By Will Vandervort.
“Fear Da Beard”
That is the mantra Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel made famous when he started growing his beard out during the Steelers’ Super Bowl run in 2010. Since then, he opens training camp with a freshly cut beard and refuses to shave it until the Steelers’ season comes to an end.
In Clemson, the Tigers’ offensive line has taken the lead from Keisel and turned it into their own thing.
Affectionately known as “The Beard Gang,” right tackle Kalon Davis, center Ryan Norton and guards Eric Mac Lain and Spencer Region have all grown beards that may not be as full and as ravishing as Keisel’s, but they are not too bad, either.
Guards Reid Webster and David Beasley have tried to get in the act as well, though theirs are not nearly as full as the others.
It all started when Davis, who is a modern languages major, returned from his internship in Japan this summer with a fully grown beard. The 6-foot-5 senior from Chester, S.C. forgot his razor when he left Clemson and he refused to let anyone in Japan cut his hair or trim his beard.
“His beard is impressive,” Norton said. “He has a good beard. Don’t let him lead you astray. He has a very nice beard.”
When Region and Mac Lain saw Davis’ beard, Region got the idea they should call themselves “The Beard Gang.” From there Mac Lain went with it.
“At this point last year, Norton and Mac did not cut their beard until we had a loss,” Davis said. “So this year, they were planning to do the same thing and by that point we had me, Region, Norton and Mac Lain with huge beards – they were like, ‘You know we should start The Beard Gang.’
“Region said it and then Mac took off with it. He started the hash tag and everything and then everyone got it going. It put us in the media and all that stuff with the whole ‘Beard Gang’ thing. He did not even ask us. He just took off with it.”
And it has taken off.
The group has been featured from television reports to newspapers and even had its own feature in Clemson’s Game Day program.
“It has gotten a lot bigger than I ever thought it would get,” Norton said. “I’m sure Eric probably knew it would get this big because he is big on twitter stuff and social media. I’m not really involved in that so I had no idea it would get this big and it is crazy to see how it had taken off. It is kind of cool, though.”
It is also very fitting, too.
Not knowing at the time what was going to transpire as the season wore on, but “The Beard Gang” has allowed the Tigers’ offensive line to stay afloat through injuries and players leaving the team.
Before the season even started, right tackle Shaq Anthony left the team and then injuries to reserve center Jay Guillermo and right tackle Joe Gore in the last month has forced 20th-ranked Clemson to play with only five offensive linemen in the previous two games.
Those five guys are left tackle Isaiah Battle, Beasley at left guard, Norton at center, Webster at right guard and Davis at right tackle.
“We have no one else to lean on but each other at this point,” Davis said. We are going into the game like, ‘Hey, if you need me, I got you. If I need you, you got me. Everyone is there to watch each other’s back. You have to watch out for one another.
“Right now, it is a tight knit situation. We don’t have bodies. Until then, we have to do whatever we have to do in order to get the job done.”
And they are getting it done.
In the last six quarters, the offensive line has yielded just one sack and has done just enough to help Clemson win two of the more physical games it has played. Boston College and Louisville had top 10 defenses in terms of total yards and rushing defense coming in.
“This is definitely a time when we really need to be close and come together,” Norton said. “We are all going through this. This will pass, but something like this is great to have even when we are not struggling depth wise.
“The key thing is to have continuity within the offensive line.”
In wins over Louisville and BC, the five starters played all 154 of the offense’s snaps. The most impressive thing about the group is the fact when the games were on the line they leaned and pushed aside the Cardinals’ and the Eagles’ big defensive fronts.
Against Louisville, “The Beard Gang” led the way on a 12-play, 68-yard drive that took five minutes and 34 seconds off the clock in what was a three-point game at the time. Running back Adam Choice followed them to the tune of 41 yards on eight carries to set up a 21-yard Ammon Lakip field goal, forcing Louisville to have to score a touchdown with only 1:24 to play.
Against Boston College, “The Beard Gang” again got it done as they gave quarterback Cole Stoudt plenty of time to throw the ball on an 82-yard scoring march for the game-winning touchdown which running back C.J. Davidson capped with a 32-yard run thanks to a large hole that opened up on the right side of the line.
Keep in mind, Davis started the year at right guard and moved out to right tackle when Gore’s play start slipping—which was due to his appendix—and Webster is playing right guard as well as being the backup at right tackle, left guard and center.
There was one game earlier this year in which Webster played all five positions.
“You are talking about five guys that for two weeks in a row have gotten about eighty snaps,” offensive coordinator Chad Morris said. “We have kind of found those five guys and they are playing well together right now.”
They are playing as a group or as a gang – “The Beard Gang.” They even have specially designed T-shirts they made to make it official.
“It is just another thing that comes with it,” Norton said.
The next step is to trim the beards off, but not at home in front of the bathroom mirror. No, maybe they do it big like Keisel does it.
The Steelers’ defensive end has held a charity each of the last three years appropriately called “Shear Da Beard,” which benefits the cancer programs at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“If we can get that approved, I’ll be down for something like that,” Davis said. “Then we can let the beards grow all the way through December and then cut them off. I will be fine with that. The question is can we get everyone else on board?”
And that means Mac Lain’s girlfriend who has been reluctant to let the Tigers’ 6-foot-4, 305-pound lineman grow his beard to its full potential.
“I have been trying to get Mac to grow his beard like (Keisel’s). There is a different feel between white people’s and black people’s beards,” Davis laughed. “I can’t get mine to that level. I was trying to get them to get to it, but they have girlfriends that are not one-hundred percent okay with that kind of beard.
“If he wanted to start ‘The Beard Gang,’ you have to go all out. I’m the one who is the most committed to ‘The Beard Gang.’”
Norton, who is Mac Lain’s roommate, says the junior offensive line is fighting through his girlfriend’s wishes, and maybe if they are able and decide to use their beards for charity, then she might come around.
“That would be a cool thing to do,” the Clemson center said. “Maybe we can do a charity and have someone decide what they want our beards to look like or shave them a certain way. We can have something like that probably.”