A young Eric Mac Lain ran off the peewee football field to his father because he was upset. He couldn’t touch the ball because Ohio peewee football rules prevent players over a certain weight from being ball carriers.

“I said, ‘What’s the matter?’” his father, Mike Mac Lain recalls asking him.

“They’re calling me names, daddy,” Eric responded.

“Well, that’s just because he’s not a good sport, he’s a poor sport,” Mike recalls firing back. “Just keep knocking him down. You’re doing what you’re supposed to do and people are going to call you names.

“That really bothered him,” Mike said.

Peewee football that season was the only time Eric had ever played on the offensive line before reaching Clemson many years later. Rated the No. 59 overall recruit in the country and the sixth-ranked tight end by Scout.com, running routes past defensive backs has since been replaced by making blocks on defensive linemen.

After a rough start injury-wise for Eric during his sophomore season, he volunteered to make the switch to guard.

“There was tons of times where I was doubting if that was the right move for me, if this was really best for me and the team, or if I really wanted to do it,” Eric said. “So there was a bunch of come-to-Jesus meetings I had with myself and my roommate Ryan Norton.”

All Eric wanted to do was be like former Tennessee Volunteers tight end Jason Witten, so his dad helped groom him to fit that mold. He weighed 245 pounds in high school and his father would never let him lift weights because he didn’t want Eric to weigh 300 pounds as a sophomore in high school. As a redshirt senior with the Tigers, he’s now 315.

Mike said if his son lifted weights as heavily as some high-school teammates, Eric likely would have tipped the scales at 300 pounds. Despite being such a highly ranked tight end coming out of high school, his pass-catching ability rarely went used in a run-heavy offense. He had to go to various camps, including the Volunteers’, as a rising freshman in high school, to get exposure.

“Jason (Witten) was a big white boy that played tight end for Tennessee,” Mike said. “Big country boy. We were Tennessee people … He wanted to play football for Phillip Fulmer … You have a responsibility as a father to allow your kids to pursue your dreams.”

His father is adamant that Eric has the best hands for Clemson even after spending the last three years at guard. But those skills flew out the window when offensive linemen Gifford Timothy and Tyler Shatley went down against North Carolina State in 2012. The Tigers’ depth was sparse and head coach Dabo Swinney had already told Eric that he would take fewer snaps at tight end given his size and speed not matching up with the Clemson offense, Mike said.

Eric sat down with Norton, Clemson’s center, and discussed whether a move to guard would be better for the team. He then went to Swinney, who was “all about it.”

The wide-open space that Eric had to operate as a tight end has been cut down between hulking linemen up front. Instead of caring where the safety is, Eric has to worry about how the defensive line is positioned, who is going to blitz and line checks to be made.

“You really don’t have any particular line calls you make as a tight end, so (it’s like) learning a completely new language,” Mike said.

That’s on top of learning how to hand fight in the trenches and acclimate to the precise footwork it takes to release from the line of scrimmage. At least twice a practice, the team practices hand fighting. Even after three years at the position, Eric is still trying to master his footwork.

He’ll leave games each week with stories about how he asked an opponent a math problem or told them they had bad breath. No longer are the stories about leaning too far forward or missing a step. He’s planting in the right places, getting his hands on defensive linemen’s pads and now he’s the one with his jaws moving.

“Tackle might have been a little bit easier, but there’s so many little nuances on the offensive line with technique that take you a lifetime to perfect. I got a fast-forwarded version of it.”

Published on November 13, 2015 at 10:26 am

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati