Losing is never easy, especially for a group of players who are not used to losing.

During their four-year career at Clemson, the seniors lost just four times, including last week’s loss to LSU in the national championship game. It was a difficult pill for a proud class to swallow. However, as the Tigers were walking off the field, as purple and gold confetti fell all around them, they heard a thunderous ovation coming from the Clemson fan section.

The 20,000 or so Clemson fans that attended the national championship game at the Superdome in New Orleans, let their players know how proud they were of them, and in their eyes they’re still the champions.

“Once a champion, always a champion, but a true champion prospers in life,” safety K’Von Wallace said.

There’s no doubt the 2019 Clemson seniors are true champions on and off the field. They concluded their college football careers with a 55-4 record over the last four seasons, tied with the 2018 Clemson and Alabama seniors for the most wins in a four-year career in FBS history.

They also won off the field as Clemson once ranked as one of the more successful football programs from an academic and student enrichment aspect in the country.

“This is just a steppingstone of how us seniors, and juniors that are leaving, are going to prosper in life,” Wallace said. “With everything that has been going on in our lives, look at the men we have become. Look at how much we have grown.”

Though Wallace will now try his hand at making an NFL roster and living out a dream he has had since he was a kid, he knows his journey will not end if he does or does not make an NFL roster next fall. He is ready for whatever curve life happens to throw his way.

Just like in the national championship game last week, just because he and his teammates worked hard, trained and prepared, it did not mean they were going to get what they wanted. Sometimes, things just happen, and Wallace says Clemson has prepared him to handle those things when they don’t always go according to plan.

“This program has helped me and molded me to become a man. Not just a better football player, but a better man,” he said. “Everything I learned here in this program, with my bothers and coaches, I am going to take to the grave. I am going to live and continue to dominate life.”

As for the Clemson football program, Wallace has no doubt on where the Tigers will be next year.

“This is a program that never quits,” he said. “We will be back in this position next year. Mark my words we will learn from this.”

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