There obviously are forces at work here greater even than those immutable laws of leverage and pad level.
Here is Mitch Hyatt, a month short of his 19th birthday, a relative babe playing the grown man’s position of left tackle. For Clemson. In a national championship game. Against mighty Alabama. Some 34 years after his uncle manned the defensive line for the same school the last time it appeared in a game as large as this.
Too much has happened too quickly for Hyatt to clearly catalogue it all. And he likely won’t finish that task before Monday night’s national championship game.
“It’s crazy how the events have happened,” he said earlier this week.
“This time last year I was just getting here. I had no clue what I was getting myself into when I first showed up. When we got here I was just so worried about doing winter work-outs, trying to get through that. Now that we’re getting ready to play for a national championship.”
And, again comes the slight puzzlement: “It’s just crazy.”
Hyatt didn’t exactly arrive from North Gwinnett High School as a surprise. You could put as many stars next to his name – the recruiter’s emoji — as you wanted. He was that talented. His signing was greeted with about as much fanfare as an offensive lineman could ever expect. And the fact that he had a link to the Tigers’ best days — uncle Dan Benish started during the 1981 championship season — was a nostalgic bonus.
He just wasn’t being counted on for immediate deployment, that’s all. His schedule was put on the express train last summer when Isaiah Battle declared for the NFL supplemental draft and a great void opened up at quarterback Deshaun Watson’s blindside.
So why not throw in the greenhorn to protect the most vulnerable flank of a Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback just coming off knee surgery?
Here’s how audacious this move was: Hyatt became the first freshman to start at left tackle in a season opener for Clemson since 1944. He has been in more plays than any freshman offensive lineman in school history.
Benish, who played for the Falcons and lives in Cumming, coached his nephew when he was but a boy. Now, from afar he followed his progress as best he could, greatly amused by the arc of his progress.
“Practice started with (All-American defensive tackle) Shaq Lawson beating his head in and Mitch asking himself, ‘What am I doing this for?’” Benish said.
“But he kept at it, and suddenly Shaq was winning only 50 percent of the time. And then Mitch started winning many of the battles in practice. It has been amazing how much he has grown through the season.”
And the improvement has continued on into the college playoffs, much to Benish’s delight. “He played a great game against Oklahoma against a guy who talked a lot of junk to him,’’ Uncle Dan said.
There was no other choice, really. Someone had to step into this sizable breach. Listed at 6-foot-5, 295 pounds, Hyatt would dominate any elevator he rode, but was considered a bit skinny for a major college tackle. Just wait until he fills out, coaches said. But there was no waiting.
Preseason concerns about Clemson frequently settled on its offensive line, more specifically on the callow head of its left tackle.
The learning curve, Hyatt said, wasn’t impossibly steep. At least not after the first couple of practices. “Speed was a big difference,” he said. “I remember when I first got here in the spring, just doing walk-throughs before practice and I thought we were going so fast. I thought they were going full speed and it was just a walk-through.”
Coach Dabo Swinney insisted that once the games began, the coaches had to give zero consideration to sliding other blockers over to help Hyatt.
“In fact in most games, I don’t even notice him,” Swinney told the media before the national semifinal. “A left tackle (starting) as a true freshman? I’ve never seen it. Probably never will again.”
Alabama, with its deep front line that has been at the heart of the nation’s most imposing defense, will test the entire Clemson offensive line in new ways. The education of Mitch Hyatt continues apace.
“I’ve experience pretty much everything you can in one year,” he said.
But rather than trying to make sense of it all right now, Hyatt is leaning on the advice his uncle repeats nearly every time they speak.
“He tells me to enjoy the moment. He says you may never get another chance like this again,” Hyatt said.
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