Tag: Eric Mac Lain

This former Tiger is a big fan of Clemson’s new DC

A former Clemson standout is a big fan of the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach. Former Tiger All-ACC offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain spoke about Wes Goodwin this week and had high praise for the man who has earned the nickname …

A former Clemson standout is a big fan of the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach.

Former Tiger All-ACC offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain spoke about Wes Goodwin this week and had high praise for the man who has earned the nickname “Wes-lichick.”

“At the end of the day, Wes is the guy and he is a genius,” Mac Lain said on the Gramlich and Mac Lain podcast with Kelly Gramlich. “And I know people want to see results first before we start throwing out all these nicknames and accolades and deeming him one of the smartest people in the room. But in all of my experiences, this guy is gonna be ready.”

Goodwin is in his 10th overall season at Clemson spanning two tenures with the Tigers. Earlier this week, he was officially promoted from senior defensive assistant to defensive coordinator/linebackers coach and added the role of co-defensive coordinator for safeties coach Mickey Conn.

As a defensive analyst from 2012-14 and as senior defensive assistant from 2018-21, Goodwin served in a critical off-field role for former defensive coordinator Brent Venables, overseeing defensive breakdowns and opponent scouting, assisting with on-campus recruiting and also serving as one of the program’s primary liaisons to NFL scouting personnel and coaches.

Goodwin first arrived at Clemson in 2009, serving as a graduate assistant from 2009-11. He joined the staff on a full-time basis in 2012 in Venables’ first season at the helm of the defense and oversaw the team’s secondary for its 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl win against LSU. In the final season of his first stint at Clemson in 2014, Clemson finished as the nation’s top-ranked unit in total defense, third down percentage, first downs allowed and tackles for loss, all while ranking in the top five in many other statistical categories.

Between his stints at Clemson, Goodwin spent three years with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, serving as an assistant to head coach Bruce Arians. Cardinals squads for which Goodwin worked compiled a 28-19-1 record, including a 13-3 NFC West championship season in 2015 in which Arizona reached the NFC Championship Game.

“He just lives it, breathes it. He is football, and he is going to be so methodical,” Mac Lain said. “I think what’s going to be really fun to see the difference is, I want to see him animated. If something goes wrong, I cannot imagine Wes Goodwin jumping up and down, screaming… I think he’s just this calm, silent killer at the end of the day. So, I am fascinated to see what it’s gonna look like.”

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Former Tiger, current analyst: This is Clemson Football’s ‘baseball year’

After winning the last six ACC Championships, Clemson (9-3, 6-2 ACC) saw its hopes of a seventh straight conference title come to an end last Friday night when NC State defeated North Carolina in Raleigh, officially eliminating the Tigers from ACC …

After winning the last six ACC Championships, Clemson (9-3, 6-2 ACC) saw its hopes of a seventh straight conference title come to an end last Friday night when NC State defeated North Carolina in Raleigh, officially eliminating the Tigers from ACC Championship Game contention.

Former Clemson All-ACC offensive lineman and current ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain, who was a guest on College Sports Today on ESPNU Radio on Monday, compared the Tigers’ relatively down year to when Michael Jordan retired from basketball in 1993 after winning three straight NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls and then decided to try a career in baseball before returning to the NBA in 1995 and leading the Bulls to another three-peat (1996-1998).

“It’s been very impressive to see both of these teams (Pittsburgh and Wake Forest) really just take advantage of kind of the Clemson off year, if you will,” Mac Lain said. “Our host on The Huddle (on ACCN), Jordan Cornette, kind of summed it up as when Michael Jordan went and played baseball. Well, this is Clemson’s ‘baseball year,’ in who was able to take over the ACC.”

Considering Clemson’s strong finish to the regular season, which saw the Tigers win their last five games – most recently a 30-0 rout of rival South Carolina – and the way Clemson’s suffocating defense has performed all year long, Mac Lain believes Dabo Swinney’s team would be favored over both Pittsburgh (10-2, 7-1 ACC) and Wake Forest (10-2, 7-1) if the Tigers had made the ACC Championship Game.

“Well, we just saw Clemson dismantle Wake Forest (48-27 on Nov. 20),” Mac Lain said. “I think that would be kind of similar again just because the style of Wake Forest with that offense that they run. Clemson being able to get pressure really affects them. And then with Pitt, it’s hard to beat anybody twice. And with the way that Clemson is playing right now, I would think they would be favored. Maybe it would be by three, maybe by five. But just going into that game, I think there would be a lot of respect with the Tigers and how they’ve finished this year. Not that it would be a dud, because I think (Pitt quarterback) Kenny Pickett is that good and he clearly showed the Tigers how good he is. But certainly, I think they’d be favored in another close game.”

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Analysts weigh in on Clemson’s blowout win over South Carolina

Clemson blanked South Carolina, 30-0, on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium to win its seventh straight game over the Gamecocks and improve to 72-42-4 all-time against its Palmetto State rival. Clemson’s 72 all-time wins against South Carolina are …

Clemson blanked South Carolina, 30-0, on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium to win its seventh straight game over the Gamecocks and improve to 72-42-4 all-time against its Palmetto State rival.

Clemson’s 72 all-time wins against South Carolina are the program’s most against any opponent, and with Saturday’s victory, the Tigers matched the longest winning streak in the series by either team all-time (Clemson, 1934-40).

After the game, on The Huddle on ACC Network, ACCN analysts Eric Mac Lain, E.J. Manuel and Mark Richt reacted to the Tigers’ dominating win over the Gamecocks.

Mac Lain, who played at Clemson from 2011-15 and was a first-team All-ACC selection in his final season as a Tiger, talked about D.J. Uiagalelei’s 22-yard run on third-and-11 on Clemson’s opening possession that led to Will Shipley’s 29-yard touchdown run one play later.

“Using his legs, makes a little cut, gets a guy on the ground, picking up about 20 yards,” Mac Lain said. “Talk your talk on third-and-11. Big-time play.”

Richt, the former Georgia and Miami head coach, continues to be impressed by Shipley, who rushed 19 times for a career-high-tying 128 yards and the touchdown against South Carolina.

“The guy is amazing,” Richt said. “Week after week, he keeps delivering, getting better and better. I can’t imagine what he’s going to be in his senior season.”

Defensively, junior cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. shined, recording two interceptions to become the first Clemson player with multiple interceptions in a game since Mario Goodrich (two) against Pittsburgh on Nov. 28, 2020.

Booth recorded Clemson’s first takeaway of the game, picking off a Jason Brown pass in the first quarter.

“Booth ran a route for him right here,” said Manuel, FSU’s starting quarterback during the 2009-12 seasons and a former a former first-round NFL Draft pick. “He broke on that thing. It was pretty much read it and weep. Easy interception right there.”

The game was Clemson’s 23rd shutout of South Carolina all-time and its first since Danny Ford’s Tigers shut out South Carolina, 45-0, in 1989. All 23 of Clemson’s shutouts in the series have come in Columbia.

“You know what, they’ve had a couple of opportunities to have more (shutouts) than that,” Mac Lain said. “But South Carolina will get down there, there’s three seconds left, they kick a field goal. They didn’t do that this time, get the shutout.”

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Is this season one of Swinney’s best coaching jobs? Analysts weigh in

Even in a “down” season for Clemson – relatively speaking for a program that has won six straight ACC Championships and made six consecutive appearances in the College Football Playoff – Dabo Swinney has still managed to lead his team to eight wins …

Even in a “down” season for Clemson — relatively speaking for a program that has won six straight ACC Championships and made six consecutive appearances in the College Football Playoff — Dabo Swinney has still managed to lead his team to eight wins thus far in 2021 and keep the Tigers’ hopes of reaching a seventh straight ACC Championship Game alive.

On The Huddle on the ACC Network following Clemson’s 48-27 victory over No. 10 Wake Forest on Saturday, ACCN analysts Mark Richt, Eric Mac Lain and E.J. Manuel weighed in on whether this season represents one of the best coaching jobs of Swinney’s career, considering the offensive struggles, the injuries that the Tigers have endured and the fact they still have the chance to get 10 wins in spite of all that.

Richt: “He’s definitely had to coach harder. Every time you coach a game that’s a close, tight game, there’s a lot of tight decisions that they have to make. He’s had to spend time defending his coaches, he’s had to spend time defending his players. He’s stayed true to everybody on the staff, everybody on his team, stayed positive. It just takes a lot more energy to play those types of games that they’ve been playing. So, I would have to agree with that statement (that it’s one of the best coaching jobs of Swinney’s career).”

Mac Lain: “Coach, you brought that up early in the year. You said listen – this staff, these players, they’re going to be in really uncomfortable situations that they quite frankly have never been in before. So, I don’t think (the statement), when you really dive into it, I don’t think it’s too far off.”

Manuel: “I don’t think it is either. Look, sometimes you can’t be perfect, and I actually think this might be the best thing for this program to understand hey, look, we can be down but we can still fight and get wins and maybe even still squeak a way into the ACC Championship. Imagine that, guys. We talk about the start of the season, the first four or five games for this team, would they be in the ACC Championship? I don’t think anybody thought that. But there’s still a chance.”

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Analysts react to Clemson’s win over UConn

Clemson defeated UConn, 44-7, on Saturday at Death Valley to extend its school record for both the longest home winning streak and longest home unbeaten streak in school history (as well as extend the nation’s longest active home winning streak). On …

Clemson defeated UConn, 44-7, on Saturday at Death Valley to extend its school record for both the longest home winning streak and longest home unbeaten streak in school history (as well as extend the nation’s longest active home winning streak).

On The Huddle on the ACC Network, the network’s analysts reacted to the Tigers’ win that improved their record to 7-3 on the season.

Of course, one of the topics of conversation was Will Swinney’s 6-yard touchdown run on a fake field goal in the first quarter that gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 10-7.

“How ’bout Will Swinney getting in there … the big man on campus, scoring a touchdown,” former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain said.

“Probably going to be the next head coach of the Tigers when it’s all said and done,” Mac Lain added jokingly.

“He’s going to have to wait about 25 years,” former Georgia and Miami head coach Mark Richt quipped back.

Richt discussed the performance of Clemson sophomore quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who went 21-of-44 passing for a season-high 241 passing yards and threw for a touchdown with one interception.

“Incrementally, he’s getting better and better,” Richt said. “We kind of thought at one time there’d be this Eureka moment where all of a sudden he’d look like he did last year. It hasn’t been that way, but it’s been little by little, he’s getting better and better, which is a good sign.”

With multiple members of Clemson’s receiving corps banged up with injuries, freshmen wideouts Dacari and Beaux Collins stepped up to carry the load against UConn.

Dacari posted career highs with six receptions for 97 yards, while Beaux caught a 32-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, giving him a touchdown catch in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

“It was good to see him (Uiagalelei) get involved with Beaux Collins, Dacari Collins — these young cats that he has just such a great relationship with, it seems like,” Mac Lain said. “And when you have that, when you feel good about throwing to your guy, good plays happen.”

Clemson will play its final home game of the season this Saturday when the Tigers host Wake Forest (9-1) for Senior Day. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is scheduled for noon on ESPN.

“Don’t count out this Clemson squad for the Atlantic Race and possibility to get into the conference championship representing the Atlantic,” The Huddle host Jordan Cornette said. “They’re not out of this thing. Far from his best start for D.J. U today vs. UConn, but showing some life and still moments there.”

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Former Tiger has high praise for Xavier Thomas

A former Clemson standout has been very impressed by what he’s seen from Xavier Thomas on the field this season. Former Tiger All-ACC offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain, now an ACC Network analyst, talked about Thomas this week and had some high praise …

A former Clemson standout has been very impressed by what he’s seen from Xavier Thomas on the field this season.

Former Tiger All-ACC offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain, now an ACC Network analyst, talked about Thomas this week and had some high praise for the senior defensive end.

“Xavier Thomas has had an unbelievable year,” Mac Lain said on the Gramlich and Mac Lain Podcast with Kelly Gramlich. “He has had a life-changing year because I can almost guarantee he’s gonna be invited to the Senior Bowl now. He might get invited to the NFL Combine. This guy has turned it around and looks fantastic.”

In nine games this season (eight starts), Thomas has totaled 26 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, one pass breakup, a couple of forced fumbles and 14 quarterback pressures.

While Thomas is certainly filling up the stat sheet, Mac Lain believes his impact for the Tigers on defense goes beyond just his numbers.

“His presence on the field cannot be measured by the stat sheet,” Mac Lain said. “It can be measured with your eyes and your understanding of the game of football. He is all over the place, making quarterbacks uncomfortable, running guys down.”

Last year was a tough one for Thomas, who contracted COVID-19 and couldn’t train for around a month or two because he was still having trouble breathing. Because of that, he gained around 20 pounds. After his bout with COVID, with Thomas being mostly in the clear, he got strep throat and it put him even further in the hole.

Thomas has fought through that adversity and looks like the former five-star prospect that Clemson fans saw glimpses of during his freshman and sophomore seasons.

“The effort has been lights out from X, and it’s good to see that, especially a young man who was so affected by COVID a year ago, who just wasn’t himself,” Mac Lain said. “He couldn’t work out. He was overweight, couldn’t move and completely transformed. Looks like a superhero and is playing at a very high level.”

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Analysts react to Clemson’s win over Louisville, Uiagalelei’s performance

Following Clemson’s 30-24 win over Louisville on Saturday night at Cardinal Stadium, a few analysts reacted to the Tigers’ victory and the performance of quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei. E.J. Manuel, Eric Mac Lain and Eddie Royal all weighed in Saturday …

Following Clemson’s 30-24 win over Louisville on Saturday night at Cardinal Stadium, a few analysts reacted to the Tigers’ victory and the performance of quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei.

E.J. Manuel, Eric Mac Lain and Eddie Royal all weighed in Saturday night on The Huddle on the ACC Network.

Manuel: “Toughing it out with some of the injuries, with a lower leg injury, that’s the toughness that you want to see from your starting quarterback. Your team feeds off of that. … To see that their quarterback, hey, if he’s leaving it all on the line, we’ve got to do our part as a defense, and obviously they came out with the win.”

Mac Lain: “I thought this was the third week in a row now that we’ve seen D.J. play his best game. Now, it’s still not what we saw (last season), but he’s playing much better. He’s playing freer. I thought he really took command of the offense. … When you saw this young man, I thought the composure was there, I thought the leadership was there and the ownership of the offense where it’s third-and-2, I’m calling my own number, pick it up. It’s 8 yards to score a touchdown to win the game, I’m calling my own number, I’m getting in there.”

Royal: “He showed toughness. And whenever your quarterback is playing like that, guys like Will Shipley don’t want to come out of the game as well. We saw him hobbling. He made some plays on kick return. He was trying to stay in the game because he saw his leader doing the same thing. And then like you said, that defensive line stepped up at the end of the game. I thought they were getting dominated for the majority of that game, but they stepped up when they needed to.”

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Mac Lain excited for future matchups for Tigers in ‘Alliance’

This past week commissioners from the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 announced the formation of a historic alliance between the three conferences. The formal announcement did not include specific terms of the alliance but featured talk of future …

This past week commissioners from the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 announced the formation of a historic alliance between the three conferences.

The formal announcement did not include specific terms of the alliance but featured talk of future scheduling.

“Τhe football scheduling alliance will feature additional attractive matchups across the three conferences while continuing to honor historic rivalries and the best traditions of college football,” the statement released on Tuesday said.

Former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain hopped into the conversation on the alliance Thursday after the Tigers’ practice at the fields behind the Allen Reeves Football Complex.

The ACC Network analyst visited practice in conjunction with the networks ACC Football Road Show and shared the matchups he wants for Clemson with schools in the Pac-12.

“Oregon was really good in my career so that would have been fun to go there and host them here,” Mac Lain said. “I think when you think of big name brands it would be fun to play USC and to see over there in LA and what they’ve got going on.”

Mac Lain played on the offensive line for the Tigers from 2011-15 and served as a captain on the first team to reach the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in 2015. He’s excited to see how the alliance contributes to the evolving nature of college football with Clemson at the center.

“It’s going to be really fun to see which way college football goes, it’s an ever changing landscape,” he said. “The only thing that’s important for this area is that Clemson is going to be square in the middle of all of it, there’s no question.”

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ACC Network analyst makes bold prediction for Uiagalelei

An ACC Network analyst made a bold prediction for Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei. In a conversation about which ACC quarterback would throw for the most yards this season former Tiger Eric Mac Lain picked Uiagalelei. But he took the prediction one step …

An ACC Network analyst made a bold prediction for Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei.

In a conversation about which ACC quarterback would throw for the most yards this season former Tiger Eric Mac Lain picked Uiagalelei.

But he took the prediction one step further and said the Clemson quarterback will make history.

“It’s gonna be D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson’s first ever Heisman trophy winner,” Mac Lain said.

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Dabo on what makes D.J. Uiagalelei unique

The spotlight has found D.J. Uiagalelei and it’s certainly here to stay. But that doesn’t seem to bother him and that’s coming straight from his head coach. “You don’t just luck up and do what this kid did as a true freshman with bright lights,” …

The spotlight has found D.J. Uiagalelei and it’s certainly here to stay.

But that doesn’t seem to bother him and that’s coming straight from his head coach.

“You don’t just luck up and do what this kid did as a true freshman with bright lights,” Dabo Swinney said on the Gramlich & Mac Lain Talk ACC Sports podcast. “He’s just so well-prepared. He’s built for this…He’s numb to the noise, if you will because he’s so busy being great.”

Clemson’s has constantly sung the praises of its starting quarterback prior to the start of the 2021 season. In fact, Tigers’ quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Brandon Streeter said that Uiagalelei has the strongest arm that he’s ever coached.

At Clemson, Best is the Standard and that’s been the case under center throughout the entirety of the Swinney era. From Tajh Boyd upping the standard under center to Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence reaching new heights that the Tigers think Uiagalelei is capable of reaching.

There’s something about him that’s just different.

“But what makes him unique is just his arm talent,” Swinney said. “I mean, he’s the only guy I’ve been around that makes Trevor look normal throwing the ball. This is elite.”

Swinney joked that he thought Uiagalelei was going to “kill someone” when he first got to Clemson because of his elite arm strength.

He further lauded Uiagalelei’s arm talent, saying that opposing defensive backs can’t make any false steps and expect to recover against Clemson’s starting quarterback. His ability is just that good.

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