Through his decade-long playing career in the NFL, Nick Eason learned something along the way that he’s applying to his approach as a coach at his alma mater: Simpler is better.
Eason, a former All-ACC defensive lineman at Clemson, is back with the Tigers’ program as the defensive tackles coach. Upon inheriting a line high on talent, depth and experience, Eason said he could’ve compiled a list of double-digit goals he wanted his position group to accomplish this spring if he really wanted to.
Instead, Eason opted to keep the focus to a minimum.
“It might have been footwork, directional steps and hands,” Eason said. “I’ve seen a lot more than that, but if I gave us 15 different goals, we might not ever accomplish any of them. So I just wanted to focus on those three little attention to details with having a 3.0 (GPA) as a group or better.”
Eason said the idea is to get his players to master a few concepts through mass repetition rather than being average at a lot of them, something he said he learned during his four years with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2007-10. During that time, Eason was part of a Steelers defense that finished in the top 5 in the NFL in yards allowed and top 3 in rushing yards allowed.
During Pittsburgh’s run to the Super Bowl XLIII title in 2008, the Steelers led the league in yards allowed, finished second against the run and tallied the second-most sacks.
Eason said one of the primary reasons for the success those defensive lines had was how consistently repetitive their practice habits were under their position coach, John Mitchell.
“We became creatures of habit,” Eason said. “When I look back, I can say what was the best time of my career that I played the best technique, and it was in Pittsburgh. And we did like three or four different things. They were so boring to me, but I look back on them and I was like, ‘Man, that’s why we were really good.’ Because we did the same things over and over every day until we perfected it.”
Eason said he strayed away from that simplicity early in his coaching career as he tried to add more to his players’ plates through drills he saw on the internet, including YouTube videos. Which brought him back to the lesson he’s learned over the years that he’s implemented during coaching stints in the NFL and his first college coaching job last season at Auburn, where he coached the defensive line. Auburn finished last season ranked in the top 30 nationally in rushing yards allowed and tackles for loss.
There’s plenty for Eason to work with at Clemson, too. The Tigers are returning their entire two-deep up front, including tackles Tyler Davis, Bryan Bresee and Ruke Orhorhoro. The group spearheaded the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense and No. 7 rush defense last season while Clemson also ranked in the top 15 in sacks and tackles for loss.
Eason said he’s not about to overcomplicate things with his current players.
“I was like, ‘This ain’t really carrying over to what we were doing,’” Eason said of those video tutorials. “So I went back to the basics, and I’ve seen my guys get better over time. That’s been truly awesome.”