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Cleasant coping with change and working towards a monster season

Sean Cleasant from Manual is one of the state's top prospects.
Sean Cleasant from Manual is one of the state's top prospects.
Dave Lackford

With spring ball wrapping up, and summer two-a-days looming, we caught up with Manual senior DT Sean Cleasant.

Cleasant is Rivals No. 5 overall ranked player in Kentucky this season. We got his thoughts on the Crimson’s upcoming season, what it’s like adjusting to the new coaching staff, his progression as a player, what is expected from him this year, and how his college recruitment is going so far.

First a little background, over the past two season the duPont Manual HS football program has put together back to back nine win seasons in 6A football, and is considered one of the best programs in the state.

However, former coach Oliver Lucas announced that he would step down as the team’s head coach right before last season’s playoffs began, citing that he had “taken the program as far as I can.”

Lucas told the local Louisville newspaper, The Courier Journal, that he made his announcement before the start of the playoffs, to make himself available for other jobs and to let the Manual administration find his replacement.

Manual defeated Ballard High 30-23 in the first round of the playoffs four days after Lucas’s announcement before falling to rival Male, 36-0 in the second round. Male would go on to win the 6A title and is ranked as the #1 team in Louisville this season according to USA Today, followed by Trinity and St. Xavier. DuPont Manual is ranked fourth.

While Manual has undergone a coaching overhaul, Cleasant remains positive about this upcoming season and had a very mature answer about how he was handling the transition.

“Its another life lesson, my mom told me to learn from it because things won’t always go your way. We got a brand new staff, well except DB coach Antoine Horton and RB coach Curtis Lipsey, they stayed, but it is what it is. Coaches get new jobs and that’s part of (the business). This is my last year and I have to do what I have to do, move on, and focus.”

Cleasant said there won’t be a change from the 3-4 defensive base scheme the Crimson deployed last season, but there will be some new wrinkles.

“We ran a 3-4 last year," Cleasant said. "That won’t change this year but we’ve been told that we will also use a 5-2- 4. So sometimes the outside linebackers will play with their hand in the dirt.”

Cleasant isn’t concerned about where he will be used in the 3-4 or the 5-2 because he’s a versatile down lineman that can line up anywhere.

“I played a 0 technique all the way to a 5," he said. "Last year I started at NG and Derek (Dorsey) and Chase (Gavin) were the tackles but we rotated. I can play all over the line. I use the bull rush, the rip and the swim. I’m trying to get a variety of moves down pat so I can be versatile. I will size up my blocker, and if I can overpower him I’ll go with the bull rush, on other guys I’ll use the rip or the swim.

"During my Freshman year, I had to go against guys like George Dalley and Khalid Neal everyday in practice. They were really sound and followed the rules. They didn’t really have many weaknesses that you could exploit so you had to capitalize on your technique and think out side the box to get past them.”

He attributed his versatility to hard work and good coaching.

“We work a lot on hand techniques, we call those drills “hand wars” so that people can’t lay their hands on me," Cleasant said. "We practice different moves on the bag or against each other. I have been focusing on working my hand techniques, keeping a low pad level, and firing off the ball. Pad level is the one thing I have to work on and the thing the coaches stay on me about.

"For pad level, the coaches will put a marker on the wall and have me fire out of the stance and I have to stay below the mark. They also keep me in my stance for a long time then fire off and stay low. This is to keep me disciplined and not lose my form when I’ve been in my stance longer than usual.”

Manual lost some key contributors from last year’s team, but that’s the nature of high school ball. When asked about who will step up for the Crimsons, Sean didn’t hesitate to talk up his teammates.

“We are losing a few starters but lots of the guys who will replace them all got work in the rotation last year.”

“Our new QB William Britt has been working hard this year, he played in the rotation last year and he will take over for Tim Comstock (he’s at EKU as an ATH). (William Britt) is a dual threat QB, he runs a 4.6/4.7 and can throw, he’s about 6-foot, 185, and he’s a three sport athlete that plays football, basketball, and baseball.”

Cleasant also spoke highly of middle linebacker Ian Long, who will be called upon to fill in at linebacker this year as a Senior.

“He’s been working inside and outside this offseason and has been doing a lot of work with the strength coach in the gym," Cleasant said. "He’s the main one that will be a “new” starter. He has put in a lot of work and will step up.”

Manual’s stout secondary helped the Crimson post the second best passing defense in 6A ball last season, surrendering only 804 yards in 12 games last season. This unit should maintain that standard this year.

“Bryce (Cosby) and the DB coach (Antoine Horton) have the secondary ready to go," Cleasant said. "Coach Horton also coaches track and all those guys run, so they have all been working on getting faster as well as doing a lot of drills to get them ready for the season.”

Sean is excited about his Senior year and thinks Manuel is poised to make a run at the 6A title.

“This is my last year and I want us to be great this season. I want everyone to just sell out and try to make this a great team," he said. "Personally, I had like 50 tackles this past year and about 40 of them were solos. This season I want to have about 50 to 60 solo tackles and at least 10 sacks. I think if I can get those numbers it means our defense will be one of the best and that will be the best way for me to help the team.

"I had 5.5 sacks last year, but I know I can improve on that, like I said, I just want this year’s team to sell out and go all out and be great, because this is my last year. I want to go out beating Male, Trinity, and St. X. I have a lot of friends on those teams, it’s a great rivalry, and I respect them as players, but when we’re on the field I can’t stand them.”

“We came so close to beating Male my sophomore year (Male won 28-21 in 2014). I have only beaten Male my freshman year. That was our 5 th straight win against them but we lost the last two years and I want to go out by beating them again. I can’t even tell you how much I want to beat St. Xavier and Trinity. I think we will have a shot against them this year. I’m confident that if we can play fundamental ball we can beat anyone. I want to go out with wins against Male and St. X.”

Trinity switched divisions last year so the only way Manuel will see them next year is if the two meet in the playoffs.

When asked what he loved about football Sean snapped off a quick response.

“Hitting!” Cleasant said. “I started playing football because they told me I can hit someone as hard as I want and not get in trouble for it. Football is a good outlet. I don’t have any anger problems or anything like that but I use football to get my mind focused and get in a good workout, at the end of practice I feel good.”

On the recruiting front, Sean has been getting some solid looks from a lot of different schools, Ivy League school Dartmouth has even extended an offer. While the process can overwhelm some, Sean is taking the process in stride:

“I don’t know when I’m going to commit, I’ve been comparing them all and where I fit best. I don’t have a school that’s on top yet. I’m not really focused on the process right now because I’m focused on getting better as a player and on this coming season.”

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