Former Liberty County standout now NFL safety LeCounte talks repeat for Georgia football
HINESVILLE — Richard LeCounte III spent four seasons helping the University of Georgia win a lot of football games and get to the brink of a national championship.
The Bulldogs did capture the ultimate prize at the end of the 2021 season — a year after LeCounte left and was drafted by the NFL's Cleveland Browns. The safety, a Liberty County High School graduate, feels like a proud family member happy to see his siblings succeed.
"In the same way if your little brother is getting married or winning a championship," LeCounte explained Friday during a free youth football clinic he hosted with fellow alumnus Raekwon McMillan, a linebacker on the New England Patriots, at their alma mater.
"I think we laid the foundation," LeCounte, 23, said of the Georgia football program. "We did all the hard work and they did all the hard work, too. They bought into the business of buying in and playing football the right way, listening to coach Kirby Smart, listening to all of the assistant coaches, and look at what happened: a national championship."
Defense, as it has been said more than once, wins championships, and LeCounte concurred about UGA's talented squad, several of whom have followed him a year later to the NFL.
"Everybody was doing what they were supposed to do. That's all we need," he said.
LeCounte was on the Georgia sideline, in civilian clothes, for the Bulldogs' 33-18 victory over Alabama on Jan. 10 in the College Football Playoff National Championship game in Indianapolis.
He had plenty to cheer about.
"I woke up the next morning and didn't have a voice, but it was all worth it," he recalled. "I'd do it all again."
LeCounte also celebrated by putting his money where his mouth is, so to speak, to purchase items such as baseball caps commemorating the national title run. He said he spent "as much as I need to," about $2,000 to $3,000 on merchandise for himself and others.
"For my parents, for folks that have been around me, watching football and watching me," he said. "I want them to feel like they were a part of it also. I know they were home or at the games, watching as much as they could. So I wanted them to feel like they were in the mix in that situation."
He expects UGA fans to have such good problems this coming season. LeCounte predicts the Bulldogs will repeat as national champions because they're "still hungry" after getting a taste last season, and they're working hard to stay there.
Also working hard: Richard LeCounte. After his senior season was cut short by injuries from a motorcycle accident on Oct. 31, 2020, the 5-foot-11, 196-pounder took on the tasks of healing and physical rehabilitation.
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The Browns, who selected LeCounte in the fifth round, 169th overall, in the 2021 draft, played him in nine games, including one start, and he totaled two solo tackles and one assisted tackle.
"My rookie year was a lot of learning and a lot of recovery coming from my accident. I still wasn't 100%," said LeCounte, the Savannah Morning News Male High School Athlete of the Year in 2016. "I'm glad the Cleveland Browns were so patient with me and being able to rehab me to get my body back to 100%. This year I'm at 100% and I'm ready to do what I've got to do."
Those who know him have no doubts about that. McMillan first got to know LeCounte when they rode the school bus together. McMillan (Class of 2014) was three years ahead in school, and they shared only one varsity season together with the Panthers when the star linebacker and running back — an elite national recruit who would play for Ohio State — was a senior and LeCounte was a freshman.
"That's my brother," McMillan said Friday. "Richard and I have been talking every day — I met Richard when I was 14 and I'm 26 now, so 12 years. Every day for the last 12 years — haven't missed a day."
McMillan is the big brother in this relationship, and he's bigger at 6-2 and 242 pounds. McMillan was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the second round (154th overall) in 2017, and later played for the Las Vegas Raiders before signing as a free agent in March 2021 with the Patriots.
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McMillan has already experienced the hazards of pro football with two season-ending injuries, including a torn ACL in his left knee that kept him off the field for all of the 2021 slate.
He said those daily conversations with LeCounte are more about personal well-being than football-specific matters. Still, the Buckeye heard from the Bulldog about the win over the Crimson Tide in Indianapolis.
"Oh yeah, I'm still not hearing the last about that," McMillan said. "But the Buckeyes are coming back."
The two Southeast Georgia natives now have another connection, with McMillan playing college ball in Ohio, and LeCounte drafted by an Ohio NFL team. McMillan said no matter the team, rookies have to adjust to the professional way of doing things.
"(LeCounte) was coming to a team that was supposed to be competing for a Super Bowl," McMillan said. "It's a different league. You're not in college anymore. It's different stuff you've got to change. You can't stay up all night and play the games like you're 18. We're professionals. This is what you do for a living. You've got to take it seriously."
Goals for the free football clinic, titled "Raekwon McMillan and Richard LeCounte Present: Dreamers Camp Series: Friday Night Lights," were to provide fundamental football training and fun for youths in grades 8-12 as well as a community tailgate at their alma mater's football stadium.
"Blood, sweat and tears on this field," LeCounte said.
"We just want to show love and bring the community together," McMillan said.
Celebrating the life of Kirk Warner
The clinic started with a somber tone, however, as it was occuring shortly after the June 16 death of longtime Panthers football coach Kirk Warner, 54, who battled a rare form of cancer called angiosarcoma.
"Coach Warner was a great guy," LeCounte said. "He came and got me off of the rec league field. To be able to guide me and help me over the years, it's kind of hard talking about the situation. Coach Warner was a big impact on my life, one of the main reasons I went to the University of Georgia, and why I'm at where I am now."
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Warner was a standout tight end at UGA, and coached at LCHS for 20 years. LeCounte said he had talked to Warner recently.
"I told him I love him and I appreciated everything he did for us," LeCounte said. "We're doing something we know he would want for us to do."
He said the clinic was a celebration of Warner's life and helped people cope with their bereavement.
McMillan said Warner led the student-athletes in the right direction. No matter the ego or attitude, players were very coachable and followed Warner's instructions.
He also helped McMillan believe in himself and dream bigger.
"Coach Warner was the first guy to show me that it's possible," said McMillan, an All-American at Ohio State. "He showed me as long as I put the work in. He always spoke about life to us, always told me I could be the best linebacker in Georgia or even bigger. He told me that I could go to any college I wanted to. Just because he kept speaking that to me, and I believed it, it actually became true."
Liberty County's basketball legacy
Warner's impact wasn't limited to football players, as any student could learn from him, said Jordan McRae, who was taught by Warner at LCHS. Now 31, McRae is a professional basketball player who played in the NBA from 2015-20 along with stints in Spain, China and, last season, Paris, France.
"Coach Warner always gave me pointers," said McRae, who starred at LCHS with teammate Rion Brown, and later was a standout at Tennessee. "I've seen the things he did for the football team. I've seen him create NFL players and college players. It's a tragic loss for our community."
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McRae had coordinated months ago with McMillan so the football clinic fit within the schedule of his second free youth basketball clinic during the day Friday, and on Saturday, a Liberty County Legends hoops game and a charity spades tournament.
Some proceeds would go to the Warner family, McRae said, from concessions sales as well as the raffle of a jersey signed by Sacramento Kings guard Davion Mitchell, another LCHS alumnus on a weekend full of star power.
"We're all in it together," McRae said.
The Jordan McRae Charity Weekend also benefitted the South Georgia Elite AAU program through a partnership with the A.B.C. Sports Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps athletes assist their communities.
"This area is a small town, but there's so much talent here, so much growth, and we want to keep putting that back into our community," McRae said.
He created an opportunity for a new generation of children to see a reunion of standouts from the past — both male and female, both from Liberty County High and rival Bradwell Institute — even including both schools' logos and blending them on the legends game rosters.
The rosters included Rion Brown, who was a standout at the University of Miami and has played overseas; and Kaneetha Grant (Gordon), one of Armstrong State University's all-time great players.
Also returning was Mitchell, who about a year ago was being honored at the school following a national championship as the point guard on the Baylor men's basketball team. Last July, he was the ninth overall pick in the NBA draft, and spent his rookie season with the Sacramento Kings (30-52).
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"It was a roller coaster, a lot of ups and downs, but I learned a lot of things from it," said Mitchell, who averaged 11.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. "I think this year will be a lot better because of the things I learned from my first year. Toward the end of the year, I started being more comfortable, playing better, being comfortable with myself, my teammates, talking more, so I'm ready for this season."
Mitchell has so many great memories growing up in Liberty County with his best friend LeCounte, who is six days younger. They won basketball titles at every level through high school, with the Panthers' first boys basketball state crown (4A) in the 2015-16 season.
Mitchell, who credits LeCounte and teammate Will Richardson for that title-game win, saw the weekend of basketball as an opportunity to give back and be an example to others of what is possible.
"It shows you can come from a small city and still become a top player," Mitchell said. "You've got guys like Jordan McRae, who really paved the way for me. I feel like without Jordan McRae, I wouldn't see the vision. He's shown me I can make it to the NBA because he did it.
"I'm going to work as hard as I can, and I might get there. He showed me the way, me being the new generation, and then me showing the way for the next little Davion, the next little kid that wants to go to the NBA."
Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz