Nick Eason discusses weight loss, vegan lifestyle: 'I have to go be great'

Nick Eason has lost 62 pounds since the end of the 2022 season.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Mar 13 06:00:15 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Nick Eason says his recent weight loss and healthier lifestyle came about because he can’t ask his players to give their best if he doesn’t give his best. He also only has to look at his family not only as inspiration but also as a cautionary tale.

Clemson’s second-year defensive tackles coach has lost 62 pounds since the end of the season. He’s gone away from his favorite snack – Little Debbie Zebra Cakes – and hasn’t eaten meat or dairy since last year. Why? Because he wants to win the day, and live long enough to celebrate a lot of wins.

“Well, first of all, I want to try to become the best version of myself. I'm always talking to my players about taking care of their bodies and doing what's right and living a lifestyle to be about winning the day,” Eason told TigerNet last Friday. “And so I have to be the example as the position coach as well. So, that's one perspective and that comes down to that leadership being an example. Next, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 46 years old. My uncles, I don't think any of them lived past the age of 53. And so, I'm 42 years old. And so, as I began to think about that, I want to make sure I take care of myself, take care of my body, I saw the struggles that a lot of my family members have had over the years who didn't have very good diets. I grew up in the South, and we did everything on the hog except for the sound that it made.”

Eason said food was the one thing that drew everyone together.

“Everything is surrounded by food. When I go home, it's about, 'Let's go to church and then eat.' 'Come over to my house, let's eat.' 'Come Saturday at the park, and let's eat.' I've always loved food, but as time has progressed, I put on a lot of weight,” Eason said. “Some of that was due to being an emotional eater. As I shared last week on my Twitter, I lost my grandmother and a good friend of mine, Altroy Bodrick, who was one of my teammates here. And that really took a toll upon me. And so, I've always been an emotional eater, and so I just kind of ate my depression. I want to live a long time for my family, kids, and I just want to take care of myself. I took it upon myself and just changed my diet and get up every morning.”

Eason has been working out in the early morning with former Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware, who owns Junkyard Fitness. His renewed energy led to him waking up one morning and participating in mat drills – mat drills are off-season conditioning sessions designed to improve strength, speed, and explosiveness. They’re also hard, even for young athletes in great shape.

“Those trainings do a really good job. I'd be getting up and being there at 5:15 AM in the mornings and getting prepared,” Eason said. “The whole mat drill thing was spur of the moment thing that I just woke up one morning and said, ‘You know what? I'm going to do mat drills today.’ So I went in and got with our head of our equipment manager and gave me a pair of cleats and I took the paper out of them and just jumped out there and did it. Took my hat off, took my whistle off, and just wanted to challenge myself and get in there not knowing what was going to happen. I just go. And so sometimes it's all about a mindset, just go. So that's what I do. I just try to show up every day and just go, man, do my job, work hard.”

Absolute electric factory ⚡️@CoachEason1 is that dude. pic.twitter.com/WjKw45gry8
— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) February 16, 2023

Eason also turned to a vegan lifestyle.

“I haven't had meat or dairy since September the 12th last year. I really have done a good job of just being disciplined. Chef Manny here at our facility's done a really good job,” Eason said. “And there are a couple vegan restaurants that I frequent, one of them being the Herbal Pharmacy and the Naked Vegan in Greenville. And so I have my meals prepared every day, so it's been really easy for me to stick with. But the biggest thing for me, I always encourage people to read up on what you're doing, educate yourself about whatever diet or meal plan that you're planning on going on, and then you can figure out the reason why you're doing it and why you shouldn't eat certain things.”

It's all about being at his best for his players, for his family, and for himself.

“I just want to be a better version of myself, be a great example. And I want to live some good years when I get older,” Eason said. “Like I mentioned earlier, man, I've seen a lot of my family be on dialysis and I've seen that what it did to my grandparents, I've seen it to other relatives that I watch, and eventually it's not a good ending. And so just trying to just be a better version of myself and so that I can coach harder on the field every day and demand greatness for my players. I have to go be great.”