As Nick Eason put his position group through individual drills during Clemson’s spring practice Monday, the Tigers’ new defensive tackles coach sported pads on both forearms.
They’re more commonly referred to as crayons because of their shape that becomes more narrow closer to the hands, but, most importantly, they’re worn for protection. Mimicking an offensive lineman, Eason sticks those crayons out as each of Clemson’s defensive tackles comes down the line, swatting and ripping through his arms and clubbing his shoulders.
With Eason, there aren’t many drills that don’t involve extensive hand usage, whether it be his own or his players.
“He’s just very hands on,” defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro said. “He’s big on hand combat, so he teaches us all the hand combat.”
Hands aren’t a revolutionary part of defensive line play. Linemen are drilled at every level on ways to effectively use their hands to get off blocks. But with Eason now in charge of the Tigers’ interior linemen, players said it’s emphasized not only more frequently but in more unique ways than it was under Todd Bates, who left after five seasons coaching Clemson’s defensive tackles to join Brent Venables’ staff at Oklahoma.
“Coach Eason has got some different drills,” said rising senior Tyler Davis, a three-year starter for the Tigers on the interior. “It’s very unorthodox to us right now, but we’re still learning them.”
Eason is as well-versed as anyone when it comes to drills and techniques that can help defensive linemen win their matchups in the trenches. After earning All-ACC honors as a senior at Clemson in 2002, Eason was drafted by the Denver Broncos and spent the next 10 years with four different teams as an NFL defensive tackle. He then coached in the NFL for seven seasons before returning to college last year as part of Bryan Harsin’s first coaching staff at Auburn.
Eason, who was hired away from the SEC school in January to replace Bates, is embarking on his 23rd year playing or coaching since first arriving on Clemson’s campus as a freshman in 1999. He said his coaching philosophy has been shaped by taking a little bit of information from every stop along the way.
“Did a good job of taking notes and learning a lot of different things,” Eason said. “Defensive line is really about having good hands and feet. It’s a violent position.”
That includes his last stint as a player a decade ago when he spent two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. During that time, Eason said he trained with one of Mike Tyson’s former trainers. In addition to boxing lessons, he’s dabbled in Aikido, a comprehensive Japanese martial art that includes striking, throwing and pinning.
It’s all had an influence on the way he’s instructing his players at Clemson, particularly when it comes to hand combinations.
“I’ve just taken all of that in, absorbed a lot of information from a lot of good coaches around me and just kind of brought it together,” Eason said. “I use drills that can really carry over into what we’re doing defensively.”
As for the feet, Eason said he’s adding his own twist to those drills as well, some of which he learned from other sports. Eason said he still remembers watching Clemson’s women’s soccer team train while he was in school and how they had “some of the fastest feet I ever saw.”
“It’s out of this world,” Eason continued. “So I started studying what kind of ladder drills and footwork drills they were doing, and they were very similar to what football players were doing as well. Just a lot of different ladder combinations. Icky shuffle, in and outs, hip twists. I can go on and on.”
Clemson’s defensive line fared pretty well with both a season ago. The Tigers finished ninth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in sacks (3.23) and 15th in tackles for loss (7.1) a season ago, and they have their entire two-deep up front returning. That means Eason is working specifically with an experienced group of defensive tackles, including Davis, Orhorhoro, Etinosa Reuben, Tre Williams and rising junior Bryan Bresee, the most talented of the group as a potential first-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft.
They’re just going about their work a little differently.
“It’s been really good,” Eason said. “They’re learning a lot of new things with me being here, but they’ve adjusted to it well.”
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