Most students go to college and get the skills they’ll need for a future job by achieving a degree. Eli Millan began that process by earning his bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Sacramento State in December, but he just landed a job that has nothing to do with what he learned in the classroom.

Millan, 22, was drafted into the Major Indoor Soccer League on Jan. 29 in the fourth round of the league’s draft by the California Cougars. He is the third former Sac State men’s soccer player to be drafted by the Cougars since 2006. Former Hornets Matt McDougall and Pedro Lupercio, who are both former teammates of Millan, are currently members of the Stockton-area soccer club.

After finishing his last season with Sac State in the fall, Millan said he wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do next. He quickly put his degree to good use, though, landing a job with Environment California, an environmental advocacy group.

“It was a pretty good job. I liked it because I got to deal with people a lot,” Millan said.

His time with Environment California would be short-lived, with the Cougars selecting him last month, and it was Lupercio who delivered the news before Cougars’ coach Bernie Lilavois could get in touch with Millan.

“I was actually at work and I got a call from (Lupercio),” Millan said. “I was surprised because I didn’t expect it.”

Millan reported to the team for the first time Tuesday and he will begin his indoor soccer league career with the Stockton Pumas, the Cougars’ minor-league affiliate. Hornets’ men’s soccer coach Mike Linenberger said that Millan will need to adjust to the speed and confinement of the indoor soccer game.

“Obviously the indoor game is a bit different than the outdoor game, and he hasn’t played a lot of indoor soccer,” Linenberger said. “There will be a big learning curve there. But I think that, given a little bit of time, I think he can do very well for the Cougars.”

McDougall, who is in his second season with the Cougars, said the adjustment process will take awhile.

“I still haven’t adjusted all the way yet,” McDougall said. “It takes a good season to just feel more comfortable with the walls, the new rules, the type of play and the physicality.”

Making a big change on the soccer field will not be something new to Millan. As a child, Millan’s father, Eliseo, trained his naturally right-footed son to handle the soccer ball with both feet.

“He always told me it’s better to have a player who plays with both feet,” Millan said. “He’s the one that actually developed me as a player.”

Millan started playing organized soccer at the age of 10 and continued playing through high school. At Santa Ana High School, Millan was a four-year soccer player and was also a member of the school’s track and field team. The soccer team won a Golden West league title in 2000 and as a senior Millan was an all-Capital Valley Conference selection as well as conference MVP.

In 2003, Millan joined the Hornets and started four games for Sac State as a freshman. In his sophomore and junior years, Millan recorded eight total goals, including five game-winners.

Entering his senior year, Millan again was asked to make a major adjustment. Linenberger moved Millan from the front line to the midfield, after the senior had played forward all through high school and most of college.

“We had to move him back a little bit more because we had such a very young midfield, a young team overall. We needed some experience to the middle of the field for us,” Linenberger said. “So consequently he didn’t have a good year statistically, but he actually did a lot of things that don’t show up in the stat sheet for us. So we were very pleased with the year he had overall.”

Millan said that although he’s not sure what position he will be asked to play in his professional career, it doesn’t matter much whether he’s at forward or in the midfield. He has played a few indoor games in the past and feels confident that he will have success for the Cougars.

“Looking at Stockton Arena, it’s a little bit bigger than what I was usually playing at other indoor places, so I think I’ll be able to adapt (more easily),” Millan said.

Once his soccer-playing days have ended, Millan said he’d like to use his degree to get a job where he can interact with a lot of people, similar to the position he had with Environment California.

“I like to find out about people, because there’s so many cultures around that it’s amazing,” Millan said. “That’s just how I was raised, how I am.”

For now, though, Millan will be preparing to embark on a new career as a professional soccer player. McDougall said he believes Millan is capable of being a good indoor player.

“(Millan’s) a very skilled player, very good with his feet,” McDougall said. “I think he has the ability and I think he has the right mindset to (succeed).”

If Millan does well with the Pumas and ends up playing for the Cougars, he said he expects quite a crowd for his Stockton debut.

“Whenever I play with the Cougars, if it happens, I’m going to have a lot of fans?over a hundred people probably showing up for me,” he said.

Fernando Gallo can be reached at [email protected].