Milan Richard always wanted to be a Bulldog. Growing up in Georgia, it was Milan’s dream to attend UGA and his blood ran red and black. His uncle, Herschel Walker, is one of the most recognizable running backs of all time and a Heisman Trophy winner at Georgia, and his father graduated from the university.
Milan was a Georgia legacy. Instead, he created his own legacy at Clemson.
Richard recently sat down and recalled the experiences that brought him to Clemson and his career with the Tigers during an episode of the Around the Paw podcast. His journey from the Peach State to the Palmetto State was one he never planned but is glad that it happened.
“My recruitment was crazy,” said Richard. “Recruiting was fun and I really enjoyed it, honestly, going to different schools and meeting different people. Everyone wants you. At the end it gets really serious and where do you want to go? I really kind of heard about Clemson through the grapevine. I was a Geogia kid with my background with my parents’ history and my family’s history, so Georgia is where I wanted to go. They recruited me but I think they thought I was automatically coming there because of my history. and so, I didn’t feel the way I did when I went to Clemson.”
Milan Richard
“I ended up going to a camp at Clemson, and Coach (Jeff) Scott came to my school, and Clemson versus South Carolina was my first game,” he continued. “That was crazy, and the environment was insane. I was hooked immediately, and that following week Jeff Scott came to see me, and I got an offer. In my heart, that night I knew I wanted to be a Tiger.”
Richard redshirted during his freshman season in 2014 and saw his first significant playing time in 2015 on a Clemson team that would wind up playing for the university’s first national championship since 1981. The heartbreaking loss to Alabama on that January night in early 2016 did much to shape Milan’s mindset and that of his teammates going into the following season.
“In 2015, that’s when everything changed for us,” stated Milan. “You hear so much about Alabama, the giants and Mount Rushmore of college football, those big pedigree type programs that are supposed to be there. Clemson wasn’t one of those schools so when we got there in 2015, even though we lost, mentally and emotionally we gained and won a whole lot because of the way we lost that game. (Alabama) messed us because they let us know we belonged on this stage now. I think losing that game really set up the run we went on because it changed our mentality and focus. It revamped who we were as a program.”
Milan Richard
Playing with a cast of superstars like Deshaun Watson, Wayne Gallman, Mike Willians, etc. was an experience Richard said was unforgettable. During the Tigers’ national championship season in 2016, Richard recalled the weekly dramatics that Clemson often needed to defeat their opponents, including heart-stopping wins over N.C. State and Louisville, as well as the heartbreak of the home loss to Pittsburgh.
“Our players’ parents would always ask, can ya’ll just make one week easy,” joked Richard. “Can we come to a game and not be worried? Now, as a fan, I understand it. That year was special because we were just so locked in. But I feel like we needed all the bumps in the road. We needed all the tough games and close calls. I hate to say we needed the loss at home to Pitt, but it came at a really pivotal point in our season. It was a big attention getter.”
Milan Richard
“Just because you were there last year and should win on paper, you can still lose,” he added. “When you look at how we finished the year with that slugfest in Tampa, we needed every single bit of that journey along the way to prepare for that heavyweight fight.”
When Clemson met Alabama again for the national championship in January 2017, Milan knew in his heart the result would be different. As he watched Jalen Hurts’ scramble score to give the Crimson Tide the lead with 2:03 left to play, Richard automatically knew that Alabama had left Clemson more than enough time to return the favor.
“I remember sitting next to guys and we were watching on the (jumbotron) in the offensive huddle, and we all looked around and were like, yea, too much time,” recalls Milan. “We practiced every Wednesday putting 1:30 on the clock in practice, the ball would be at the 25, and we had to go score against the best defense in the country. I remember Coach Swinney coming over and saying, hey, this is Wednesday practice all over again, but they gave you 30 more seconds. We knew we had time and kind of knew the plays that were coming. We had a good scouting report and knew what we would be running (on the final drive).”
As for the final play, the dramatic pass from Watson to Hunter Renfrow to win the national championship, Richard was in the huddle when the play was called and was confident right away that it was going to work. “Orange Crush” as the play is called was simply a bad match-up for the Tide’s defensive tendencies.
“Scouting (Alabama), we knew inside the 10-yard line going in that defensively they were like 98 percent man to man,” Richard explained. “When you have those kinds of statistics as a play caller, we called a man beater, and we knew it was going to be there. I remember being on the sideline, and I was watching the play from behind. As soon as we snapped the ball I knew, uh oh, they’re in man. I knew before Deshaun even threw the ball it was over. We’re about to score. We went with the odds, and it paid off for us.”
Milan Richard
Richard was a part of the meteoric rise of Clemson football as well as its upheaval during the Tigers’ quarterback change in 2018. One of his most candid memories is that of the team’s mindset when Dabo Swinney relegated incumbent starter Kelly Bryant to the bench in favor of true freshman phenom Trevor Lawrence. The move ultimately worked, and Clemson became the first 15-0 team in college football history on their way to another national championship, but behind closed doors there was turmoil.
Milan gave an insight into the inner dynamics and mindset of the team during that time and admitted that a divided team was close to being torn apart. Had the Tigers not been days from playing a game, something he says helped compartmentalize players’ personal feelings, then the success of the 2018 season may well have been in jeopardy.
“It was difficult when (Trevor Lawrence) first got (to Clemson) because you could kind of see our team was about to split,” Milan revealed. “I think Trevor handled it perfectly from his seat and the way he handled it allowed us as an offense to get behind him and let him kind of take the keys to the offense. He let his play talk.”
He continued, “I think some of us were on board and some of us weren’t, but eventually we got it together. I remember the week Swinney told us we were going to make that decision, we thought, we really need to play a football game because I felt like our locker room was about to explode. Half of us were Team Kelly and half of us were Team Trevor, and we were like we just need to go play so we can get this behind us.”
Milan Richard
Richard carved out a solid career at Clemson. In total, he played four full seasons and 57 games, with 16 of those being starts. He ended his career with 25 receptions for 269 yards and two touchdowns. He was never the go-to target on offense, but his impact was felt in more ways as a leader on and off the field. Today’s college football landscape is a bit foreign to him, and Richard said he never once thought about leaving Clemson or transferring to another school.
“I heard so much in the recruiting process from Coach Scott about recruiting Clemson guys, Clemson men, and I think the characteristics of who they are looking for in a person outweigh the transfer portal,” surmises Richard. “I know guys are going to leave now, that is just the landscape of college football, but I think at the core of who we are as Clemson Tigers we are recruiting the characteristics of that type of kid, that has loyalty and understands family and those morals.”
Milan Richard
Ultimately, Milan Richard looks back on his five years at Clemson with great fondness and appreciating, adding that it helped shape him into the man he is today. Milan still lives in the area, working for Chik-Fil-A with the goal of owning his own franchise one day. The charitable and affable Richard loves being able to continue giving back to the community, a value he learned during his time as a Clemson Tiger.
“We had such a great run at Clemson,” he said. “Two national championships, four ACC’s, 50 something wins, two degrees, the list goes on and on the accomplishments for me personally and for that group of guys. I think, for me, it’s all about the relationships. I would trade the rings, I don’t know if I would trade the wins, but I’d trade the wins and the personal accolades for the relationships.”
