Charlotte 49ers find another walk-on success story in Lance McMillan

Lance McMillan thought he would spend a routine Christmas day with his family in Greensboro last December. A walk-on cornerback for the Charlotte 49ers, he had just completed his redshirt freshman season, playing in all 12 games. He started one game and made Conference USA’s all-freshman team.

On Christmas morning, McMillan noticed his entire family had gathered in the living room, something he thought was a little odd. And when someone flipped on a computer and 49ers coach Will Healy’s face popped up on the screen, McMillan really figured something was up.

“I was wondering like, ‘Wow all of them were there, but we don’t usually do that,’ ” McMillan said Saturday, minutes after his interception and fumble recovery had helped the 49ers beat Texas-El Paso 38-28 in their home opener at Richardson Stadium. “Then they put up a computer, and I was kind of confused. And then it was Coach Healy and I was like, ‘What’s up?’

“Then I kind of had an idea of what was going on there.”

Healy offered McMillan the best kind of Christmas present he could have hoped for: a full scholarship.

It was an easy decision for Healy, who is known to have a flair for the dramatic when offering scholarships to his walk-ons. Defensive back Christian Haynes found out about his on the Jumbotron during a Carolina Panthers preseason exhibition in 2019. The next day, Healy told kicker Jackson Vansickle if he made a 35-yard field goal in practice, a scholarship was his. Vansickle made it.

Former walk-ons have played a huge role in Charlotte’s football history. They include quarterback Chris Reynolds, whose only offer out of high school was from Division II Catawba, and former defensive end Alex Highsmith, who was taken in the third round of last spring’s NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Healy’s Christmas surprise was affirmation of what McMillan had accomplished and what he meant to the team.

“Lance is an exceptional leader, and he’s a really hard worker,” Healy said. “He did everything the way we asked him to do. When Lance plays confident, he’s exceptional. He’s been a staple for us defensively.”

McMillan turned in the game of his career Saturday against UTEP. With the score tied 14-14 early in the third quarter, he intercepted a pass by Miners quarterback Gavin Hardison. On UTEP’s next possession, he recovered a fumble after teammate Ben DeLuca knocked the ball loose from Miners running back Deion Hankins.

That turnover led to Charlotte’s third touchdown, a 10-yard pass from Chris Reynolds to Cam Dollar. It put the 49ers up 21-14, and they never looked back.

“We just do it in practice every day,” McMillan said of the fumble recovery. “We preach running to the ball, so I was just running to it and I got lucky. The ball landed right in my hands.”

Charlotte had another turnover, coming on UTEP’s first possession when junior linebacker Tyler Murray intercepted a Hardison pass and returned it 47 yards to the Miners’ 7. 49ers running back Aaron McAllister scored two plays later.

That sent the 49ers (2-2, 2-1 C-USA) on the way. After falling behind 14-7 in the second quarter, they scored 24 consecutive points against a Miners team (3-3, 0-2) that actually outgained them 374-329 in total offense.

“Turnovers were probably the difference in the football game,” said Healy, whose team has won two games in a row.

Healy wasn’t terribly happy with other aspects of his his team’s performance, including sloppy tackling and coverage on special teams and 11 penalties for 122 yards. McMillan was one of three 49ers defensive backs to be called for pass interference.

But it sets the 49ers up relatively well for another rugged stretch of their schedule. After having three games since the start of the season called off due to coronavirus, Charlotte was left with just two home games in what is now an eight-game schedule. The 49ers are not at home again until Nov. 28 against Western Kentucky, with road games coming against Duke (next Saturday), Middle Tennessee (Nov. 7) and Marshall (Nov. 21).

The 49ers have an open date on Nov. 14 (after Old Dominion canceled all fall sports) and Healy said he’s hopeful a game can be scheduled then. There’s also the very real chance that last week’s postponed home game against Florida International will be rescheduled for either Dec. 5 or Dec. 12.

Saturday’s home opener was played in front of about 1,000 fans, following protocols from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.

“Having fans and just being home for the first time in a long time, it was fantastic,” said McAllister, who added a second touchdown in the fourth quarter. “We’ve been playing away for a while now, We’re used to it. Right now we don’t have many home games because of circumstances going on. We’ll just keep playing football. That’s all we can really do. It’s out of our hands.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2020 at 6:00 AM.