"He's done some things for this team in terms of maturity and toughness. I like what Derek has brought here. I like him personally as well. He's stepped into a leadership role that isn't always the most comfortable. He'll bring stuff up in the locker room at halftime occasionally with Jerry. He'll ask questions that some other guys might not. He's got a maturity, and he doesn't just pop off.

"So I think you've got to listen to a guy like that and respect (what he says)," Miller said.

Fisher said Miller spent some of the half hour telling his players stories of how he began in the auto business and rose to where he is now with many dealerships in many states and ownership of several sports and entertainment businesses.

"They were very interesting stories that kind of helped bring some things to focus, especially for our young guys," Fisher observed.

"Larry is in some ways a different breed than other owners in professional sports. He really lives, breathes, eats, sleeps it, and we talked about. That's a great thing," Fisher said.

MILLER GRANDSON: A Miller grandson, the 16-year-old eldest offspring of son Greg Miller, was taken by Life Flight helicopter to LDS Hospital Monday night — Miller and wife Gail left the game before halftime when they learned of the emergency. The teenager had been skateboarding near home and ran into a bicycle ridden by his sister, fell and hit his head.

When paramedics arrived, "he wasn't breathing. He was convulsing so badly ...It took seven of them (paramedics)to get him on the stretcher," Larry Miller said.

By the time the helicopter reached the hospital, the teen had come to and was talking, and after what Miller described as X-rays, MRI and CT scan, he was released at 3 or 4 a.m.

"It turns out he's probably OK, but it was sure scary," Miller said.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com