In February of 2020, a dynasty began with CNU men's lacrosse. Not that anyone could have foreseen it at the time.

It started with Drew Miller, an attacker from Atlee High in Mechanicsville. Four years later came Kevin Miller, another attacker from Atlee and Drew's little brother. Now there's Ryan Miller, yet another attacker from Atlee and (you guessed it) Drew's and Kevin's little brother.

Drew became the first player in program history to finish his career with at least 130 goals and 125 assists. Kevin is second on CNU's career list in assists — and he's only a junior. Ryan is five assists away from becoming the first Captains player to break 30 as a freshman.

This spring marks the seventh consecutive season that CNU has had at least one of the Miller brothers on the roster. The Captains are 99-24 (.805) in that span with two Final Fours and three Elite Eights.

"The oldest brother plays for us for five years, and then his younger brothers decide to come play for us as well," CNU coach Mikey Thompson said. "It speaks to how close our guys are, whether they're blood related or not.

"Having that family atmosphere is really a big part of our program. It's special that a family would send their oldest son to us, then their middle son, and then their youngest. That's pretty cool."

As a sophomore at Atlee, Drew wasn't sure he wanted to play college lacrosse. Not only that, he hadn't heard of CNU at the time. But two high school teammates — Dylan Rice and Will Stockhausen, two classes above him — were being recruited by the Captains.

Thompson came to watch Rice and Stockhausen play, and afterward they sent Drew over to meet with him. A year later, Miller was offered a spot on the roster. After sitting on it for a while, he accepted.

"Honestly, Dylan Rice and Will Stockhausen are why I came to CNU," Drew said. "I really don't know if I would have ended up here if it wasn't for them."

Drew graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in May of 2023. But his career wasn't over, not if he didn't want it to be. The NCAA had granted an extra year of eligibility to all athletes who lost the 2020 season to the pandemic.

And guess who was in the upcoming freshman class?

"Drew was four years above me, so I never thought I'd have a chance to play competitive lacrosse with him," Kevin said. "But one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come here was the chance that if he took his fifth year, when I came in as a freshman, we'd get to play together."

Drew made it a point to let Kevin make his own decision with no influence.

"I definitely never put any pressure on Kevin," said Drew, now 24 and an associate regulatory analyst with Berkshire Hathaway Energy near Richmond. "That was the big part I learned during my process is that you have to figure it out on your own."

In their one season together, the Captains went 16-6 and made the Elite Eight. Kevin missed the season's first four games with an injury but had three goals and three assists in his debut against Dickinson. His first collegiate goal was assisted by Drew.

It didn't take Kevin long to realize he had made the right choice.

"It's such a close team here," he said. "We always say we get to play and hang out with 60 of your best friends every day, which honestly is so true. Every single guy on this team I could sit down and have a great conversation with."

Ryan was 12 years old when Drew played his first game at CNU. When his time came to pick a college, Drew and Kevin urged him to consider all of his options. But, seriously, was there any doubt?

"After five or six years of watching CNU, I had a feeling this is where I wanted to be," Ryan said. "It was a great coaching staff that I wanted to play for and the team is always so close. The culture here is awesome, and that was something I wanted to be a part of.

"A lot of kids now just want to go D-I. I'd rather go somewhere and get playing time and compete for a national championship. To me, that's the whole point. CNU checks all the boxes."

In their first of what will be two seasons together, Ryan and Kevin have scored or assisted on 98 of the Captains' 177 goals. They have teamed up 12 times — each has six goals and six assists.

Thompson can see the obvious connection they share.

"One of the coolest things is, whether it's in practice or games, they connect on a give-and-go play on the lefty wing," he said. "That's one of the coolest plays in sports, and it requires quite a bit of chemistry. They definitely seem to know where the other is, which is cool to witness."

In 2022 and '23, their only seasons as high school teammates, Kevin and Ryan led Atlee to back-to-back state championships. Also on that team were current CNU juniors Garrett Bralley and Connor Bade and sophomore Mark Cook.

Drew, Kevin and Ryan aren't the only lacrosse players in the Miller family. Their sister, Kate, played four seasons at the University of Virginia.

"She had a great career there," Ryan said. "She put up really good points, but unfortunately she tore her ACL her senior year and missed most of it."

Kevin has the honor of being the dynasty's bridge — he played with Drew in his final season, and he's playing with Ryan in his first. That would make him well qualified to offer an astute analogy of each brother's talents.

"Drew's probably the most skilled," Kevin said. "He would do stuff that was just crazy even though he was undersized. Ryan is the biggest and fastest and strongest. He's probably the best shot as well.

"I'd say the only thing I have different than them is a little more confidence. They can do stuff I can't do, so I have to think about the game a little differently than them. We all play similar, but we all have the differences that set each other apart."

Among CNU's career leaders, Kevin and Drew are second and third (respectively) in assists. Ryan is well on pace to join them, if not pass them.

Yet individual numbers are not their objective. Drew made the Final Four twice, but each time it painfully ended there.

"We saw Drew lose some hard games late in the tournament," Ryan said. "Hopefully, that's something me and Kevin can finally get over the hump."