Brad Lawing tells story of 'The Hit' from his perspective
It's one of the most iconic plays in South Carolina football history.
When South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney knifed into the backfield unblocked and in the blink of an eye sent all of his frustration straight into Michigan running back Vincent Smith's chest - sending Smith's helmet and the football flying - Clowney instantly became a viral sensation.
"The Hit" won an ESPY for the top college football play in 2013. South Carolina's upload alone of the play on YouTube has 1.6 million views (and counting). It's been analyzed, broken down, and featured on ESPN's Sports Science.
But perhaps no one has better perspective on the "The Hit" than Clowney's position coach at the time, veteran defensive line guru Brad Lawing.
Lawing, who now lives in Lexington, S.C., was at the River Rat Brewery Tuesday night telling stories on former Carolina quarterback Erik Kimrey's podcast.
And, oh did he tell some stories. Lawing didn't know what a podcast was until Tuesday night, but he has a knack for keeping listeners entertained.
Among the conversation from Lawing: anecdotes about how he flipped recruiting targets like D.J. Swearinger and Ladi Ajiboye from other programs, what it's like to coach for Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier, and the time he challenged Clowney to a fight (that might have ended for Lawing similarly to how "The Hit" ended for Smith).
My favorite story may have been how then-N.C. State head coach Chuck Amato inadvertently helped push four-star defensive end Cliff Matthews to South Carolina.
You'll have to listen to the podcast for those, but some of the more interesting bits of information Lawing provided were about how "The Hit" came to be.
You'll remember that one of the best plays in college football history never would have even happened if not for one of the worst calls in college football history.
Trailing Michigan 22-21 midway through the fourth quarter, Carolina's special teams had just made what appeared to be a key fourth down stop on a fake punt to give the ball back to its offense. But after the measurement clearly showed Michigan was short of the yard to gain, the referee inexplicably signaled for a Wolverines first down.
"The word I got was (the referee) pointed the wrong direction, realized it, and instead of correcting his mistake, was embarrassed and didn't do it," Lawing said. "It was about an ego. They pulled the marker up as quick as they could, because every official knew it was screw up. So Coach Spurrier almost has a dang heart attack right there on the sideline. Everybody is jumping around going, you've got to be kidding me."
The jumping on the Carolina sideline had barely stopped when Clowney provided another reason for the Gamecocks to erupt.
"JD, he went up underneath the tackle and he hit that dang back and it's called, near leg, near shoulder, that's how you want to tackle somebody," Lawing explained. "That's how you generate the most power, because you generate the most power on a person. Well when JD went near leg, near shoulder on that running back, all that energy has to come out somewhere. Well it came out through the top of his head and his helmet ejected straight up into the air. But that's not my most favorite part about that.
The play didn't end there. Not to be stopped, Clowney continued his motion through the tackle, reached out with his 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame and snatched the fumble up with one hand before being rolled to the ground in a heap.
"I'm an old catcher," Lawing continued. "When the ball is bunted in front of home plate, you never want to go scoop it, you never want to just grab the ball, you want to screw the ball into the ground, because when you do that it pushes it into your hand, so now you can make your throw to whatever base you want to throw it to.
"That's the way you teach a catcher. I teach fumble recovery like that, if it's a one-handed, any time you've got to reach to get a fumble, take it and screw it into the ground. So anyway, JD did that. Well the next morning we're getting ready to leave and go back to Columbia, and I said, 'JD, that was a great hit on that guy yesterday.' and he said 'Coach, how about the fumble recovery?'"
And that's the story of one of the best plays in college football history from one of the best defensive line coaches in the game.