Based on their conversations and what he’s seen from Bryan Bresee on the practice field, Nick Eason believes Clemson’s star defensive tackle is mentally holding up about as well as could be expected.
Eason said Bresee’s demeanor has been “really, really good” all things considered. As Bresee’s position coach, the Tigers’ first-year assistant works with Bresee on a daily basis. But Eason also knows the weight of what Bresee and his family are dealing with is heavy.
It’s been a little more than a month since Bresee’s 15-year-old sister, Ella, passed away on Sept. 15 following a battle with brain cancer. Bryan missed two of Clemson’s games last month to be with his family back home in Maryland during and following his sister’s final days, and he missed another against Boston College after having a non-football medical issue that required him to be briefly hospitalized.
Bryan returned to the lineup over the weekend against Florida State. But before stepping on the field at Doak Campbell Stadium, he was reminded of his sister by the Seminoles’ program, which painted the phrase “Ella Strong” on the wall by the visitor’s locker room, a gesture Clemson coach Dabo Swinney called “real class” on the part of FSU.
Bryan came off the bench to play 22 snaps in Clemson’s 34-28 win.
“I think he’s getting better day by day, but we’re all human,” said Eason, who’s in his first season as Clemson’s defensive tackles coach. “And when you go through things like that, you can only imagine that it’s probably tearing him up on the inside.”
Eason can relate.
After playing at Clemson into the early 2000s, Eason enjoyed a decade-long career playing in the NFL that included a pair of Super Bowl wins, but it didn’t come without a similar pain. In 2012, during his final season as an NFL player, Eason lost his mother, Iris, to breast cancer. He’s also lost a sister during his adult life.
That’s been a touchy area for me as well,” Eason said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of loss.”
What Eason can’t necessarily comprehend is having to process those emotions at a younger age like Bryan, who recently turned 21 years old. Eason was 32 when his mom passed, and he said his sister was 48 when she died.
But Eason said he senses being back around the program and his teammates has helped Bresee as he deals with tragedy.
“We have conversations here and there,” Eason said. “I just think with the love and the atmosphere, him being at Clemson is where he needed to be. We’re a faith-based culture, so he knows he has a lot of love from all of us – players, staff, our head coach, this university. The support has been huge, so I think that’s helped him get through this.”
Eason knows as well as anyone it’s a daily process.
“That’s a touchy subject and very difficult conversation to talk about, but he’s doing a lot better,” Eason said.
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