RF365 exclusive: Man-to-man coverage with Clemson’s Thomas Austin

By Marc Hudgens  |   Monday, June 09, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

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RealFootball365 would like to thank Clemson’s Thomas Austin for taking time with us and sharing his thoughts on the upcoming 2008 Tigers offensive line as the starting center enters his junior year; in addition, we express our gratitude for Austin's willingness to participate in an "Off The Field" questionnaire segment in this exclusive interview.

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Q: How have the offseason workouts been going?

AUSTIN: We’re working out four days a week now. We started May 20th. [We're] working four days a week. The lifts, and then we conditioned. And then we get outside and twice a week we do seven-on-seven drills led by the players. [We] also do a lot of individual work with the offensive line and defensive line, doing drill work. Hand work, foot placement, that kind of thing, just to kind of develop and focus on the small details that make you a better player. So they’re hitting us pretty hard and they’re definitely getting their money out of us, and we’re working pretty hard.


Q: Entering this season, you are the line’s lone returning starter. This coupled with the fact you’re the center clearly makes you the offensive line’s leader. How would you best characterize your leadership style? Vocal, lead by example, both? Other?

AUSTIN: I think to be a leader, you have to do both. One of our strength and conditioning coaches, (Joey) Batson, has really put an emphasis on that -- that we need a lot of strong leaders. I’ve always been a guy who’s more comfortable by leading by example and trying to finish first from the line and that kind of thing. And work harder than everyone else, but I’ve also really had to put a focus this offseason on being vocal because younger guys are looking to me because I do have more experience than some of the other guys. So I like being put in that leadership position; it gives you some credibility. [I] had to work on the vocal aspect, and I think you need both of those to be an effective leader. If your actions don’t line up with what you say, no one’s going to listen to you.


Q: Given you’ve played guard and center, can you describe the biggest challenges in going from one to the other?

AUSTIN: The transition from guard to center is difficult. The first area would be just how much more you have to learn the opposing defense. You just spend a lot more time watching film and picking up on teams' tendencies and blitz packages and knowing the points of the calls and stuff. Especially in the pass protection, because I have to really set up the blocking scheme for the offensive line and make sure the running backs and tight ends are on the same page. So that’s difficult. From a technique standpoint, when you’re working guard and tackle, you get your two feet in the ground and you punch with both hands. Whereas at center, you have to snap and while you’re snapping, [you] step and try to get that off-hand on the guy first and then with your second hand. So that’s a little different, the angle’s a little different, the footwork’s different and the hand placement is different. I’m still working on that today. Those are a couple of things that are difficult to transition.


Q: Do you believe you will play guard again, or are you permanently at center?

AUSTIN: I think this year I’m definitely permanently at center. We’ve got Barry Humphries, a returning guard that has 700 snaps, so he has plenty of experience, and two tackles have some experience. But besides that, we have a lot of young guys at guard. And I think coach (Brad) Scott, our offensive line coach, would much rather break in a new guy at a guard position than at center just because there is more responsibility at center. And playing center gives you just a natural leadership position, so I think it helps a little bit more to have a more experienced guy there. Now, my senior year, that could change. Mason Cloy’s definitely a natural center. He might end up playing there, but at this point in time he’s gonna be playing guard.


Q: How is your chemistry with Cloy, your backup center? Is it more of a mentor/protégé relationship, or do you consider yourselves equals?

AUSTIN: Mason and I have a special relationship. He’s good friends with my brother (Josh Austin) in high school. He’s from Columbia (S.C.) and I’m from Camden (S.C.), and so my brother and him are the same age and hung out a lot, and so I knew him very well before he got to Clemson. I have respect for him and he has respect for me, and so I definitely see him as an equal. I have two more years of experience than he does, so there’s a lot of things that really just come with time, especially with the offensive line. He’s a very intelligent guy and a hard worker and a strong player, so whatever wisdom I can give him, he definitely asks for it and soaks it in. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s gonna be a heck of a player before it’s all said and done.


Q: Looking back at spring practice, as the line’s leader what do you view as the line’s biggest accomplishment?

AUSTIN: We still got healthy people through spring practice, and that helped. I think the biggest accomplishment is that we went out there and we competed hard every day. The older guys didn’t take days off or plays off, and the younger guys stepped up to the challenge. Dorell Scott and Rashaad Jackson, two of our really good interior players, and then Ricky Sapp and Kevin Alexander and Da’Quan (Bowers); we have a really talented defensive line. They’re very experienced, so we were definitely kind of outmatched there, but our guys went out there and competed every day. And as an offensive line, chemistry is very, very important, and we didn’t have that during the spring because we were playing so many guys at so many different positions. But I hate to use that as an excuse, though. I think the biggest thing was those young guys getting out there and competing and playing hard, and that’s one thing coach Scott was very pleased with. If you got guys that play hard that are natural players, then he can teach them technique. Going into the fall, they started laying a pretty good foundation in that regard.


Q: Now that spring practice is over, what are the biggest areas of improvement entering fall practice?

AUSTIN: The offensive line is a very technical position. Those young guys have the athleticism and they have the strength to play; it’s just learning that technique. And coach Scott is one of the best technical offensive line coaches I’ve ever met. So he’s gonna get us ready. So they’ve really just gotta learn more of the offense and get a better grasp on that. And also deepen their knowledge on opposing defenses. Half of playing offensive line is knowing what to expect from your opponent and putting yourself in a good position, taking good steps so you can block. And when you don’t know those things like a lot the young guys don’t, you go out there and try to block everybody; sometimes you don’t put yourself in a position to succeed. I think developing their technique and developing their knowledge of the game; and then when we find out who our five are, then developing cohesion. That’s crucial. So we’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m confident we’ll get it done.


Q: Clemson’s Web site states your major is political science. What are your thoughts over the recent primary races and the upcoming presidential election?

AUSTIN: (Laughter) I had to write a research paper on the election tonight. I predicted that it would be Sen. (Barack) Obama [for the Democrats], and I think at the time I said Rudy Giuliani [for the Republicans]. I didn’t expect John McCain to do as well as he had; I think he’s in a good race. He’s gonna have trouble initially; what he needs to do is get support from the conservatives. It’ll be interesting to see who he picks as a vice president candidate. Then Obama and Hillary Clinton ... that was a close race the whole time. That was fun to watch. Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, I think you appreciate that race. It’s now kind of a neat time to see who Obama chooses as his vice president and being very strategic in that to bring in as many votes as possible. If it is Hillary, that’ll help him. If not, it’ll be interesting to see who he decides to pick.


Q: What opponent are you most looking forward to playing?

AUSTIN: Not real sure. I think we’ve focused a lot on ourselves and we haven’t really had a chance to look. I know some guys that are coming back and some that aren’t. (Defensive tackle) Ron Brace of Boston College is a good player and he’s a big opponent. But we’ve also watched a little bit of film on Alabama on the side, and they have a very, very talented defensive front and they have very big, athletic linebackers. So they’re gonna present a very good challenge for us initially. And that’s really what I’m focusing on right now. You ever play in the ACC, a very tough conference, you have good players week in and week out. But initially, Alabama, one of the best three-technique, defensive tackles in the country, will be fun to compete against.


Q: BCS system or playoffs?

AUSTIN: I think in theory, the playoff system is a more fair approach. I think the BCS is designed to where you really have to be ranked in the preseason to have a chance to win the national championship. You got teams like Boise State going undefeated, Hawaii going undefeated and don’t get a chance to play in the BCS championship. I think that’s a disadvantage for some of the teams that are in smaller conferences but don’t have the strength of schedule. Last year, you saw a lot of lopsided BCS games. I think Illinois got stomped pretty well, I think Hawaii got stomped pretty well. It would give you a better chance to see the Georgia-Southern Cal matchup, and to see really who are the top-eight teams when it’s all said and done because you got conferences, especially in the SEC, who have so many good, tough teams. There’s no one who’s gonna go through the SEC undefeated. When you’re playing the teams they are week in, week out, I think you need the playoff system to give everyone a fair shot. Now whether it works from a logistical standpoint, I don’t know. But I-AA ball seems to do it pretty well. So I think it would be interesting to see that. But it would lengthen the schedule, which playing 15, 16 games would be...I can’t imagine how tough that would be on the body. So I think the playoff system would be interesting to see.


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"Off The Field" with Thomas Austin, a questionnaire concept derived from French television personality Bernard Pivot and the Proust Questionnaire.


What revs you up in life?

Motivation for me as an individual would be my relationship with Jesus Christ. Being a Christian, I think God has given me the ability and the talent to play in college football. So I just seek to glorify Him through actions [with] how I play, how I conduct myself on and off the field. And at the end of the day, I look hard at what he’s given me because things aren’t going to go right every day, with injuries and stuff like that. If you put all your eggs in one basket and you depend solely on football, because one day football, whether it’s college or pro, is gonna end. And if you put everything in that basket, you see a lot of guys who come back who are very disappointed and lonely individuals. And so my relationship with Jesus Christ is what keeps me going.

What turns you off in life?

A waste of potential or laziness. They kind of go hand-in-hand. In high school and college, I’ve seen guys who are very talented -- athletically -- and I’ve seen people who are very smart --intellectually -- that haven’t maximized their abilities. And I think if you have the talent and abilities, then you have a certain responsibility to perform at your highest level. And when I see people who don’t take advantage of that, that’s really disappointing. Because I have guys on the team, 5-foot-9 offensive linemen who are walk-ons who just want to be a part of the program and who love to play so much but just don’t have the size or bulk. Like the movie “Rudy," you see a guy who works that hard, and when people who have the athleticism or the ability that don’t utilize it, that’s disappointing.

What is the loudest stadium you've been in?

I think we have a pretty loud stadium (Death Valley). But visiting stadiums, [it] probably would have to be Virginia Tech (Lane Stadium). We played them two years ago on a Thursday night at Blacksburg (Va.) And I think it’s about 65,000 (capacity), but it’s still right on top of you and it’s tough to hear. That’s probably the loudest one I’ve been in beside ours. It’s a very hostile environment, and they’re very passionate about their football.

What major other than your own would you like to pursue?

Construction Science would be a very interesting major. There’s a couple of guys on the team that are majoring in that, and it’s a very hands-on major. It requires a lot of time and internship. I think it requires eight hours of internship to graduate. You spend 'X' amount of hours in the classroom, but you also get to spend a lot of hours outside really kind of doing some hands-on work. That would be a very interesting major.

What major would you not like ever to pursue?

Either architecture or one of those engineering ... mechanical or chemical, those guys. I got a couple of friends that are architecture and they’re always in the library. I can’t imagine doing that and having a life. I don’t envy those guys one bit.

What is your favorite food and drink?

Anything my mom cooks. I’m 315 pounds for a reason. She can definitely cook. Weakness is Dr. Pepper; it’s probably my favorite thing to drink when I’m not training.

Who is your all-time favorite sports hero (player or coach, any sport)?

I have two of them. One of them is Reggie White. Used to play defensive line, so I always loved Reggie White. His club move and all this; he kind of really developed that defensive position. I was a huge Green Bay Packers fan. And also, I have a lot of respect for Bruce Matthews. He played 19 years in the league for the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans. He was the only offensive lineman to be All-Pro at every position on the offensive line. It was pretty amazing to play, I think he played until he was 41 years old. Both of those men are men of integrity and men of character, and everyone respected them on and off the field. I think that’s important.

Who is your all-time favorite recording artist?

Alan Jackson. I really like some old country music. Alan Jackson or George Strait, I’ve always enjoyed them.

What is your all-time favorite movie? TV show?

Movie, I would have to say “Braveheart" [with] Mel Gibson. That’s a movie I never get tired of watching. TV show might have to be “Home Improvement” with Tim Allen.

What historical character do you most revere?

William Wallace, to stay within the "Braveheart" theme. I think a guy that has leadership potential and humbled himself down to the service level, and he’s the ultimate of lead by example. [He] really ignited the flame that led to Scotland’s freedom from England. I have some Scottish background, so I’ve always been intrigued by that story. I have a lot of respect for what he did. I know a lot of it’s kind of blown out of proportion since, but it’s an interesting story.

What historical character do you most despise?

Adolf Hitler. He was always a very charismatic person, but he used it in a negative way. To see how many millions and millions of lives he destroyed, really brainwashing the German people. Very tragic thing. [I've] been to the Holocaust Museum in (Washington) D.C., [and] it’s just a very humbling thing, a very solemn thing. Just to see that destruction and the millions of people that got murdered for no reason whatsoever was just very heartbreaking.

What NFL team would you want to be drafted by most?

Tossup between the Washington Redskins and the Green Bay Packers. We lived in the D.C. area for a time, and my dad and his brother and my grandpa were all Redskins fans. Loved the franchise and, if possible, to get tickets. Just a very supportive fan base and everything. And the Green Bay Packers is the second one. Love Lambeau Field, and the fact it’s owned by the people of Green Bay is a pretty rare thing in today’s society. Drawback there is it gets pretty, pretty ridiculously cold, and I don’t know if I can handle that. That’s the only drawback there.

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RF365 would also like to congratulate Austin for making the Spring 2008 Dean’s List.
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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He...
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