Merced College's McMillin joins Portland State

When looking back on the path his football career has taken, Kyle McMillin couldn't help but laugh.

Two years ago, the former Golden Valley star tight end was on the cusp of walking away from the game.

Unsuccessful attempts to walk on to the University of Nevada Reno and Fresno State football programs had left McMillin soured.

Feeling he still had something to give to the game, McMillin decided to press on and enroll at Merced College.

It proved to be one of those life-changing decisions.

Surrounded by his family, friends and coaching staff on Wednesday evening, McMillin signed his national letter of intent to play at Division I-AA Portland State.

McMillin has two years of eligibility left and an opportunity to make an instant impact for the Vikings' new coaching regime.

"It feels like such a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders," McMillin said. "Going to Nevada and then Fresno and then possibly not playing anymore. Its been a crazy journey.

"Playing at Merced College turned out to be a really good thing for me and now I'm going to get to keep playing at a four-year school."

McMillin's combination of size (6-foot-3, 240 pounds) and pass catching ability had the attention of numerous schools.

In two years with the Blue Devils, McMillin caught 51 passes for 535 yards and three touchdowns and was twice named to the Golden Gate Conference first team.

"Portland State gets a true tight end in Kyle," Merced College coach Mark Kaanapu said. "He's as good a blocker as he is a pass catcher and that's what really excited them about him as they watched more and more film.

"There's a lot of kids who can really block, but can't stretch the field and kids that can catch, but can't block anybody. Kyle gives you both."

While McMillin probably wasn't the only Division I-caliber athlete Merced College had this past season, he distinguished himself with his work in the classroom.

"Kyle was an academic qualifier coming out of high school so that kind of opened doors for him that some of our other guys didn't have available," Kaanapu said.

McMillin made his decision to attend Portland State while on a recruiting visit to the campus two weeks ago.

"Coach Kaanapu had said Portland State would be a good fit for me a while ago, so I'd kept that in the back of my mind," McMillin said. "It was really hard to find something wrong with the campus.

"They're going to run the Pistol, which is what we run at Merced. And the new coaching staff all came over from Nevada, so I basically just need to relearn the offense.

"Coach (Nigel) Burton isn't talking about getting things turned around in a few years. He's planning on having the program start winning again right away and that's something I'm excited to be a part of."

Burton took over as head coach after former NFL head coach Jerry Glanville resigned following a 2-9 2009 season.

The Vikings went just 9-24 in three years under Glanville, but the program returns a lot of talent.

While McMillin's parents hope the team can enjoy some instant success, they're just pleased to see their son's dream fulfilled after a two-year delay.

"We have a box full of 40 schools that were interested in Kyle," McMillin's dad Michael said. "Then all of a sudden he started falling off of people's lists.

"They kept saying he was a 'tweener. He tried to walk on at Reno and then they wanted to move him to guard.

"It was definitely a rough time. But then he came to Merced and you could see he was having fun playing again.

"It definitely feels like everything worked out for a reason."