Carolina Panthers rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan had Olympic aspirations in another sport long before it was announced that flag football would make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“I didn’t play like a normal volleyball player,” he said. “I guess you could say I was kind of dangerous out there.”
McMillan was a star volleyball player at Servite High School in Anaheim, Calif., where he tied the school record for most kills in a match. He was recruited by UCLA, USC and Stanford to play both football and volleyball collegiately before ultimately deciding to leave the state and focus on just playing football at the University of Arizona.
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SIGN UP HERE His high school volleyball coach, Matt Marrujo, even told Panthers.com that McMillan “had a shot” at competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic volleyball team “if he had really focused on volleyball.”
“He’s just being generous,” McMillan said. “But who knows what could have been.”
The 6-foot-4 McMillan brought physicality from the football field to the volleyball court.
“I always swung as hard as I can,” McMillan said. “I feel like some people were spooked and scared to play me and block me at times.
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“There's a few people that I definitely hit in the face and I believe I broke [an opponent’s] hand before, I'm pretty sure.”
Conversely, McMillan credits his volleyball experience for making him a better football player.
“It’s all about timing,” he said. “Being able to time the ball at the highest point, being able to be a pogo stick bouncing off the ground as quick as possible.
“It’s not easy. People think volleyball is easy and it’s for girls, but it is not easy. It’ll humble you real quick.”
For now, with his volleyball playing career on pause, McMillan’s best shot at competing at an Olympics is in flag football. The competition will be held at BMO Stadium, just 30 miles from where he went to high school.
“That would be a real dope moment,” he said. “It's something I can see myself doing in the future. But first I’ve got to make some plays on the football field and try to make a name for myself and maybe they'll come recruit me for the flag football.”
When asked who he would want to quarterback Team USA, McMillan picked his starting quarterback with the Panthers, Bryce Young, although NFL conditions state that no more than one player per NFL team can represent each country. He also identified a pair of defensive players as intriguing prospects.
“They might grab Myles Garrett or somebody like that or Micah Parsons to go out there and just be freakishly athletic,” McMillan said in an interview on behalf of Sharpie, the pen he used to sign his NFL rookie contract. “But I'm fortunate enough to be a skill player, so I’ve got a higher percentage of being picked.”
If McMillan ever does decide to return to volleyball, there is precedent for a professional athlete switching sports to play at the Olympic level. Chase Budinger played beach volleyball at the 2024 Paris Games after seven seasons in the NBA.
But don't expect to see McMillan competing on the sand.
“I chose to play an outdoor sport, which is football,” McMillan said, “so everything else I do is always going to be inside in the AC.”