Former Clemson standout player returning as new D-line coach, reports say
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is wasting no time in filling the defensive line coaching vacancy left by Todd Bates on Monday.
Auburn defensive line coach and former Clemson defensive lineman Nick Eason will take the position, according to multiple reports on Wednesday. Rivals’ Larry Williams first reported the news.
Bates left to become Oklahoma’s associate head coach and defensive line coach under former Clemson defensive coordinator and now Sooners head coach Brent Venables.
Eason just finished his first season with the Alabama-based Tigers and had the same title with the Cincinnati Bengals the two years prior to that. In 2019, he coached defensive tackle Geno Atkins to an eighth Pro Bowl nomination. As a unit that season, the Bengals tallied 11 more sacks in the second half of the season than the first and allowed 84.1 fewer yards.
Eason also had a three-year stint with the Tennessee Titans between 2014 and 2017 and was an intern coach with the Cleveland Browns for the 2013 season following a 10-year NFL career.
Eason was a fourth-round selection in the 2003 NFL Draft, picked by the Denver Broncos but never played a down for the team. During training camp, he suffered an Achilles injury, spent his whole rookie season on the injured reserve list and was waived by the next season.
The Browns signed Eason right after, beginning his decade-long playing career. In that time, he totaled 117 games played with the Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. The Georgia native was part of two Steelers’ Super Bowl appearances and won it with the squad in 2008. Arizona was his final stop before retiring in 2012.
In college, Eason, a two-time team captain, started in 35 of 47 games played and recorded 15 sacks and 30 tackles for loss. During his senior campaign, he earned first-team All-ACC honors as a defensive tackle. Additionally, he became the first football player in school history to graduate with two years of eligibility remaining, earning his degree in sociology in August 2001. He earned his master’s degree in human resources seven years later.
Eason will come in and replace a Bates-coached defensive line that had success every season he was leading the unit. Clemson’s 2018 defensive line was a key part in the Tigers leading the nation in sacks (54) and scoring defense (13.1 points per game) and tie for the national lead in tackles for loss (136).
Under Bates, the program also had its first two ACC Defensive Rookies of the Year in current New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (2016), a first-round NFL Draft pick, and Bryan Bresee (2020). Bresee missed the majority of this season after tearing his ACL against NC State on Sept. 25. He had surgery and is expected to be back for the 2022 season.
The Tigers, as a whole, will have plenty for Eason to work with right out of the gate. Despite losing Xavier Thomas, Bresee, Myles Murphy, Tre Williams and Tyler Davis will all be back. Murphy leads the pack having started 10 of 12 games played and totaling 40 tackles. Both Williams and Davis struggled with injuries but contributed 13 and 22 tackles, respectively, on the year. Williams has had or will have multiple surgeries this offseason in hopes of being 100% restored for his redshirt sophomore season.
