- Details
- Tuesday, 06 August 2019
- Written by Earl Vaughan Jr.
When former Jack Britt High School standout Eric Mac Lain became an All-ACC lineman at Clemson University, his major was health science and his plan was to follow in the footsteps of his parents in the medical field.
But from his Britt days to his years at Clemson, Mac Lain had frequent positive encounters with the media and was always a good interview. The stars aligned and the next thing Mac Lain knew, he was offered the chance to come to Bristol, Connecticut and interview for a job with ESPN’s new ACC Network.
On Aug. 23, he’ll make his first appearance on "The Huddle," a studio program that will air each week on the new network on Friday evening and Saturday morning previewing that week’s ACC football games.
“What a cool thing for a young man to be able to pursue with this great company on an awesome network with its launching and us being the ground zero,’’ Mac Lain said. “It’s just a great opportunity and I can’t wait for the launch.’’
It was during his time at Clemson that he began to realize a medical future might not be his best choice. “When I figured out how much school that took after the fact, I kind of changed my mind and got my master’s in athletic administration,’’ he said.
The offer from ESPN came at Clemson’s National Championship game with Alabama earlier this year in Santa Clara, California.
Mac Lain got a text from an ESPN representative who wanted to meet and talk with him. He initially blew it off as just another request for an interview to get his opinions on the game.
He had been sightseeing in California with his wife and her family, until the ESPN representative finally pinned Mac Lain down for a meeting hours before kickoff.
The talk at first was about the upcoming game, but then the representative offered to fly Mac Lain to ESPN’s Bristol headquarters to audition for a job with the new ACC Network.
“I wasn’t pursuing a different career at all,’’ Mac Lain said. “I just stumbled into it.’’
Other than being interviewed by reporters for print and television, he’d had no previous TV experience. He had done some work hosting a postgame radio show for Clemson football that provided game analysis and commentary on other ACC games.
“You never really know which interview did the trick or who threw my name in the hat where,’’ Mac Lain said. “I knew all along something like this could happen.’’
He said he shares that same message when he speaks with college or high school students or church groups. “You create your brand with social media and all the opportunities you’re going to get as an athlete,’’ he said. “It’s cool to be an actual story and an actual example of that.’’
The show Mac Lain will help host, "The Huddle," will be anchored by Jac Collinsworth. Collinsworth has been the regular host of ESPN’s NFL Live since early 2018.
Joining Mac Lain and Collinsworth will be former Georgia and Miami, Florida, head coach Mark Richt and former Florida State quarterback E.J. Manuel.
“I love this team we have put together and the chemistry we already have,’’ Mac Lain said. “It seems like we have been working together for five or 10 years, but we just met a month ago so it’s really cool.’’
Mac Lain said the challenge for him in preparing for the show has been to expand his knowledge beyond his alma mater. “It’s an entire conference, not just one school,’’ he said. “I’m going to be faced with knowing the key players and the role players people may not be familiar with.’’
Mac Lain said his goal will be to avoid speaking in technical terms and draw a picture anybody can understand. He thinks the coaching and playing backgrounds of himself, Richt and Manuel will be an asset to the show.
“Just being able to dip inside of a player’s helmet or a coach’s headset, what was happening at this moment or what is this guy thinking,’’ Mac Lain said. “I think viewers will really appreciate that.’’
Mac Lain currently calls Charlotte home, but although ESPN has a studio there where it does production for shows on ESPNU and the SEC Network, Mac Lain will be flying to Bristol and the home office every weekend during the ACC season to do "The Huddle."
“We are very excited to get rolling,’’ he said. “It’s been a really cool thing to get to know these men and women throughout the network.’’
Eric Mac Lain points to the historic ESPN logo during his trip to Bristol, Connecticut for audition with ACC Network.
- Details
- Friday, 02 August 2019
- Written by Earl Vaughan Jr.
It was an early start of the official first day of football practice yesterday for Cumberland County high school teams.
Some were on the field ready to go before 7:30 a.m., while others waited a little later in the morning. Douglas Byrd and Pine Forest opted for evening practice sessions.
Here’s a few observations from the first day.
• For years, one of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from high school football coaches is how limited they are in teaching one of the biggest parts of the game, tackling.
For safety reasons, high schools in North Carolina are limited to having body-to-body contact within the bounds of the season.
That means it’s pretty hard to teach young players the fine points of aiming their body at a moving target, wrapping it up and bringing it to the ground.
I saw an innovation at Seventy-First’s practice that provides a partial solution to the problem.
A company called Safe-Tackle has created an interesting gadget the Falcons were using at this morning’s practice. Even during the early days of official practice, players can’t wear pads or hit each other.
This gadget solves the problem. It’s a giant cushioned doughnut with a flat surface on the outside so you can stand it and roll it. A coach aims it at a player, rolls it in his direction, and the player charges, wraps up and makes the tackle.
Finally, a safe way to do this without wearing pads or breaking the rules.
• There was an interested spectator at Cape Fear’s first day of football practice, new principal Brian Edkins. Edkins replaces Lee Spruill, who stepped down near the end of last school year.
This is Edkins’ second stop as a principal in Cumberland County. He was athletic director then principal at South View High School before leaving to serve as principal at Scotland High School for a couple of years.
• E.E. Smith was the second stop on my tour of Cumberland County Schools this morning. As I left the practice, I paused for a few moments at the monument in the end zone to the late D.T. Carter. The field at Smith is named for him, and the most recent generations of Smith players who never knew Coach Carter missed a really class act.
Carter created an intramural program for E.E. Smith’s physical education classes that won him national attention.
After football wins, he used to light up those slender White Owl cigars to celebrate.
But win or lose, Carter always remained the optimist.
His favorite saying was, “The sun will come up tomorrow.’’
• Westover’s football team looked about as sharp as you can at practice, with all of the players wearing specially-made blue t-shirts with a big white W on the front.
Head coach Ernest King said it’s all part of his aim to get the Wolverines more organized and headed in the same direction.
He said this year’s Westover team is well ahead of a year ago when he was literally a last-minute hire before the season got started.
• I heard a hysterical story from my former co-worker Thomas Pope that he got from his dad Arnold, longtime local football official who also was briefly a high school coach.
There was a local junior varsity high school football coach who had an incredibly gifted athlete on his team. Unfortunately, while the athlete was blessed with awesome physical talent, the good Lord did not see fit to do the same regarding the young man’s mental faculties.
At one especially frustrating practice, the player made one mistake after another.
Finally, the exasperated coach looked at him and said, “Son, what exactly is your IQ?”
The player stood with a blank expression, then twisted his face for a moment, and said, “20-20?”
Pictured: Cape Fear Principal Brian Edkins
think there are five girls that were on the first Dixie Youth World Series team out of Hope Mills on this team.’’
In the boys basketball game, Brion McLaurin of Seventy-First and his East teammates had a tough night as they lost to the West 119-80. McLaurin was one of four East players in double figures, coming off the bench to score 11 points on four of nine shooting from the field. He made his only 3-point attempt. He was the East’s No. 2 rebounder with six.