{"id":1106,"date":"2015-05-19T10:01:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T14:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/?p=1106"},"modified":"2015-05-19T10:01:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T14:01:00","slug":"mr-clemson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/2015\/05\/19\/mr-clemson\/","title":{"rendered":""Mr. Clemson""},"content":{"rendered":"

Note:<\/strong>\u00a0The following appears in the May issue of\u00a0Orange: The Experience<\/em>, set to arrive in the mail for IPTAY members this week.<\/p>\n

\n

By Philip Sikes \/\/ Athletic Communications<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words above are attributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, but may as well describe Eric Mac Lain\u2019s college football experience.<\/p>\n

A heavily recruited tight end out of Jack Britt High School in North Carolina, Mac Lain\u2019s path to impacting Clemson football has often been a confusing, methodical process.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s okay with him.<\/p>\n

The son of United States Air Force Major Michael Mac Lain, Eric has spent most of his life on the move. He was born in Alabama, and grew up in Tennessee. After the World Trade Center towers were attacked in 2001, his father re-enlisted and the Mac Lains were uprooted to Ohio and North Carolina, during his formative years.<\/p>\n

He grew up playing Pop Warner football with Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller, and with another son of an Air Force officer, current Tennessee Titans running back Bishop Sankey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thoroughly enjoyed the experiences I had, and the people I met,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how the Air Force allows you to meet various people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football also gave him that platform.<\/p>\n

He played on both sides of the ball at Britt High, while also serving as the team\u2019s punter. Most national recruiting services billed him as a tight end at the next level. He was touted as the nation\u2019s No. 59 overall prospect, regardless of position, by Rivals.com.<\/p>\n

But when he arrived at Clemson in the summer of 2011, Mac Lain soon realized he wasn\u2019t the prototypical tight end that new offensive coordinator Chad Morris coveted.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor our system, I wasn\u2019t what we were looking for,\u201d he said. \u201cWe needed more vertical threats in our offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noticing several injuries up front, Mac Lain took it upon himself to suggest a position change to head coach Dabo Swinney and offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell.<\/p>\n

He thought he could \u201ceasily\u201d add 50 pounds to his frame at that time. After logging 38 snaps as a redshirt freshman in 2012, his days were done at tight end.<\/p>\n

The transition to the offensive line was now a reality, and he was suddenly going against the likes of Vic Beasley and Grady Jarrett each and every practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a while, and it took some self-searching,\u201d Mac Lain said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, you just have to love it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the transition, and Ryan Norton helped me immensely with learning the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

And slowly but surely, Mac Lain began to see more time on the field. In 2013, he played in 13 games and participated in 140 snaps \u2014 including 29 in a win over Wake Forest and 27 at Virginia.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the 6-foot-4, 305-pounder appeared in all 13 games and saw a career-high 245 snaps. He played 35 snaps against Syracuse on Oct. 25 in his first career start.<\/p>\n

A season of noticeable improvement ended on a high. He tallied 62 snaps in Clemson\u2019s 40-6 Russell Athletic Bowl victory over Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

But the victory over the Sooners wasn\u2019t just memorable because of how much he played. It was also memorable because of the time he spent on the field with his younger brother Sean, a walk-on wide receiver for the Tigers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Oklahoma game was one of the first times we were on TV together,\u201d Mac Lain said. \u201cAnd that was really cool for our parents, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years younger than Eric, Sean is a member of Clemson\u2019s Air Force ROTC program and will be commissioned as a second lieutenant upon graduation.<\/p>\n

One of the things the two brothers have taken from their father \u2014 who once spent the better part of three years deployed in the Middle East \u2014 is leadership. Described as a \u201cvocal man,\u201d Eric said his father raised the two to be strong in their beliefs \u2014 a mindset he believes he brings to the football locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people\u2019s main struggle is communication, so I\u2019m lucky to have that skill set,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I can connect with people easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mac Lain has transferred the ability to communicate into extracurricular activities as well. As a sophomore and at the urging of Vickery Hall\u2019s Ginty Porter, he joined the student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC). Though he first thought he wouldn\u2019t have time to make a firm commitment to the group\u2019s cause, Mac Lain stuck it out and has enjoyed the SAAC experience.<\/p>\n

He took over the position of president \u2014 a rarity for a football player \u2014 from track & field\u2019s Marcus Brown for the 2014-15 academic year, a move he said has paid off as he inches closer to life after football.<\/p>\n

It was at a SAAC conference when he was given the nickname, \u201cMr. Clemson\u201d \u2014 a moniker that has carried over into his presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to use the pedestal I have,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve met a ton of new people, and have made so many more connections than I would have otherwise. In the WestZone, we\u2019re in our own little world. SAAC has helped me be a better communicator to all fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mac Lain earned his undergraduate degree in health science on May 8, and plans to pursue a master\u2019s degree in human resource development \u2014 with a concentration in athletic leadership. He sees a potential future in athletic administration.<\/p>\n

As he prepares for his final season on the gridiron, Mac Lain describes the Clemson experience as a \u201cculture shock,\u201d saying he has seen a complete transformation within the program since he first set foot on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got here in 2011, we had just come off of a losing season,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve really flipped it around. We\u2019ve been part of that building block of what we have now, and will have for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

And because of that, Mac Lain wouldn\u2019t change a thing about the personal journey he\u2019s taken to get where he is today.<\/p>\n

More from Clemson Football<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n

advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Click below for the full article
\n"Mr. Clemson"<\/a>
\nSource: Clemson Football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note:\u00a0The following appears in the May issue of\u00a0Orange: The Experience, set to arrive in the mail for IPTAY members this week. By Philip Sikes \/\/ Athletic Communications \u201cIt is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.\u201d The words above are attributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thetigerfanforum.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}