Eason takes over as RB coach at Meridian High School

Published 10:47 pm Thursday, August 4, 2016

In playing football professionally for the Cincinnati Bengals, former Meridian High School running back Cordera Eason said he was able to achieve one of his dreams.

A second was fulfilled last week after he received a phone call asking him to return to his alma mater to coach the Wildcats running back unit.

“It’s a dream come true,” Eason said. “It’s very rare to get to live out two of your dreams. One of my first dreams was to play in the NFL, and I got a chance to do that. My second dream was to come back home and coach the running backs at my high school, and now I’m living that out.”

After graduating from Meridian in 2006, Eason played collegiately at Ole Miss, where he was a member of the 2008 Rebels team that earned road wins against highly ranked Florida and LSU. In his final two years in Oxford, Eason and Ole Miss went 18-8 and rattled off two Cotton Bowl victories against Big XII opponents. He signed a contract with the Bengals in April 2010.

He now hopes to bring his knowledge of the position to the high school level.

“We started practice last week, and already by me being there for a week, I’ve seen improvement by my running backs,” he said. “I’m teaching them how to play running back, how to hit the hole, how to make reads, when to take their jump cut — all the little things it takes to be a running back.”

Eason said his unique experience has already had an impact on the position group.

“Just the other day at practice, I taught a balance drill to my guy, and the next thing you know I saw him go out to the team period and he was about to fall, and he used it, got up and went 80 yards.”

As the final pieces of the Meridian coaching staff puzzle are being put together, Eason said he’s thankful for the opportunity to be a part of Meridian’s coaching staff, and he’s eager to begin the upcoming season.

“It means a lot to me; I don’t take it for granted,” he said. “Every day I work with my kids. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, so I’m excited. It’s a challenge, but one thing Coach Hampton talks about is challenges all day. He knows that people are watching, we know that people are watching. So we have to coach our butts off and be on top of these kids. It’s going to be something very exciting with the coaching staff we have. Coach Hampton really put together a great staff to help him out. I’m excited to be a part of it.”