CLEMSON, S.C. — Nick Eason was lacing up a pair of cleats he’d borrowed from Clemson‘s equipment manager a few minutes before 5 a.m. when Ruke Orhorhoro first spotted his coach. It’s not that it was a shock to see Eason there. Clemson’s defensive tackles coach had been promising to run through the team’s offseason mat drills for a while, but Orhorhoro had always been skeptical. Eason is 42, 12 years removed from his last NFL game, and until recently, he’d been pushing 400 pounds.
“I was confused,” Orhorhoro said. “I was like, ‘What is this cat doing?’ Coaches don’t do mat drills. That just doesn’t happen.”
Mat drills are a staple of Clemson’s offseason conditioning, a gauntlet of high intensity, progressive workouts lasting about five minutes each — rope drills, agility drills, bear crawls, flips, tumbling, sled work, footwork drills. It’s as much a mental challenge as a physical one, something Orhorhoro paradoxically says, “has nothing to do with football but also everything to do with football.”
As other players arrived, Eason’s presence was met with a mix of curiosity and disbelief.
“They were taking side bets on how long I’d last,” said Eason, who’ll lead one of Clemson’s units in its intrasquad spring game on Saturday.
But Eason had no intention of quitting. The way he saw it, there were three ways this ended: He passed out, he died or he finished.
Since he arrived at Clemson in January 2022, Eason’s approach to the job has been immersive. His first conversation with Orhorhoro was a two-hour therapy session, an unfurling of Eason’s own life story as a means of getting to know one of his new players. He invites his linemen to his house for dinner. He takes them to church with him on Sundays. And he’s always believed he should never ask something of his players he’s not willing to ask of himself.
No one expected that commitment to include mat drills, but Eason was determined. He ran through the first drill, then the second and third and just kept going. He finished every station, often leading the pack.
“He’s going to do everything he can to show that nothing’s impossible if you do the work,” defensive tackle Tyler Davis said. “It was amazing.”
Eason wasn’t amazed though.
Fifteen months ago, Eason came to Clemson overweight, depressed and lost. He’s trying to find his way back to a better equilibrium now, and mat drills were really just a bench mark, a chance to check his progress and gauge how much farther he still had to go.
He’s lost 62 pounds in the past year. He hasn’t had meat or dairy in seven months. He’s pulled himself out of the darkest chapter of his life, and he’s found renewed hope at his alma mater, not by trying to recapture his youth, but by finding a better balance in his life.
“I look at old pictures, and sometimes that’s the worst thing to do,” Eason said. “But I’m looking at the 42-year-old version of myself now, and it’s still not where I want it to be, but I didn’t get here overnight and it’s not going to get fixed overnight. It takes a lot of patience and keeping the right perspective on the little things I’ve done just making the effort to get up every day and keep trying.”
BACK HOME IN Georgia, food is the connective tissue that binds folks together.
“When I go home, it’s, ‘Come over to my house and let’s eat,'” Eason said. “Go to church and let’s eat. Saturday in the park and let’s eat.”
But food took its toll on Eason’s family. Nearly all his relatives were overweight. Two uncles died in their early 50s. The ones who survived longer often ended up on dialysis, their bodies breaking down so drastically that their later years lacked any sense of joy. Eason remembers a time when he was playing with the Pittsburgh Steelers when a coach posed a question: How many 300-pound 80-year-olds did he know? Eason said he didn’t know any.
“Right,” said the coach. “They’re all dead.”
Food couldn’t be the centerpiece of Eason’s existence if he wanted to live a long and happy life, but his relationship with food was complicated.
He is, he said, “an emotional eater,” and when times have been hard, he would turn to the things that always brought him comfort.
Double cheeseburgers.
Little Debbies.
Oreos.
Through COVID-19, Eason actually found a healthy rhythm. He ate well. He exercised. He trimmed down. But by the summer of 2021, things began to unravel.
Eason was a popular player at Clemson during his college days, but he’d only kept in regular contact with a few former teammates over the years. His closest friend from those days was Altroy Bodrick, a former Tigers linebacker who’d made a point to call Eason regularly and drive to his games. In late June 2021, Bodrick had a massive heart attack and died. He was 41. Eason was devastated.
Three months later, Eason’s grandmother, too, suffered a heart attack. Betty Holland had always been his rock, the person who’d inspired him to play football, to find God, to chase his dreams. Now she was in hospice care, and Eason spent two months driving three hours from Auburn, where he was coaching at the time, to visit her for an hour or two before turning around and making the drive back home. Holland died in November 2021.
Eason fell into a deep depression. His relationships with some members of his family were frayed at the time, he said, and he didn’t feel comfortable talking about his struggles with many people around him.
“You see Nick, and everything looks perfect, but he just wasn’t right,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.
Instead, he ate, and he worked, and he cried, and that was his life for nearly a year.
“It’s real, man. Human,” Eason said. “I’m a human. And it’s being able to survive those tough moments, and unfortunately that was my way of surviving. … I just kind of ate my depression.”
By the start of last football season, Eason weighed in at 394 pounds, the heaviest he’d ever been.
When he went to the doctor, the conversation went about as expected. They talked about heart disease and diabetes and blood-pressure medication. Eason needed to change, or he would die.
Truth is, Eason hadn’t really been living for the past year anyway. He’d let his grief overwhelm him, and he’d soothed that hurt with sugar and fatty foods.
“I just told myself, ‘You’re done with whatever you’ve got going on. You have to get it together or you’re not going to live,'” Eason recalled.
AN AVERAGE DAY of eating for Eason before he changed his life:
Breakfast: grits, eggs, bacon, a biscuit and, on a particularly indulgent day, pancakes.
Lunch: a double cheeseburger plate, ideally from Mac’s Drive-In, where he’d add a couple slaw dogs (all the way), a sweet tea and a milkshake.
Dinner: it varied, but Blue Heron outside Clemson was a favorite. He’d order sushi or calamari to start. Then salmon, grits and collards. A couple drinks. Then the coup de gras was a double serving of their cobbler (“The best in the city,” Eason said).
And then snacks: Little Debbie oatmeal pies, zebra cakes, chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk. Sodas. Oreos.
Total calorie count: Don’t ask.
“A lot of people turn to alcohol and drugs, and that’s not my thing. But an Oreo cookie or some ice cream or a juicy burger is right down my alley,” Eason said. “I’m just eating, eating and eating, and I’m feeling good. And that’s a trigger in your brain. You wake up to steak and biscuits and grits and eggs. Working out, that’s pain. I was choosing what was easy.”
Eason still talks lovingly about his favorite foods and restaurants, but his binging days are behind him. He’s gone vegan, and he has most meals prepped for him by a vegan restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina. The cheeseburgers have been replaced by black bean burgers that he eats with homemade French fries he cooks in his air fryer. He makes rice bowls — whole grain rice only, he said — and tops them with mushrooms and red peppers. He’s stopped guzzling sodas and now drinks water.
It’s a marked change to his lifestyle, but Eason said it was just a matter of making a decision and committing to it.
“It became a battlefield of the mind,” he said, “and once my mind is made up my body follows.”
Orhorhoro said his roommate, Jalyn Phillips, saw Eason recently and was so shocked by the new physique he was initially worried the coach was sick.
Nope. Eason is better than ever.
It’s not just the new diet either, Eason said. He works out three days a week at a local gym owned by former Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware. And because Swinney has always prioritized family time, it’s allowed Eason a chance to get back to Atlanta and spend time with family.
“In this business, I call myself a bad dad,” Eason said. “I take care of my kids financially, but you’re just never there.”
In the past year, however, Eason’s been home routinely, sitting in the stands for a majority of his son’s high school games.
More than anything, Eason’s opened up. He’s built trust with the people around him. He’s not pretending everything is OK while burying his feelings under a mountain of bacon and grits. He’s even sharing his journey publicly in hopes others will find hope in his success.
In 2021, I lost my former teammate and dear friend. Months later I lost the rock of my life, my grandmother. For a year, I ate on 80 pounds of depression. BUT I PRAYED and challenged myself to model the “hard work” I demanded of my players. I’m down 62 pounds, with 40 more… pic.twitter.com/vW47HQTMfg
Swinney recalled his own struggles growing up amid poverty with a father who often drank too much, and how opening up about his journey offered a sense of peace. He sees parallels for Eason.
“Things I was embarrassed about as a kid, later on in life it helped me to share it and to realize that there was other people like me,” Swinney said. “That freed me up to speak about things I never would’ve spoken about before. Nick’s the same way. He knows he can inspire other people by what he’s been through.”
Eason isn’t at the end of the journey, he said. He’s got at least another 32 pounds to lose before the season starts. But that’s just a number, really. He admits his post-NFL career has been something of a yo-yo when it comes to his weight, so all the progress he’s made is simply a step — a big one — in an ongoing process of figuring out a better way to live and also lead.
The 400-pound Nick Eason was still a good coach who loved his players. This version, however — the one closing in on 300 pounds — isn’t simply teaching his guys. He’s showing them the way.
“Even when he was too heavy, he was a ton of energy,” Swinney said. “But now, he’s unstoppable and the players truly, truly love him. He’s special.”
As the Vegas Golden Knights absorb being knocked out in the second round of the NHL playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers, they don’t have to wait long before planning for their future. Jack Eichel, who has one season left on his eight-year, $80 million contract, is eligible for an extension beginning July 1.
“He’s one of the top guys in the NHL,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “He’s got great character, great leadership. You see night in, night out what he does for our team, so that will be a really important piece of business for us. We certainly hope to keep Jack in our organization. Jack loves it here, so I would hope we could find common ground.”
Eichel, 28, comes off the best season of his 10-year career, the past four with the Golden Knights. He set career highs with 66 assists and 94 points to go with 28 goals as the center on the team’s top line. He also skated for Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off, where his club finished second to Canada.
“Can’t say enough about my teammates and the people in this building and the people that make this organization what it is,” Eichel said. “I’m super proud to be part of this organization and the city and represent the Vegas Golden Knights. Contractually, I think things kind of take care of itself. I’ll just worry about trying to prepare for next season this offseason and go from there.”
Management, which is not known for sitting on its hands, will have other significant decisions to make as well on the team’s direction after the Golden Knights were eliminated in the second round for the second year in a row.
“I like our team,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I don’t have a problem with any player in that room. I think every one of them is a great teammate. They care about one another. Are there areas of our game we could complement better? Probably. We’ll evaluate that.
“All the guys that were up, their contracts, they were all good players for us. All good players. No disappointments at all. We’ll probably have to look at areas because we’re not the last team standing. Usually, you think, ‘Where can we upgrade? Where can I upgrade what I do?'”
McCrimmon offered a similar assessment.
“I feel our team was good enough to win,” McCrimmon said.
The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup two years ago and thought they had another contender this season after capturing the Pacific Division and securing the Western Conference’s second-best record. But Vegas had to rally from a 2-1 series deficit to beat Minnesota in the opening round, winning twice in overtime. Then the Golden Knights lost two overtime games in the 4-1 series loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
“I didn’t walk away from Edmonton saying, ‘We had no chance. They’re just better,'” Cassidy said. “I didn’t feel that way. I felt we needed to execute better in a few of the games and we could be the team moving on.”
Forward William Karlsson said losing to the Oilers made it “a wasted season.” McCrimmon wasn’t as blunt, instead labeling the loss as “a missed opportunity.”
Change will come, but at least given the tenor of the comments by Cassidy and McCrimmon, the Golden Knights will largely return their roster intact next season.
“I think we have a great organization,” goaltender Adin Hill said. “Best management I’ve been under. I think they’re going to do the things that they see fit for [the] roster, whether it’s keeping it the same or whether it’s changing up a few things. I don’t know. That’s their decision, above my paygrade, but it will be exciting to see. We know that we’re going to be contenders every year.”
Forward Reilly Smith made it clear he wants to return. An original Golden Knight, Smith was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins after winning the Stanley Cup and then sent to the New York Rangers a year later. The Golden Knights reacquired the 34-year-old on March 6.
Smith made a smooth transition back into the lineup with three goals and eight assists in 21 games. Then he delivered the play of the postseason for the Golden Knights, scoring with 0.4 seconds left to beat the Oilers in Game 3, and finished with three goals and an assist in 11 playoff games.
“Probably the best hockey I’ve played in my career has been wearing this jersey,” Smith said. “It’s a fun group to be a part of and a fun place to call home. My family loves it here, so if there’s a way to make it work, it’d be great. At the end of the day, it’s a business. My contract negotiations, I probably know as little as [the media does] right now.”
ARLINGTON, Va. — Alex Ovechkin said Saturday that he intends to return to the Washington Capitals for his 21st NHL season after breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career goal-scoring record earlier this spring.
Ovechkin joked about joining the minor league Hershey Bears for their playoff run and indicated the question wasn’t whether he would be back but rather whether he had what it takes to earn a spot.
“First of all, [I have] to make a roster at 40 years old,” Ovechkin quipped on locker cleanout day, less than 48 hours after he and the Capitals were eliminated in the second round by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Ovechkin, who turns 40 in September, has one season left on the five-year, $47.5 million contract he signed in 2021. He said he is approaching the summer like any other, planning to train the same way in the offseason and see where things go.
“I’m going to use those couple months [in the offseason] to rest, enjoy my life, then back to work,” Ovechkin said. “Me and [trainer Pavel Burlachenko are] going do our job to get ready for the season and just do my best.”
Ovechkin is coming off a whirlwind season in which he overcame a broken leg to score 44 goals — the third most in the league — and pass Gretzky’s career mark of 894 that long seemed unapproachable. The Russian superstar has 897.
“For him to come back this year and play the way that he did, chase down this record, the start that he had, breaking his leg, coming back from that, and just continuing to not only do things he did individually, statistically, but lead our team — that’s part of the story that will be a minor part of it, but it’s a big part of it,” coach Spencer Carbery said after the Game 5 loss to the Hurricanes on Thursday night. “He did what he came back this year to prove and show, and he did it in the playoffs as well. I tip my cap to ‘O’ and the season that he had and as our captain leading the way.”
Ovechkin led the team with five goals in 10 games this postseason but had just one goal in the second round as he and the team fell short of the Eastern Conference finals for the 15th time in 16 appearances during his career. The other time was their Stanley Cup run in 2018, when Ovechkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Going into next season, Ovechkin wants to work toward chasing a second championship.
“I’m looking forward for next year,” Ovechkin said. “I’m going to try to do my best to play, and my team is going to help me too. … I just want to come back next year and see the team who’s capable of winning the Stanley Cup.”
Beyond that, he’s not sure what the future holds when his contract comes to an end.
“I haven’t thought about it yet, but we’ll see what’s going to happen,” Ovechkin said. “I’m going to try to do my best to be able to do well next year, and we’ll see.”
Longtime teammate Tom Wilson, guesses “900 and beyond” on the goal counter is coming next for Ovechkin.
“At no point am I thinking in my head that there’s ever going to be a day without Ovi on the Caps,” Wilson said. “He’s still flying out there. He had an incredible season. I think he probably exceeded expectations and beyond. You can never count that guy out. He’s such a tremendous leader. I’m sure he’s going to keep buzzing.”
BALTIMORE — Journalism won the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, coming from behind down the stretch to make good on the lofty expectations of being the odds-on favorite in the middle leg of the Triple Crown two weeks after finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby.
Finishing first in a field of nine horses that did not include Sovereignty but featured some of the best competition in the country, Journalism gave trainer Michael McCarthy his second Preakness victory. It is Umberto Rispoli’s first in a Triple Crown race, and he is the first jockey from Italy to win one of them.
Gosger was second by a half-length after getting passed by Journalism just before the wire. Sandman was third and Goal Oriented fourth. Journalism went 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.37.
Journalism thrived on a warm day that dried out the track after torrential rain fell at Pimlico Race Course for much of the past week. Those conditions suited him better than the slop at Churchill Downs in the Derby.
Sovereignty did not take part after his owners and trainer Bill Mott decided to skip the Preakness, citing the two-week turnaround, and aimed for the Belmont on June 7. That made this a fifth time in seven years that the Preakness, for various reasons, was contested without a Triple Crown bid at stake.
But Journalism staked his claim for 3-year-old horse of the year by winning the $2 million American classic race run at the old Pimlico Race Course for the last time before it’s torn down and rebuilt. The Preakness is set to be held at nearby Laurel Park, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., next year before a planned return to the new Pimlico in 2027.
Journalism is the first horse to win the Preakness after running in the Kentucky Derby since Mark Casse-trained War of Will in 2019. Only two others from the 19 in the Derby participated in the Preakness: Casse’s Sandman and fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas’ American Promise.
Lukas, the 89-year-old who has saddled the most horses in Preakness history, referred to McCarthy once this week as “the new guy.” This was just McCarthy’s second, and he’s 2 for 2 after Rombauer sprung the upset as an 11-1 long shot in 2021.
