This Sporting Kansas City rookie has become a fan favorite. What’s next for him?

Minutes away from witnessing their first win of the season, Sporting Kansas City fans cheered almost out of pity as St. Louis dumped off a pass to nobody.

The ball sailed out of bounds at the end of the field, Sporting leading 2-0 after an emotional week. The club was playing its first game without Peter Vermes in nearly two decades.

A rookie — a college draft pick, no less — waved off a Sporting KC defender who was closer to the ball to take the throw-in. Time wasting? A little. More so, it was an opportunity to give a little extra guff to the rival St. Louis fans in that corner of the stadium.

Jansen Miller took his time walking over to the ball. Then he cupped his hand to his ear and the pink-clad group of St. Louis supporters went from dejected to enraged. A few St. Louis players came for him, too, including striker Joao Klauss.

Cooler heads eventually prevailed, but moments like that have endeared the rookie Miller to Sporting KC’s fans. He has a competitive edge that includes trash-talking some of the league’s best players and engaging in fiery moments with the crowd.

But he also exudes a level of off-field humility. And Kansas City fans seem drawn to that, as well.

“When you look at what Kansas City is and the kind of people that resonate here and with the club, what comes to mind is that we’re hard workers,” interim Sporting KC coach Kerry Zavagnin said in an interview with The Star. “We have ambition. But we’re also incredibly authentic. And that just oozes out of him.”

Uncommon amount of playing time

Miller is approaching 2,000 minutes played in Major League Soccer this year, which is somewhat unheard of for a college draft pick.

Sure, he was a top 10 selection, chosen eighth overall by Sporting KC. But he’s notched more minutes this season than all of the players drafted ahead of him combined. And the typical lifespan for a college draft pick is short.

So how has he earned his keep? Sporting KC’s lack of center-back depth and up-and-down health have played roles. But so, too, has Miller’s skill-set: He’s shown himself to be a capable defender at the MLS level.

That progression started during the preseason. Miller said the first couple of days he was just asked to defend crosses. He wondered how he would be able to showcase himself.

“The first three days were rough,” he said. “I was like, ‘Well, this isn’t going to work.’”

The opportunities eventually came. Dany Rosero and Joaquin Fernandez both missed time due to injuries, clearing a path for Miller to showcase more of himself at training. Then he got to play against Charlotte and performed well in that setting, too.

“I think everyone realized (I) can play,” he said.

Miller started Sporting KC’s remaining preseason games and Vermes — with whom the club parted ways in March — labeled him Kansas City’s best defender ahead of the regular-season opener.

Miller says he was initially supposed to start the opener against Inter Miami at Children’s Mercy Park but was pulled back because “for a draft pick, being your first game, it would be a lot.”

He injured his back the next day and missed three matches before getting onto the field in the second half against D.C. United when Rosero went down with an injury.

Since then Miller has received a large amount of playing time. And he has made the most of his opportunities, taking positive action and learning from his mistakes.

An example is found in the goal Sporting KC conceded in losing to D.C. United. Miller tracked way out wide to try to defend in an area that — according to Zavagnin — he didn’t need to help. D.C. passed the ball backward and then sent a cross into the space that Miller vacated for a header and a goal.

Zavagnin talked with Miller about when to venture out of position and when to stay home. And a couple of weeks later, those conversations paid off in Sporting’s somewhat miraculous win over the L.A. Galaxy.

“He defended so many balls right at the near post,” Zavagnin said. “He cleared right off the near post and didn’t venture outside the frame of the goal. He was positionally disciplined and determined to keep the ball out of the goal.”

Emotional commitment

In pinpointing why Miller appeals to fans, it’s part passion, part skills. That moment against St. Louis fired up a KC crowd that was feeling dejected following a string of lackluster early-season home matches.

And Miller is still doing fist-pumps and shouts of joy following big moments, both personally — for blocks off the line, for instance, or successful last-ditch tackles — and as a member of the club (say, after a crucial goal by a teammate).

Similarly, fans seem to get fired up when it’s apparent someone cares about every action as much as they do. Miller said he actually sees himself as a fan, too.

“I want the fans to know that I care and that I’m not just doing this for myself,” he said. “It’s also easy being a kid from the Midwest. Playing here (in KC) is a very ‘homey’ feel for me. So when I see the fans, I see myself.”

That passion also springs from Miller’s love for the game and genuine affection for defending. His favorite player is Sergio Ramos. The Real Madrid legend was known for being a fierce defender and vocal leader.

Ramos’ passion was always on display, whether he was defending a goal against Messi and Barcelona or hoisting the European Championship and World Cup trophies with Spain’s national team.

“A ball in-behind, where I’m 1v1 with someone in space and winning it, just gives me so much satisfaction,” Miller said. “Like making the attacker feel powerless.”

He’s had his run-ins with some of the league’s “premium” attackers this season. Notably, Joao Klauss of St. Louis City SC was the one who charged after Miller as he egged on the St. Louis fans at Children’s Mercy Park.

Weeks later, Klauss and Miller got into it physically and verbally for much of the teams’ second match, in St. Louis. In a podcast with urban.pitch, Sporting KC winger Daniel Salloi told the story of what Miller said to Klauss — Miller apparently called him “the worst DP (designated player) in the league.”

Miller chuckled when asked about his trash-talk episodes, because that isn’t the only one. He says his tendency to jaw at opponents comes from a place of people not knowing who he is as a rookie.

Another trash-talk example: When playing against FC Dallas this year, Miller had hold of Luciano Acosta’s jersey.

“I’m pulling his jersey,” Miller said, “and he’s like, ‘You want my (freaking) jersey?’” Miller’s reply: “Your jersey wouldn’t fit anybody that I know.”

There’s a fine line when playing with that type of emotion, of course. Miller said that in his youth academy days he accumulated 45 yellow cards in four years. He seems to have learned to walk the line in MLS, though, as he has just two yellows all season.

Having passion on the field is OK as long as it’s channeled the right way.

“The emotion in which he puts into the game and actually defending the goal and taking a lot of pride in that is where I started to see him step into a better version of himself,” Zavagnin said. “You can feel that commitment on top of what we talked about: his personality, of how he resonates.

“But on the field, you feel that emotional energy to commit to the game — mistakes and all — and not get down on it, but have the determination to be better. And that will take any player a long way in his career.”

The future for Jansen Miller

Right now, just one Sporting KC center-back is guaranteed of being under contract next season.

Miller, meanwhile, carries an option. It would be stunning if Sporting KC didn’t pick up that option, at the very least, but even as he plays major minutes this season he still feels the need to prove himself.

“The job of a GM is to bring in guys to compete with,” Miller said.

Miller has aspirations of being a Matt Besler type for Sporting, someone who is an unquestioned starter year in and out.

“Right now, I’m the starter because I’ve been playing well,” he said. “But I want to be a Matt Besler type, you know? Like going into each season, this is the guy, and nobody’s going to take this guy out.”

For now, Miller is seen as one of Sporting KC’s foundational players of the future.

“With the young players, I think they’ve all accounted themselves in a way that validates their inclusion in the next phase (of the club),” Zavagnin said. “Sometimes you don’t get that with teams in which your young players don’t play much. You just don’t know what you have down there.

“But this has been an opportunity to be pretty clear of what we do have within the entire roster, and that’s a really encouraging position to be in.”

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM.