University of Georgia Athletics
Verse Starting To Find Her Groove
January 08, 2025 | Women's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Miyah Verse has range. Not necessarily from long distance on the basketball court — the Georgia redshirt freshman has not yet attempted a 3-pointer in her career — but seemingly everywhere else.
The 6-foot-1 forward writes poetry. She's a Criminal Justice major who plans on going to law school. In high school in Arizona, she won a state championship in the discus. Again, she has range.
On the court, Verse, who sat out last season, is starting to make her mark for the Lady Bulldogs. She has scored in double figures the past three games, scoring 15 against Ohio, 15 at Vanderbilt, and 13 at Florida. Against the Commodores, her 15 points came in just 15 minutes of action off the bench.
"It feels good that I feel like I'm finally finding my groove," she said. "I mean, it took me a little longer than it takes others, but I feel like I'm finally getting comfortable.
"You know, it's my first year playing, so I feel like I'm finally getting comfortable on the court and just figuring out what the team needs from me and my coaches need for me, and I'm just trying to display that."
That's not just lip service, either. Scoring is nice, but Verse knows that's not where she can help the team the most. She's had 11 games with at least five rebounds heading into Thursday's matchup with Missouri at Stegeman Coliseum.
"I think just focusing on what you're really good at is important — just knowing your role on the team," she said. "We have scorers on the team. Yeah, I scored in double figures the last three games, but we have scorers on the team. So I think my thing is, I just need to do something that other people may not; like, your job is to score, my job is to rebound."
Early in the season, Verse said, she tried too hard to score. She wasn't letting the game come to her.
"I love to score, for sure, but I think when I changed my viewpoint from scoring, that's when I started scoring more," she said. "At the beginning of the season, I was like, Oh, I really want to score, and I wasn't good. I was forcing shots. But now, when you just let the game come to you, good things happen."
That's kind of how she found success throwing the discus. She joined the Mountain Ridge High School track team because she wanted to run and stay in shape for basketball, but the coaches had other ideas.
"I'm pretty big, so they wanted me to be a thrower," she said. "Throwing was fun because it wasn't as stressful as basketball was. It was fun and I was pretty good at it. It wasn't something I planned on, it was just something to do when basketball season was over."
Verse said the poetry writing came about naturally. Her mother, Jannienne, writes poetry and will read them to her sometimes. Verse's writing has come about more recently as something she does for classes and as a way to express herself.
"Sometimes, if I want to have a conversation with my mom, I'll just write her a poem. If I don't know how to say something, I'll just write it in a version of a poem," she said.
While Verse knows she wants to go to law school, she isn't sure if she wants to be a lawyer. She does know she wants to help people and having a law degree will help her.
"Law interests me in general — things like racial disparities, disparities within gender, women, equality, all of that interests me," she said.
Verse is also the younger sister of Los Angeles Rams standout rookie outside linebacker Jared Verse, who made the Pro Bowl in his first season. Jared started his college career at Albany, where he was an FCS All-American, before transferring to Florida State. Knowing he was headed to the NFL Draft, he sat out the Seminoles' bowl game loss to Georgia at the end of the 2023 season.
"He works really hard and he deserves (the accolades) more than anybody, so it's cool to see him doing so well," Verse said, adding that she wants to do what he's doing, playing at the highest level possible. "I'm chasing him."
During the COVID lockdown in 2020, when the Verse family was all together in Flagstaff, Ariz., her brother's commitment to training made a strong impression on her.
"I remember one morning I woke up and I was just going to go jump rope outside. J. was out there and he was pushing his car up a hill. I was like, 'What are you doing?' He just works really hard and I think that inspires me," she said. "Everything I want to do, he's already done. With the conversations we have, I have somebody in my life who can just feed me advice and tell me what I need to do to get there."
She's on her way, and she's moving forward with a great attitude. When asked what her favorite thing to do on a basketball court is, Verse had an insightful answer.
"My favorite thing is celebrating with my teammates," she said. "I find joy in other people's joy, especially my teammates. They mean a lot to me, they're my family, and I feed off their energy."
Staff Writer
Miyah Verse has range. Not necessarily from long distance on the basketball court — the Georgia redshirt freshman has not yet attempted a 3-pointer in her career — but seemingly everywhere else.
The 6-foot-1 forward writes poetry. She's a Criminal Justice major who plans on going to law school. In high school in Arizona, she won a state championship in the discus. Again, she has range.
On the court, Verse, who sat out last season, is starting to make her mark for the Lady Bulldogs. She has scored in double figures the past three games, scoring 15 against Ohio, 15 at Vanderbilt, and 13 at Florida. Against the Commodores, her 15 points came in just 15 minutes of action off the bench.
"It feels good that I feel like I'm finally finding my groove," she said. "I mean, it took me a little longer than it takes others, but I feel like I'm finally getting comfortable.
"You know, it's my first year playing, so I feel like I'm finally getting comfortable on the court and just figuring out what the team needs from me and my coaches need for me, and I'm just trying to display that."
That's not just lip service, either. Scoring is nice, but Verse knows that's not where she can help the team the most. She's had 11 games with at least five rebounds heading into Thursday's matchup with Missouri at Stegeman Coliseum.
"I think just focusing on what you're really good at is important — just knowing your role on the team," she said. "We have scorers on the team. Yeah, I scored in double figures the last three games, but we have scorers on the team. So I think my thing is, I just need to do something that other people may not; like, your job is to score, my job is to rebound."
Early in the season, Verse said, she tried too hard to score. She wasn't letting the game come to her.
"I love to score, for sure, but I think when I changed my viewpoint from scoring, that's when I started scoring more," she said. "At the beginning of the season, I was like, Oh, I really want to score, and I wasn't good. I was forcing shots. But now, when you just let the game come to you, good things happen."
That's kind of how she found success throwing the discus. She joined the Mountain Ridge High School track team because she wanted to run and stay in shape for basketball, but the coaches had other ideas.
"I'm pretty big, so they wanted me to be a thrower," she said. "Throwing was fun because it wasn't as stressful as basketball was. It was fun and I was pretty good at it. It wasn't something I planned on, it was just something to do when basketball season was over."
Verse said the poetry writing came about naturally. Her mother, Jannienne, writes poetry and will read them to her sometimes. Verse's writing has come about more recently as something she does for classes and as a way to express herself.
"Sometimes, if I want to have a conversation with my mom, I'll just write her a poem. If I don't know how to say something, I'll just write it in a version of a poem," she said.
While Verse knows she wants to go to law school, she isn't sure if she wants to be a lawyer. She does know she wants to help people and having a law degree will help her.
"Law interests me in general — things like racial disparities, disparities within gender, women, equality, all of that interests me," she said.
Verse is also the younger sister of Los Angeles Rams standout rookie outside linebacker Jared Verse, who made the Pro Bowl in his first season. Jared started his college career at Albany, where he was an FCS All-American, before transferring to Florida State. Knowing he was headed to the NFL Draft, he sat out the Seminoles' bowl game loss to Georgia at the end of the 2023 season.
"He works really hard and he deserves (the accolades) more than anybody, so it's cool to see him doing so well," Verse said, adding that she wants to do what he's doing, playing at the highest level possible. "I'm chasing him."
During the COVID lockdown in 2020, when the Verse family was all together in Flagstaff, Ariz., her brother's commitment to training made a strong impression on her.
"I remember one morning I woke up and I was just going to go jump rope outside. J. was out there and he was pushing his car up a hill. I was like, 'What are you doing?' He just works really hard and I think that inspires me," she said. "Everything I want to do, he's already done. With the conversations we have, I have somebody in my life who can just feed me advice and tell me what I need to do to get there."
She's on her way, and she's moving forward with a great attitude. When asked what her favorite thing to do on a basketball court is, Verse had an insightful answer.
"My favorite thing is celebrating with my teammates," she said. "I find joy in other people's joy, especially my teammates. They mean a lot to me, they're my family, and I feed off their energy."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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