by Rusty Ellis
White County senior Japheth Richmond knows where he’s going after graduation, as he signed his NLI on Wednesday to play basketball and compete in track and field at Milligan University.
For Richmond, he’s had the goal of taking part in collegiate athletics for a long time, and he was finally able to reach that goal on Wednesday morning.
“Today’s a really important day for me, it’s something I’ve been dreaming of ever since I was little,” Richmond said. “I’ve dreamt of this for as long as I could remember…it’s taken a lot of traveling and a lot of hard work, but it’s been a blessing all along to make it to this point.”
While many typically discuss the recruiting process as a stressful experience, Richmond says he quite enjoyed it and learned a lot from it.
“It was fun for me, being able to talk to a lot of coaches and seeing their expectations for their players,” Richmond said. “I chose Milligan because when I went there, I loved the campus. The coaches were great, I met all of the players and they were amazing. I also get to compete in two sports, so that was a big part of my decision.”
Richmond’s senior season saw him help lead Sparta to the Class 3A State Tournament, and his elevated level of play is a big reason why Eric Mitchell’s unit made it as far as they did.
“We’re just so excited for the young man, he’s worked extremely hard for this,” Mitchell said. “He really elevated his play at tournament time. The things he does like altering shots, rebounding and the highlight reel dunks, he’s worked extremely hard in the offseason and had a great senior year.”
Safe to say, Mitchell also believes he’s got a shot to be really successful at Milligan.
“I think he’s a good fit there, I think they’ll play him at (power forward),” Mitchell said. “He shot extremely well from three, even though he didn’t take a lot of them. I think once he gets up there and basketball becomes his job, he’s going to be in the gym a lot everyday, his upside is just huge.”
Richmond says there are things like the Sparta community that he’ll miss, but he’s excited for the new journey ahead of him.
“We have an amazing fanbase, and it’s going to be hard to live without that,” Richmond said. “I think Milligan’s going to be an awesome place to play at though, and I’m really looking forward to representing that community.”
