At just 17 years old, starting left back Peyton Miller is one of the crown jewels of the entire New England Revolution organization.
After a slow start to 2025 due to an injury, Miller has made 11 starts for the Revs since March 29 and has been integral to the best defense in the Eastern Conference.
Playing as more of a wingback in New England’s current formation, Miller has also flexed his skills as an attacker this year, particularly on crosses.
Not only has the Connecticut native become indispensable for the senior team throughout this season, he’s also one of the best examples of success for the club’s academy system.
Growing up outside Hartford, Miller joined the academy in 2021. Just two years later, he signed with the senior team as a Homegrown Player, the youngest player ever to sign an MLS contract with the Revs.
When he made his MLS debut last July at just 16 years old, he became the second youngest Rev to do it behind Diego Fagundez, an idol of his growing up.
On May 31, Miller put it all together against CF Montréal. Miller helped his squad secure a shutout while also scoring the first goal of his MLS career. He also added an assist in the theatrical contest.
“Peyton is one of these really special players that was in our academy, made incredible progress in a short amount of time,” New England Sporting Director Curt Onalfo said. “Then we brought him to preseason with the second team and he’s basically sped up the timeline. He excelled at the second-team level so quickly that we signed him to a second-team contract.
“Last year, he ended up starting for us for a period of time and then this year he’s been really doing a great job as a starter for us. He continues to develop and get better and he’s a perfect example of a kid that’s come through our system and we’ve had to teach him the way to play and now he’s thriving at the first team level.”
During Onalfo’s time with the club, which began in 2019 when he was hired as New England’s technical director, the academy system has improved greatly.
“We were one of the worst academies in the league when I got here,” Onalfo said. “A little more than a year after I was in place, I hired Rob Becerra, somebody that I know very well, that worked with me and understood exactly what I was looking for and what we were looking for in our academy.”
A part of Becerra and Onalfo’s adjustments has been what kind of players the club is trying to bring into its system. For Onalfo, the player profiles they’re looking for have changed nearly entirely.
“If you look at the makeup of the academy from six years ago to now, it’s significantly different,” Onalfo said. “ We have a much more athletic player, much more technical player. Then we’re just teaching them all the right tools for them to be successful at the second-team level, and the first-team level, which is really just being successful with the professional level.”
Brian Bilello and Curt Onalfo pose for a photo after Onalfo is formally introduced as the New England Revolution’s sporting director on Dec. 1, 2023.New England Revolution
One of the major milestones the organization just hit involved academy players at the second-team level. In May, Aidan Reilly became the 50th academy player to make his Revolution II debut.
Prior to Onalfo and former head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena’s arrival in 2019, the club didn’t even have a second team. Without that chance to play just under the senior squad, some of the development became stagnant.
Since Revs II formed in 2020, Onalfo has seen his younger players ready for senior action at a much faster rate.
“Back (in 2020), we had some academy players that trained with the second team, but not that many,” Onalfo said. “And fast forward to this preseason, when we were in Florida, we had 12 or 13 academy players actually in preseason. And we weren’t really able to do that early on because they just weren’t of the level to be able to be in that situation.”
One other key change to the club’s academy has been the residency program. Previously, some players may have been out of the club’s reach, simply due to the geographical distance.
Now, thanks to the residency program, academy players have a home to live in right near the training facility, run by academy staffers.
“Certainly having the residential homes as well is an added benefit, because now you can do some recruiting outside of the area,” Onalfo said. “Then also it ends up being a place where even local players that have trouble getting to training and that kind of stuff are able to step in.”
Miller was one of the beneficiaries of the residencies. Rather than having to worry about getting from Hartford to Foxboro, he could live with other players in the academy, and the live-in staffers made sure they all got to training on time and completed their studies.
While Miller was one of the more local players to take advantage of the program, one of his roommates, Damario McIntosh, had to travel a bit farther.
Coming from California, McIntosh didn’t have the cleanest transition, but it was made easier by his house parents at the residency.
“It was a bit tough at first because, moving all the way from California to Boston, that’s a big leap,” McIntosh said. “Shannon and BJ, the house parents, have also made me feel welcome. They’ve been great. Anything I’ve needed, they provided to me.”
Damario McIntosh playing for Revs II.Drew Horton Columbus
The expanded recruiting reach allowed by the residencies does not mean that Onalfo and the Revs have forgotten about the wealth of local talent, however.
Another budding star making his way through the club’s youth ranks is 17-year-old Christiano Oliveira from Somerville.
“One of the things that was a major focus of mine is there’s a big Brazilian-American community here in Boston, and I wanted to make sure that we developed players from that community for the first team,” Onalfo said. “Christiano Oliveira is a perfect example of that. He’s on a really good path right now.
“He’s on the U-17 national team, he’s playing for our second team and he’ll likely be playing on a first team contract next year, and that’s exciting.”
As the Revs continue to scout in New England, Onalfo said he hopes that also serves as a catalyst and incentive for the development of youth talent in the region.
“There’s a lot of good soccer clubs in the area, so we just are continually trying to push to make sure that we have the best possible kids we can,” Onalfo said. “We want to make sure that everything’s improving in the area and we’re hopefully driving that.”
