Tag: Eric Mac Lain

Mac Lain has very high expectations for Ross, Clemson receiving corps

Former Clemson offensive lineman and current ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain has very high expectations for Justyn Ross and the rest of the Tigers’ receiving corps heading into the 2021 season. Mac Lain expects Ross, who missed last season due to …

Former Clemson offensive lineman and current ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain has very high expectations for Justyn Ross and the rest of the Tigers’ receiving corps heading into the 2021 season.

Mac Lain expects Ross, who missed last season due to a congenital spinal issue which required surgery in June of 2020, to make a splash in his return to the field this season while setting himself up to make a lot of money in the NFL following his redshirt junior season with the Tigers.

“I think first-round draft pick,” Mac Lain said on the ACC Network when asked about his legitimate expectations for Ross in 2021. “This guy looks like Julio Jones when he walks out. He’s big, he’s from Alabama, a scary sight to see. Of course, wearing No. 8. He’s that good. He’s that dominant of a player.”

Mac Lain’s fellow ACCN analyst, EJ Manuel, pointed out that Ross is certainly not the only Clemson wideout to watch out for this season.

“You’ve also got E.J. Williams. You’ve got Frank Ladson, Jr. You’ve got Joseph Ngata,” Manuel said. “These guys are loaded, man. They might’ve actually got better at receiver, to be completely honest, as far as size, top to bottom. So, it’s pretty crazy.”

Mac Lain believes this year’s Clemson receiving corps has the potential to be as good as the group of receivers he played with that featured several guys who went on to play in the NFL.

“I was in a room with Deandre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, Martavis Bryant, Charone Peake,” Mac Lain said. “These guys I think can rival that, which is crazy to say. It’s a little unproven. I’s going to be proven early and often this year.”

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Former Tiger, current analyst says Shipley is even ‘better than advertised’

There is no shortage of hype surrounding Clemson freshman running back Will Shipley, a former five-star prospect ranked as the nation’s No. 1 all-purpose back coming out of Weddington (N.C.) High School. Expectations for Shipley entering his first …

There is no shortage of hype surrounding Clemson freshman running back Will Shipley, a former five-star prospect ranked as the nation’s No. 1 all-purpose back coming out of Weddington (N.C.) High School.

Expectations for Shipley entering his first season with the Tigers in 2021 are high, but former Clemson offensive lineman and current ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain believes Shipley will live up to his billing and then some, based on what Mac Lain has heard from offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.

“Freshmen here now, they come up and they want to be at the front of the line,” Mac Lain said during the ACC Network’s telecast of the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte. “These guys want to play, and we might see that early and often by a guy, Will Shipley, the running back who is kind of Mr. Do It All. He’s a very interesting prospect, a guy that coming in had so much hype. And then you talk to offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, he is as advertised – he is better than advertised. So, you’ve got to be excited to see that.”

Clemson doesn’t have a clear-cut “alpha dog” in its running back room following the departure of Travis Etienne, though the Tigers are deep at the position and have plenty of talented options as they try to fill the void left by Etienne.

Senior Lyn-J Dixon and sophomore Kobe Pace are listed as co-starters at running back on Clemson’s pre-fall camp depth chart, with Shipley listed behind those two.

However, while Mac Lain thinks Dixon will open the 2021 season as the lead running back, he wonders if Shipley will emerge as the featured back by season’s end.

“It’s going to be very interesting to see, what does Clemson decide to do at the running back position?” Mac Lain said. “We’ve seen it with quarterback. We saw it with Kelly Bryant being the starter, Trevor Lawrence coming in. Two years before that, we saw a senior at quarterback, Deshaun Watson, slowly but surely takes it over. Now Lyn-J Dixon is going to be the guy to start. But is it Will Shipley’s show by the end of the year?”

Mac Lain sees Shipley – who rushed for 4,173 yards and racked up 1,411 receiving yards to go with 80 total touchdowns in his three-year high school career – being utilized in a versatile way on Clemson’s offense, similar to how Etienne was deployed as both a weapon out of the backfield and in the passing game.

“I think he could be that guy that slides out and even be at a slot, be back at the running back position to be a receiver,” Mac Lain said of Shipley. “He’s that good of a weapon.”

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ESPN analyst makes prediction for ACC Championship Game

Everyone expects Clemson to make its seventh straight appearance in the ACC Championship Game and represent the Atlantic Division once again this season. But the question is who will oppose the Tigers for the conference crown, with North Carolina …

Everyone expects Clemson to make its seventh straight appearance in the ACC Championship Game and represent the Atlantic Division once again this season.

But the question is who will oppose the Tigers for the conference crown, with North Carolina and Miami the preseason favorites to come out of the Coastal Division.

ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill was a guest on the Gramlich and Mac Lain podcast with Kelly Gramlich and Eric Mac Lain and made his prediction for who he thinks will square off in the conference title game.

“I’m gonna go with Clemson and Miami,” Luginbill said.

Miami finished the 2020 season 8-3 (7-2 ACC), with its losses coming at Clemson (42-17 on Oct. 10), vs. North Carolina (62-26 on Dec. 12) and to Oklahoma State (37-34 in the Cheez-It Bowl on Dec. 29).

With Miami returning quarterback D’Eriq King, and a bunch of other starters back as well, the Hurricanes hope to make a run at their first ACC Coastal division title since 2017.

“I think they’ve got the components, especially in that side of the division, to take the next step,” Luginbill said. “I mean, I really do. You look at that division, you’ve got some rebuilds still occurring. You’ve got a bit of a reloading Pitt. You’ve got Georgia Tech, which is getting better, but they’re not there yet. And we still haven’t had the matchup that the whole entire league’s split into divisions for, and that’s Florida State and Miami, and that’s not happening anytime soon. So, I’ll go with the safe bets here in July.”

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ACC Network analyst names two Tigers to Top 5

An ACC Network college football analyst named named two Tigers to his top 5 for the 2021 season. Former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain released his top 5 ACC tight ends going into the fall via Twitter on Thursday. Included in his preseason …

An ACC Network college football analyst named named two Tigers to his top 5 for the 2021 season.

Former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain released his top 5 ACC tight ends going into the fall via Twitter on Thursday. Included in his preseason rankings were two Clemson veterans Davis Allen at No. 2 and Braden Galloway in the fifth slot.

In his first two seasons as a Tiger, Allen recorded 21 career catches for 300 yards and four touchdowns over 27 games with one start.

Galloway enters his senior campaign with 34 catches for 481 yards and three touchdowns over 26 games, starting 12 of those games for the Tigers.

Is Notre Dame the third best team in the ACC?

ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain ranked Notre Dame third in his conference power rankings. Find out why he’s off base.

This past weekend saw plenty of teams fall from the unbeaten ranks (Florida, Miami FL, and Tennessee) and others continuing their free fall (Texas and LSU). Inside the ACC obviously Clemson’s resounding win against Miami, FL was the headliner. North Carolina and Notre Dame give the conference 3 teams without a blemish.

With that in mind, former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain ranked the conference’s teams.

Mac Lain isn’t really high on the Irish, as his week five rankings had Brian Kelly’s squad as the 4th best. With the Hurricanes losing to the Tigers, the Irish had no where but to move up. Is Mac Lain right about where he places the Irish?

Yes, the win over Florida State this weekend wasn’t as pretty as we would have liked, but what did you really expect after such a long layoff? The Seminoles have great individual talent, but as a whole they’re a mess.

As for the Tar Heels, they beat a very good Virginia Tech squad, but had to hold them off late, winning 56-45. The Irish haven’t given up that many points this season so far, just 39 total points, good for the 8th best scoring defense in the nation. North Carolina, on the other hand has given up over 24 points a game, 24th nationally.

Offensively, the Irish have the advantage as well, averaging just over 40 points a game, while the Heels are at about 37 points a game. Again, advantage Irish. Kelly squad is one of the least penalized in the nation, just 10 so far which is good for 5th nationally. UNC has almost doubled that number, they have 29 penalties on the year. Want to dig a little deeper? The Irish have a +.33 turnover margin, North Carolina has -1.

Sure, North Carolina boasts a “sexier” offense but that doesn’t tell the whole story between the two teams. In my estimation, Mac Lain is off base with his assessment of the top teams in the league, after Clemson of course.

Irish losing grip as Clemson’s main challenger in ACC?

A few analysts see Notre Dame trending in the wrong way. Should the Irish be concerned at all?

After one week of play, there is a concerning trend that some analysts have taken when looking at Notre Dame. The Irish are on the verge of losing their grip as Clemson’s main challenger for the ACC crown.

Eric Mac Lain, an analyst at the ACC Network, has the Irish behind North Carolina. Both teams won, both teams needed big second half’s to secure those wins.

Over at 247Sports, they looked at week two overreactions and the Irish showed up. Brandon Marcello stated the obvious that the passing game needed to be better, but his assessment after was concerning. Marcello noted “North Carolina, meanwhile, looks like more of a challenger than Notre Dame in the ACC.”

Yes, this was a look at overreactions, but it’s still a reaction. One that doesn’t have the Irish trending in the right direction. The good news is that after Kelly’s meeting with the media yesterday, he shed some light on the offense. A new zone blocking scheme held the offense back a bit, without live reps in preseason camp, there were kinks to be worked out.

Could that have been why quarterback Ian Book struggled? There were other reasons, his receiver with the most reps in camp, Bennett Skowronek, got injured and didn’t return. All new skill position players needed to be broken in.

North Carolina returned a 1,000 yard rusher, two 1,000 yard receivers and quarterback Sam Howell. They have the chemistry but still struggled.

Yes, some have “dropped” the Irish a notch in there rankings but it doesn’t matter much. Notre Dame’s schedule is set up for them to be able to break in a new offense, while still being able to win. Louisville and Pittsburgh are ranked opponents, but would they be in a normal season? Doubtful.

The defense looks like it won’t skip a beat from last years very good group. They will give the offense a cushion to get comfortable. Brian Kelly’s group should be fine going forward as they compete for the ACC title.