No one epitomizes what it is like to be a Clemson Tiger more than Ben Boulware.

The Anderson, South Carolina native, who grew up 20 miles down the road from Clemson, has bled orange and purple since he understood what football was. He once said that he would fight someone if they said something bad about his Tigers.

His dream was to one day attend Clemson University and play football for his beloved Tigers. And as we all know, it came true.

“I have been a part of this my whole life. I’m one of ya’ll,” Boulware said to the nearly 70,000 fans that came to Death Valley on Saturday to celebrate the Tigers’ second national championship in college football.

It was an emotional day for Clemson, especially for Boulware, who cried a couple of times while talking about his teammates, Clemson and his linebackers’ coach Brent Venables.

“The best (Bible) verse that epitomizes this team is 1 Corinthians 9:24. It says, ‘In a race, everyone runs, but only one wins first prize. So run your race in a way to win.’ Our team did that all year,” Boulware said. “From the start of our off-season workouts to the very last snap of Monday night’s game. We ran. We controlled the input, we controlled our body, we controlled our mindset, our attitude every day at practice and we let the outcome take care of itself.”

The outcome was a second straight ACC Championship with a win over Virginia Tech, a victory over Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl and then a last-second win over then No. 1 Alabama to win the national championship.

“We did not care if we had to go across the country to play Ohio State and we were the underdogs,” Boulware said. “We focused on us and we controlled our input and we took care of that game. We did not care if we were playing big bad Alabama. We focused on us and we took care of business in that game.

“I’m really just so thankful for ya’ll (the fans). I’m so thankful for this community. I’m so thankful for guys like Stephone Anthony, Grady Jarrett and Eric Mac Lain that taught me how to be a leader and not by their words, but by their actions every day. I’m so thankful for the guys like Tajh Boyd and C.J. Spiller that exhausted every moment and exhausted so much into this program and this university to get it where it is today. I’m so thankful to Coach (Dabo) Swinney for giving me the chance to play here. I’m so thankful to Coach V. I love him like a father. I’m just so thankful to this university and the opportunity I have been given and the platform I have been placed on. I’m just glad the trophy is back home. I love ya’ll.”

And Clemson loves Boulware.

—Photo Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

We are now taking pre-publication orders for our limited edition magazine Mission Accomplished. The first orders will be shipped the week of January 23. Order yours today to make sure you get a copy!