Where Are They Now? we head to Lincoln, Nebraska to see how a career ending injury didn’t stop Rubio Long Snapper Gabriel Miller (#4 for the class of 2013, full ride to Nebraska)….

What is your current occupation? 

I am the founder and CEO of Bella Baby Nuts, LLC. I broke my back in the summer of 2014, and had surgery that fall. After undergoing a 6 hour surgery I was unable to do anything but stand up for close to a month, so I started messing around in the kitchen with some raw pecans. And after many months of perfecting my own candied pecan recipe I decided to turn it into a business. We have now been in business for almost a year and are growing rapidly. If anyone would like to see the fun things we are up to they can check out our website at http://www.bellababynuts.com/ or www.facebook.com/BellaBabyNuts. I am also still a full time student at the University of Nebraska and I am the Rubio Long Snapping Instructor for the state of Nebraska. Oh and during the summers I breed high end Japanese Koi fish on my small koi farm back in Indiana. 

*Rubio Note: I have had some Bella Baby Nuts and they are FANTASTIC! I highly recommend them for a Christmas snack at your holiday parties!

Where do you live? 

My wife and I currently live in Lincoln, Nebraska. We will be in Nebraska for at least another 3 years, my wife has 3 more years in her PhD program for Math Education. After my wife finishes her PhD we plan to hopefully move back to Indiana. 

Married? Kids? 

I am married to my beautiful wife Erica Miller. We got married last January so we are coming up on our first anniversary. And we do not have kids at the moment, except for our English Bulldog, Bella. 

What is your fondest memory of your time playing college football? 

My fondest moment from playing college football is definitely when we played Penn State at Happy Valley my true freshman season. It was a late day/ night game and it started to snow in the second half. We were neck and neck the whole way, and the game went into overtime. With a chance to win the game we lined up for a game winning 42 yard field goal. With 100,000 fans and the Penn State student section at our faces it was pretty crazy. I snapped a pearl back to Sam Foltz my holder and Pat Smith nailed it for the walk off field goal. It was an awesome experience and to top it off Pat and I were named special teams players of the game. 

If you could give one bit of advice to Rubio long snappers, what would it be? 

My advise to current Rubio Long Snappers is to always keep the end goal in mind. If you can remember what you want your life to look like 5, 10, 15, 30 years down the line then going through some short term pain will be worth it to accomplish your goals in life as well as in football. 

If you could give one bit of advice to the current Rubio Long Snapping parents, what would it be? 

My advice to the parents is to be supportive of your sons. Your son is embarking on one of the toughest journeys in all of sports, and that is to get a scholarship for Long Snapping and play college football. This adds a ton of pressure to his already hectic life as a teenager, so the biggest thing you could do is support him during this crazy time. There were times when it seemed life was ending because I wasn’t getting where I wanted in my Long Snapping, but my parents supported me and gave me confidence that if I continued to work hard the results would follow. And at the time I was given a full ride scholarship from the University of Nebraska and ranked as the number 2 Long Snapper in my class, there was no one I wanted to share that moment with more than with my parents who had supported me during the whole process. 

When was the last time you snapped a ball and for what reason. 

The last time I really snapped a football was during the summer of 2014 before I broke my back. Unfortunately bending over and throwing my head through my legs is one of the things I am unable to do anymore (haha). 

If you could go back and play football in college again, would you go to the same school or a different one? Why? 

I was fortunate enough to have multiple scholarship offers coming out of high school and am extremely glad I chose to spend my college career at the University of Nebraska, and would do it again if I had the choice. The support that we received as student athletes was top notch and the whole environment around Lincoln is awesome. Getting to snap in front of 90,000 crazy Cornhusker fans every Saturday was fantastic. And I met my wife here in Lincoln, so I would say my decision turned out to be a good one. 

What tremendous thing have you been a part of or experienced since you graduated?

The thing that has changed my outlook on my future the most is my newly found love for books. In all honesty I had read probably 3 books in the first 19 years of my life, but after my back surgery I began to start to read. I am a huge leadership and entrepreneurial junkie, and have been reading a book a week for going on two years now. The saying is that leaders are readers, and that is so true. I truly believe the knowledge and wisdom of Americas greatest men and women can be used for our benefit if we just open some books and turn a lot of pages. 

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