Not the Wizard of Oz: Nick Eason says defense has to want to play better

The Clemson defense has room to improve when it comes to putting together a complete game effort.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Oct 19 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

Jesus? Wizard of Oz? Nick Eason wants you to know he isn’t either one of those.

Eason, Clemson’s run game coordinator and defensive tackles coach, was not happy with the run defense last week at Florida State. The Tigers entered that game leading the ACC in rushing defense, with opponents averaging just 2.2 yards per carry and 63.7 overall. What happened? The Seminoles rushed for 206 yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

For Eason, it all comes down to want-to.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to how bad you want it more than your opponent,” Eason told the media Monday. “It starts inside your heart. I am not the Wizard of Oz or Jesus, some things you have to be born with. But it is my job to make sure guys are ready.

“Whatever I did last week, I have to do a better job this week. I just did not think our guys were consistently ready to go out there and play through four quarters and dominate like the expectations of our defensive line should be. I have to do a better job than that, it starts with me.”

Eason said the Tigers missed a lot of tackles – 24 per the coaches – and took bad angles on other runs that led to the Seminole rushing output.

“We have to get back to the basics, techniques and fundamentals,” Eason said. “We had over twenty missed tackles. We had missed fits on several runs. We just did not play really good Clemson football defense. We have to do a better job of getting back to the basics.”

No. 5 Clemson hosts No. 14 Syracuse this week in a battle of unbeatens with supremacy in the ACC Atlantic on the line. The Orange feature a quarterback who isn’t afraid to run in Garrett Shrader, who has 78 rushes for 300 yards on the season. His numbers are second only to running back Sean Tucker, who is one of the best backs in the conference.

Tucker has carried it 124 times for 644 yards and is averaging 5.19 yards per carry. Against Clemson last season, Tucker carried it 22 times for 157 yards.

“They are playing some really good football,” Eason said. “This Syracuse team is one of the best I have seen. I have always followed them during my years as a pro and then obviously playing Clemson every year, they have given us problems.

“They are a really good football team. The quarterback, he does it all and can do it all. The running back is probably the best back we will see this year. He does a lot of good things. He has great vision, can break tackles and can run. They run him inside, outside and he can catch it out of the backfield. So, it is going to a huge challenge for us this week.”