Link: Sawvel talks Dick Johnson, Winfield, recruiting Wolitarsky
Minnesota has the No. 54 defense according to the S&P+ rankings.
On if he's had conversations with Jay Johnson's about his father...
"In his situation, it’s a little different than mine. I knew mine was coming; he didn’t know his was coming in terms of that day. I went into the season knowing that is was coming, and told Coach Claeys and our staff he wasn’t going to make it thru the month. Coach Johnson was great to me when my dad died. I told him if he ever needed anything from me to let me know. It’ll be the same way for him a bit. Saturdays are actually the hardest days for me. Funeral was on the Saturday, last time I went there was on a Saturday night. Talking to my dad after games, Saturdays are tough. For him it’ll be the same, growing up the son of the coach. We all understand that and have jobs to do, but I feel for him and it’s tough. After the game already being sour and then hearing that, it’s very tough. Prayers to his family and him, he was great to me, so anything I can do for him I will.
On how the passing of their fathers has brought them together...
"It’s been good. When people go through that you don’t exactly know what to say. When he reached out to me, it felt great. You see the true character of people when that stuff happens. Jay Johnson has a big heart and is a great person, you don’t have to work with him for 10 years to see that. His professional demeanor and the way he handles himself, it’s pretty easy to see. I like working with him. We aren’t robots it doesn’t just turn off, for me time moves on a little bit it’s been a month, then at the end of the season I can grieve again but I can’t do that right now. For him it just happened so he’ still grieving. It’s still a game week. It’s a tougher turn around. He’s handling it well and every time I see him he Is doing well. There’s a lot of game planning that goes into these games, it’s not like madden. We have the week to figure out how to block this and do that, so to block that out it’s a big challenge, and he’ll do well at that because he’s a true professional.
On if any big moments against Iowa stick out...
"The thing is for me, when you win you enjoy that for that day. It’s when you lose, that stays with you. So the things that stick with me the most are when we haven’t performed the way we need to perform. Last year, that one sticks with me. We could’ve played better, a little shorthanded. It’s the burn of the failure that sticks. I have pictures with the Pig and my kids with the Pig, but I couldn’t tell you where they are. That’s not the focus. You remember the taste, the burn of losing that sticks with you. Maybe it’s because where I played growing up, the losses I take really hard. I go to practice but I’m still highly upset that we gave away a game. It’ll take probably under Thursday to get over it, I’ll block it out at practice, but on the way home I’ll still be mad.
On the play of Antoine Winfield...
"He’s coming rapidly. The biggest thing now is running the show. That’s the next step, can he do that -- can he make all the calls all game long? Penn State had limited formation sets; Iowa will do a little more. So you have to click it off instantly. I’m really pleased with him. You see in him with what he had with Murray and Boddy-Calhoun, a high intellect guy. A guy that football is everything to them. I told him before the game ‘You were born for this. You’ll be fine, you’re the least of my worries.’ He’s been playing those scenarios in his house probably when he was like eight. The stage isn’t too big for him, he just keeps playing. That’s what you like about him, very impressed.
"He played every play, and it wasn’t like end of the game we were worried about him wearing down. He was playing as well at the end of the game as he was the first play. A lot of it is maturity. He’s really mature, football comes easy to him. He can run and he can tackle. I’m super excited to watch him, and glad to have him."
On going from one of the best in the nation to stopping big plays to one of the worst...
"That’s what’s hard. We’ve had so many good plays, and then we just do some stupid stuff, or plays where we don’t fit stuff up the right way, or finish things the right way. It’s frustrating. For three quarters that game we outscored them 23-6, then one quarter we gave them 17 points. We didn’t call anything different in that one quarter, that’s execution. That’s on me -- I’m not singling out any player or anything like that; it’s on me to put guys in the best situation. And in practice we need to work on those situations so that in the game we’re ready for that situation. That’s part of it, and like I said I hate that we gave away a game. Because that’s what we did. We should’ve finished that, but that’s what happens when you make mistakes.
"We have to realize there’s a greater sense of urgency to finish a team, rather than just keep playing how we were playing. We need to outscore them in the third quarter, rather than keep it close and keep playing into the fourth. That’s not what we want to do. In our first three games, we gave up 17 points in the first half. We’ve played good football for a lot of stretches; we have to get our consistency. That’s the biggest thing that’s frustrating right now. It’s a leaky dam scenario: you plug one, then another one leaks, and you have to plug that one. I haven’t lost confidence that we can be good on defense; we can be really good there’s a lot of games left to play. We have to learn from our mistakes this past week."
On recruiting Wolitarsky and now seeing his production...
"I was dabbling out there in that area, Brock (Vereen) is from out there. His coach had me going to different schools. That school is right by where Brock was, and they told me to talkto the receiver. I liked the way he played and we brought him on a visit for the Syracuse game in 2012, night game. It was a great atmosphere and great visit. He has a tremendous family and we like them a lot.
"At that time, we were dabbling in California, and should talk to Coach Claeys about going back there. It’s a 3 ½ flight but its direct to Minnesota. Drew had a lot of credibility, when you talked to people, they said that guy is a good player. Everyone knew who he was. I was impressed with him, and I enjoyed recruiting him."
Minnesota has the No. 54 defense according to the S&P+ rankings.
On if he's had conversations with Jay Johnson's about his father...
"In his situation, it’s a little different than mine. I knew mine was coming; he didn’t know his was coming in terms of that day. I went into the season knowing that is was coming, and told Coach Claeys and our staff he wasn’t going to make it thru the month. Coach Johnson was great to me when my dad died. I told him if he ever needed anything from me to let me know. It’ll be the same way for him a bit. Saturdays are actually the hardest days for me. Funeral was on the Saturday, last time I went there was on a Saturday night. Talking to my dad after games, Saturdays are tough. For him it’ll be the same, growing up the son of the coach. We all understand that and have jobs to do, but I feel for him and it’s tough. After the game already being sour and then hearing that, it’s very tough. Prayers to his family and him, he was great to me, so anything I can do for him I will.
On how the passing of their fathers has brought them together...
"It’s been good. When people go through that you don’t exactly know what to say. When he reached out to me, it felt great. You see the true character of people when that stuff happens. Jay Johnson has a big heart and is a great person, you don’t have to work with him for 10 years to see that. His professional demeanor and the way he handles himself, it’s pretty easy to see. I like working with him. We aren’t robots it doesn’t just turn off, for me time moves on a little bit it’s been a month, then at the end of the season I can grieve again but I can’t do that right now. For him it just happened so he’ still grieving. It’s still a game week. It’s a tougher turn around. He’s handling it well and every time I see him he Is doing well. There’s a lot of game planning that goes into these games, it’s not like madden. We have the week to figure out how to block this and do that, so to block that out it’s a big challenge, and he’ll do well at that because he’s a true professional.
On if any big moments against Iowa stick out...
"The thing is for me, when you win you enjoy that for that day. It’s when you lose, that stays with you. So the things that stick with me the most are when we haven’t performed the way we need to perform. Last year, that one sticks with me. We could’ve played better, a little shorthanded. It’s the burn of the failure that sticks. I have pictures with the Pig and my kids with the Pig, but I couldn’t tell you where they are. That’s not the focus. You remember the taste, the burn of losing that sticks with you. Maybe it’s because where I played growing up, the losses I take really hard. I go to practice but I’m still highly upset that we gave away a game. It’ll take probably under Thursday to get over it, I’ll block it out at practice, but on the way home I’ll still be mad.
On the play of Antoine Winfield...
"He’s coming rapidly. The biggest thing now is running the show. That’s the next step, can he do that -- can he make all the calls all game long? Penn State had limited formation sets; Iowa will do a little more. So you have to click it off instantly. I’m really pleased with him. You see in him with what he had with Murray and Boddy-Calhoun, a high intellect guy. A guy that football is everything to them. I told him before the game ‘You were born for this. You’ll be fine, you’re the least of my worries.’ He’s been playing those scenarios in his house probably when he was like eight. The stage isn’t too big for him, he just keeps playing. That’s what you like about him, very impressed.
"He played every play, and it wasn’t like end of the game we were worried about him wearing down. He was playing as well at the end of the game as he was the first play. A lot of it is maturity. He’s really mature, football comes easy to him. He can run and he can tackle. I’m super excited to watch him, and glad to have him."
On going from one of the best in the nation to stopping big plays to one of the worst...
"That’s what’s hard. We’ve had so many good plays, and then we just do some stupid stuff, or plays where we don’t fit stuff up the right way, or finish things the right way. It’s frustrating. For three quarters that game we outscored them 23-6, then one quarter we gave them 17 points. We didn’t call anything different in that one quarter, that’s execution. That’s on me -- I’m not singling out any player or anything like that; it’s on me to put guys in the best situation. And in practice we need to work on those situations so that in the game we’re ready for that situation. That’s part of it, and like I said I hate that we gave away a game. Because that’s what we did. We should’ve finished that, but that’s what happens when you make mistakes.
"We have to realize there’s a greater sense of urgency to finish a team, rather than just keep playing how we were playing. We need to outscore them in the third quarter, rather than keep it close and keep playing into the fourth. That’s not what we want to do. In our first three games, we gave up 17 points in the first half. We’ve played good football for a lot of stretches; we have to get our consistency. That’s the biggest thing that’s frustrating right now. It’s a leaky dam scenario: you plug one, then another one leaks, and you have to plug that one. I haven’t lost confidence that we can be good on defense; we can be really good there’s a lot of games left to play. We have to learn from our mistakes this past week."
On recruiting Wolitarsky and now seeing his production...
"I was dabbling out there in that area, Brock (Vereen) is from out there. His coach had me going to different schools. That school is right by where Brock was, and they told me to talkto the receiver. I liked the way he played and we brought him on a visit for the Syracuse game in 2012, night game. It was a great atmosphere and great visit. He has a tremendous family and we like them a lot.
"At that time, we were dabbling in California, and should talk to Coach Claeys about going back there. It’s a 3 ½ flight but its direct to Minnesota. Drew had a lot of credibility, when you talked to people, they said that guy is a good player. Everyone knew who he was. I was impressed with him, and I enjoyed recruiting him."
