Eric Mac Lain on Clemson Football, NIL, and His Journey from Player to Analyst

0:28The sports world is obsessed with talent. We went into the game as heavy underdogs. And I remember reading and hearing all the talk about how our offensive line was going to get just destroyed. And of course, being an offensive lineman, you take that very personal. We dominated. I just knew that going into the game, if I make one mistake, even if I step the wrong way, I'm going to get abused by this guy. I'm going to get absolutely ruined. It just made you play so much better. I think that was my best game by far, too. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month.

1:05Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. Hey guys, what's up? Ryan Offord, your host, your number one business and marketing show on Apple Podcasts. We appreciate that. Wherever, whenever, however you're listening, we say if it's radical, we cover it. And anytime I get friends and anyone associated with Clemson on the show because they're kicking ass and taking names, I get even more excited. I got my good friend, Eric McLean. He's a college football analyst with ESPN, the ACC Network, and of course, the co-host of the Grammick and McLean podcast.

1:43What's up, Eric? When I got the message to come on this show, I knew I'd made it. First take, ESPN, college game day, throw all that to the side. This is where I wanted to be, brother. Jacked up to be with you today. Appreciate you having me in. excited to jump into a bunch of different things.

2:02Let's set the table and let you kind of give a little bit of that backstory for everybody. I grew up wanting to be a basketball guy. It's just, it was my first love, my true love. Just had such a knack for the sport. I'm a shooter. I love to flick that thing and just stay on the court for hours. Don't come home till the lights are off. The sun goes down because we're out shooting hoops. I always had aspirations to try to make it not just to college, which is obviously a big deal and to have your school paid for and the doors that that'll open. But, you know, professionally, I just always felt like that was my thing.

2:29I was going to do that and thought it'd be the NBA. In high school, I stopped growing this way and started going out and started getting muscle and these type of things. So I was like, basketball, this might be the end of the road. Varsity basketball might be the top for me. So it was funny, that decision kind of made and then you really hone in on your sport. And obviously, you know, that's the future. So you give it so much attention and love and dedication. And for me, that was football. So, you know, really my junior year of high school is when And we started cranking that way up. But I do have to go back a couple of years because I grew up a Tennessee fan, volunteers, any Vols listening.

3:00That's where I always wanted to go. Received a scholarship and committed as a ninth grader in high school to Tennessee to play football. It just so happens, talk about relationships and communicating all these different things in business world that are so applicable. I got a crash course of that as a 15-year-old kid because one of the coaches that was on staff to Tennessee that I'd known for a long time got hired by Clemson. His name's Dan Brooks, was one of the best defensive line coaches ever. And so after I decommitted, he hits me up and he says, hey, you know, Big Mac, it's Dan, it's Coach Brooks, and I'm at Clemson now.

3:29Coach, what's up? This is all I hadn't heard from. He was very respectful, did not hit me up until after I decommitted. And he's like, oh, I'm at Clemson, da-da-da. I'm like, Clemson? I legitimately, Ryan, had no clue what or where Clemson was. He's telling me that. And he's like, oh, come, come check it out. You know, all these different things. He's like, well, we're in South Carolina. We're in the ACC. And I said, whoa, no, heck no. Like, I'm not doing that. Fast forward a year. He hits me up again. He says, just come by and visit what you see. So now I'm going into my junior year. We go and see it and we're coming off the highway 85 on 19B right there.

4:00We're seeing the Paul Parence, the sun setting. So, you know, it's purple and orange. I'm like, where the heck are we? This is crazy. This is perfect. It's just a dream situation. All the other schools that I'd been to are in these big cities. Clemson is farmed down. We're passing like this sunflower patch right on perimeter. And we're looking at the Tom Tom, the GPS, whatever. And you know, it says you're a minute away. I'm like, there is nothing. Where is a stadium about to come out of here? And I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it right now. But when you make that turn on perimeter and then Death Valley just rips out of those trees, man, whoa, this is cool.

4:32This is nuts. And it's obviously a big stadium. And then I meet coach Sweeney. When I met him, man, and the passion, the enthusiasm, the genuine love for his players in the game of football, this is different from anything I had ever seen before. And it was so infectious, man, that literally in a two day span, I was like, I'll do anything for that guy. I want to play for him right now. It's so comical to me that we think that we have our plan and God kind of has his plan. And I never even knew where this place was, man. And in an instant, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life there. And it was so powerful just to have that kind of conviction and to know that guy.

5:06And the rest is kind of history with that. But it's a wild story how I even got to start at Clemson University. Is there a moment, a game or something that when you get asked this question now it pops to the top obviously that national championship game losing to alabama just because we got there we got to the mountaintop and it was something that i think every little kid dreams about as they're running around playing in their backyard of playing in a national championship winning it hopefully and for us just to do what we did at clemson and to get to that mountain to change the culture and what we had done the previous years to get there was just special something that we always thought was possible that's why you know my 2011 class came there and really was building block.

5:42A lot of those guys, what we were able to do on top of who Alabama was and what they were doing. You're talking about peak dominance. These guys had just been wrecking people, winning all these national championships. And we went into the game as heavy underdogs. And I remember reading and hearing all the talk about how our offensive line was going to get just destroyed. And of course, being an offensive lineman, you take that very personal. We dominated. I just knew that going into the game, if I make one mistake, even if I step the wrong way. I'm going to get abused by this guy. Like I'm going to get absolutely ruined.

6:13It just made you play so much better. I think that was my best game by far too. Just kind of all that on the line there, just being there in the last one ever was truly amazing. On a more positive note, my other favorite is that Notre Dame game. Pretty personal game for me. That's where my father is from there. He grew up a golden Domer, love Notre Dame. A lot of our family members either love them or hate them that are up there because it's kind of 50-50. Once I knew they were on the schedule and it was my senior year. I was like, this is going to be a party. So that one was a lot of fun. And just the way it ended, I mean, a goal line stand.

6:42And I've got this really cool picture of just me and my brother. My brother played on the team as well. Walk on wide receiver of us just embracing on the field. Just a lot of great memories from that one. Where did we go from there? And what got you all the way to today? Have a natty ring. I was on that team just in a different capacity. I did that for about nine months. And then a new venture was coming to Clemson and JMI Sports. I'm not sure if you ever ran across with those guys, but so I sold for them for really like two and a half years or so, maybe. It was funny at the time, Dan Radakovich called me in his office and just was like, hey, this is happening.

7:14We think it would be a really good kind of foundational piece for you because he knew I wanted to go into college athletics from the administrative route. We think you should take it. It's a sales role, blah, blah, blah. You kind of see a different vantage point that a lot of people don't with these multimedia rights. At the time I was, maybe, and he's like, no, I really think you should do it. So I go and do it kind of hesitantly. And man, that has been one of the biggest blessings of my life because the foundational, it was basically another grad school, a real life degree where I'm learning how to sell.

7:43I'm learning marketing. I'm learning law and contracts and how to just sit and have a meeting, how to set up a meeting with somebody and how to cold call, like all these attributes that we teach and coach when you're in school. But to have this real life learning for two years and some change has been an unbelievable foundation for me that I still use to this day. I never would have ever thought about taking that route if it wasn't placed in my way there. So I'm forever grateful for that time. I get a call from a guy and answer, say, hey, how you doing? This is so and so from from ESPN. And all I'm thinking is he wants an interview.

8:15He wants to talk about the game, me being a former captain, playing in a national championship. And I've done a lot of that with various outlets leading up. So I'm like, hey, you know, what's up? and they're like, hey, we're out in California. Are you here? We'd love to meet up, talk about the game. And I was like, oh man, we're in San Francisco. You know, maybe talk to you later, kind of blow them off. Next day, text me, hey, are you at the hotel? Which it was our hotel, but I wasn't there. It's like, hey, can you come to the lobby? Would love to talk again. No, I'm in Carmel. Sorry, see you later.

8:39I'm blowing this person off, thinking that it's a writer or thinking it's a TV person, whatever. So then fast forward to Monday, the game. He goes, hey, I know you're going to the game. Can we meet up at the game somewhere? And so now I'm kind of like, this is weird. Why does this person keep texting me? It's so strange. I'm kind of testing them, right? Hey, can you get on the field? Let's meet on the field, seeing if they're really ESPN or not. And they're like, oh, that's perfect. So I'm like, okay, maybe this is legit. I text them. They're saying, hey, we're wrapping up TV. I'll come over there in a second.

9:04So I'm like, okay, I've Googled this person's name. It's nowhere. Who the heck is this? I call them when they say they're walking over because I don't see anybody who I think I'm looking for. And I see a person answer their phone. He's in like khaki pants, an untucked polo, a vest on. There is no way this person was just on TV. What is happening? This is so weird. They come over, shake my hand, act like we're best friends, all this stuff, very personable and starts asking me all these questions about the game. Like, what do I think is going to happen? And they're not writing anything down. Because again, now I'm thinking they're a writer.

9:33They're not on TV. They're a writer, not writing anything down, not recording anything. And I'm getting kind of mad. I want to go tailgate with my family. Then this guy hits me with a very transitional matter of fact. There's going to be some new opportunity coming with ESPN. We would like to fly you up to Bristol next week and see if you want to be a part of the team. And bro, I blacked out. I didn't know. I was like, what did you just ask me? Like, what are you talking about? And totally, I don't even know what I said. I guess I said yes, because I was on the plane. It was so crazy because I was so happy.

10:02You know, we're in Greenville. We're doing our thing and all this stuff, not looking for anything. You know, God just puts something in your path. The relationships that I've created, the brothers that I work with, I literally have to pinch myself at times to hope that I'm not about to wake up. It's incredible to be able to do this. What's been maybe the biggest transition or surprise in what it takes to be a pro in this arena? What do you feel the most eye-opening or something that people realize? How much film you have to watch. When I was a player, I watched one team every week and that's it.

10:30I focused on South Carolina and I'm going to know everything that they do in this role, especially it's a little bit easier for me because I'm a conference affiliated network. I have to watch all 14 schools each and every week and know what they're doing, and why they're doing it. And then here's the kicker. If they're playing out of conference, then I have to watch 28 schools. It's a lot of time, man. If I want to tell you what these teams are doing and what they're going to do or what I think they're going to do, that takes some real effort. But I'll tell you the biggest kind of growing piece for me, time management.

10:57I don't have to cram all of this right now at this time for two reasons. Number one, you're going to burn out and you're just going to be exhausted. Number two, things change so much with Transfer Portal with all these different things to where, hey, if I crammed for the year in July, come September, these guys that I just studied might not even be on the team. So it's all this wasted work. You've got to segment it out and you have to understand the ebbs and flows of the season and the changes that can be had. And that balance really started to come into my life and being able to find that going into the third season there.

11:29That's where you're really starting to shine as a pro with your analysis. Is it good, bad, or indifferent? Is it the Wild West? What's your perspective? The way that it is right now and the way that there are different rules for different states, there's different rules for different institutions, there's different rules wherever you are regionally, I think is terrible for where we are. We either need national federal rules or we need no rules. It can't be this weird middle ground that we are because, number one, it's not fair. Different schools held the different standards and have different resources and are allowed to do different things and all these different things.

12:02How do you keep track of it? It's crazy to do that. The lack of monitoring is baffling to me. And really where it is right now, Ryan, is not at all how it was presented. This is what happens now. If you're ex-player, you come to me, whether you're a recruit or a transfer, you come to me as the head coach and say, I need 50 grand to come here. Like, what? Okay, go find it. That's the principle. The principle to me is I have the right to sell my name. I have the right to go fund when I can chase it. I can sign with an agent. I can get it done. Not here's my hand, fill it up with money. That's not the thing to me.

12:34Now, if you want to go out and sell and have conversations and hold camps and use your social media, that's amazing. But that's not the case, man. And it's baffling to me. I've heard horror stories on both sides from the player that's done all this stuff with their social media and hasn't gotten paid. And also from the companies that have paid these players up front. And when it comes time for content or it comes times to activation, players know where to be found. It's a tough spot right now. Obviously, the haves and have nots are just even furthering away from each other. I hope that we can get some type of federal help here just to play everybody to play by the same rules.

13:07That's all I want. That's all I think that's fair for everybody. Well said. It's complicated, but I don't think it has to be the wild, wild rest and complicated as it is. I think it could be simplified. Hopefully we get there.

13:23Where can everybody keep up with you, brother? Anywhere on social media, man. Instagram, Twitter, Eric McLean right there. And then the podcast, Gramlich and McLean, wherever. We prefer YouTube. Get those numbers up, baby. But it's wherever you can find it. If you just want to listen to it in the car on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, all those things. And of course, ESPN and ACC Network. We have a good time, man. And I appreciate you. This was so much fun, man. We've got to do it again. We're going to have to have like a quarterly McLean. We'll make it whatever it is. We'll talk football. We'll talk whatever the heck's happened.

13:50Being a dad, I know you've got a beautiful daughter. And I appreciate you from coming on. Search for Eric McLean. You'll find all the holly clips today. We'll have links to the McLean podcast. the Grand Mucket McLean podcast, all of Eric's stuff. And you don't find me. I'm at Ryan Alford, that blue part checkmark way before you could buy it. We'll see you next time. This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.