Big Ten Football

Ohio State University has suspended voluntary workouts for seven sports, including football and both basketball teams, after an undetermined number of student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19. 

The university cited privacy concerns for its reasoning in not disclosing the number of positive tests. Policy dictates anyone who has contracted the virus must self-isolate for at least 14 days and the student-athletes will receive care from Ohio State's athletics medical staff. 

Ohio State student-athletes returned to campus last month after being away for the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dave Biddle of 247Sports reported workouts will be suspended for at least one week. 

The university would have been allowed to begin mandatory workouts for its football program, along with all other teams whose seasons begin Sept. 5, on Monday.

Several universities around the country have halted their workouts after athletes have tested positive for COVID-19. It remains to be seen whether college sports will be feasible in the fall with the virus still running rampant across the United States.

The Ivy League announced Wednesday it will not hold fall sports in 2020 because of the pandemic. The NCAA has maintained it will not hold events unless it is considered safe for student-athletes to be on campus. 

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said Wednesday he's in favor of moving forward with the 2020 college football season amid the coronavirus pandemic since he's observed "no expert view" that sports will contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in society.

Orion Sang of the Detroit Free Press provided Harbaugh's complete comments about the situation, including a remark about Wolverines players wanting to compete, even if there are no fans in attendance:

Here are Jim Harbaugh's responses to today's coronavirus-related questions, how they've affected the offseason/the potential of a season happening (or not happening), etc. pic.twitter.com/1L2Y2MY1wn

— Orion Sang (@orion_sang) July 8, 2020

No definitive decisions about the season have been made by the NCAA, with Week 1 play still scheduled to kick off Aug. 29. Michigan's first game is set for Sept. 5 against Washington.

In May, NCAA president Mark Emmert suggested it would be difficult to move forward with fall sports if the student body hadn't returned to campus, per ESPN's Myron Medcalf.

"All of the commissioners and every president that I've talked to is in clear agreement: If you don't have students on campus, you don't have student-athletes on campus," he said. "That doesn't mean [the school] has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. ... If a school doesn't reopen, then they're not going to be playing sports. It's really that simple."

Congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana was on a conference call with sports commissioners and presidents, including Emmert, in June and said the conversation had shifted toward trying to make a season work while giving schools the choice to opt out.

"They're definitely looking at the challenges that would be posed if some schools won't play or participate. They're aware that's going to be the case with a few schools," Scalise told reporters. "Hopefully it's limited. Each school makes their own decision and then the NCAA is going to work within that to put together a season that works for the safety of the players and schools and hopefully as well with fans."

Being forced to cancel the college football season would create significant financial hardships for athletic departments around the country.

UCF athletic director Danny White provided a blunt assessment of the situation in April.

"There isn't a model I can run to fix the problem of not having any football," he told ESPN. "I don't think there's anybody in my position with a big football fan base that could make decisions to fix that. I don't know what happens—there's not a model, there's not a solution, there's not an action I can take that's going to solve that problem."

Meanwhile, the United States has seen a recent surge of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, leading some states to slow or halt their reopening plans.

The NCAA hasn't announced a timetable for a final decision about the 2020 season.

Former Michigan State wide receiver Andre Rison alleged Monday former Spartans assistant coach Carl "Buck" Nystrom slapped him before a game against Illinois in October 1986. 

Rison told ESPN's Eric Woodyard he originally felt the situation was "part of being tough and being a football player that wanted to make it to the National Football League," but his view has changed over time, especially amid the current movement for racial justice.

"When the coach slapped me, the whole room got silent, and Mark Ingram Sr. put his arm around me," he said. "I shed a tear. I had never been struck by a grown man. Not by my grandfather, not by my father—who wasn't in my life a lot—but I just had never been struck by any man, and then I had never been struck by a white man, for sure. For a long time, I just held it in."

Rison played at MSU from 1985 through 1988. He explained to Woodyard the incident was never disclosed to anyone outside of those in the locker room that day, a group that included former Spartans defensive coordinator and current Alabama head coach Nick Saban:

"That man had no right to hit me. I never told my mom. I never told anybody. The only people that really knew were our whole team and all the coaches. Nick Saban was on that staff. He was one of the ones that came to me and consulted me. That's why I respect him to this day. I don't have to call Nick Saban every day and knock his door down, but Nick Saban offered my son a scholarship [to Alabama], and that was fair to me. That was fair and was all I ever asked for. I love Nick. I love Nick like a father figure."

Nystrom was an All-American guard at Michigan State before later returning to the school to serve as the offensive line coach. He was inducted in the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2014 class.

Neither Michigan State nor Kyle Nystrom, his son and Northern Michigan's current head football coach, returned requests for comment about Rison's allegation, per Woodyard.

Rison added he's happy to see the ongoing efforts to achieve racial equality:

"I played basketball at Michigan State and I also made All-Big Ten at Michigan State in indoor track, and I thought it was part of the culture of trying to get to the next level. Also, I was fresh off watching 'Roots' as a kid and listening to how slavery was. We were real close to [having learned] that, but not like this generation of professional athletes, so that's why I commend them for how they stand up and protest and the way they do for racial change.

"For me, myself, being in an interracial relationship, in a marriage of 15 years, I love my wife, and it doesn't matter what color you are and what race you come from, because we're all human."

Rison was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 1988 NFL draft. He earned five Pro Bowl selections and won Super Bowl XXXI with the Green Bay Packers in 1997 during a 12-year career.

Nystrom retired in 1992 after a 38-year collegiate coaching career.

Penn State cornerback Marquis Wilson is facing two misdemeanor charges after school police filed an affidavit against him.

Per Bret Pallotto of the Centre Daily Times, Wilson was accused of "stashing a small amount of marijuana in a pill bottle" after Penn State police stopped him in February when they smelled "a strong odor of marijuana" inside his vehicle. 

Wilson has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 26 after being charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. 

Pallotto noted the police affidavit states Wilson denied smoking marijuana and said someone else was smoking in his vehicle.

A 2016 ordinance approved by the State College Borough Council gave State College officers the choice to charge "an individual with a summary offense instead of a misdemeanor for possession of a small amount of marijuana."

However, that same ordinance noted university police were still required to "follow federal and state laws that consider marijuana use and possession a misdemeanor."

Wilson is entering his sophomore season with the Nittany Lions. He recorded 18 total tackles, two interceptions and two pass breakups in 10 games as a true freshman last year.

Amid growing concerns that college football may be canceled this fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour told reporters on a Zoom call Wednesday that pushing the campaign to the spring of 2021 would be a "last resort."  

"One of the biggest challenges [of a spring season]—and it's probably the biggest one in my mind—is the proximity to next season, and frankly a second lost spring ball," Barbour said per ESPN's Heather Dietrich.

"Overcomeable, if perhaps we're willing to have a shortened season—again in the category of 'something is better than nothing,' that may not be a problem at all."

The United States has seen a stark rise in daily new COVID-19 cases over the past month as states have begun to relax stay-at-home guidelines and have allowed businesses to reopen, per the World Health Organization.

On June 5, the U.S. had 14,583 new cases, which was the second-lowest daily figure since March. 

That number more than tripled within four weeks, as 44,580 new cases were confirmed on June 29 alone.

With the rising numbers in mind, Barbour noted that there is some doubt about being able to hold a fall college football season, per Dietrich:

"There's no doubt there's been a little bit of pessimism here in the last couple of weeks that we really hadn't had for probably about four to six weeks.

"... I think that's part of the ebb and flow of the virus here. Obviously my hope is that, maybe, as people start looking at the masking and social distancing again and all of the precautions and recommitting to the seriousness of this, we'll see it flatten out.

"What we're doing is we're planning. Obviously, given the uncertainty, we're having to work on a lot of different plans, a lot of different scenarios. And when the time comes, if it's healthy and safe to do it, we'll obviously do it. And if it's not, we won't."

The idea playing the season in the spring of 2021 has been tossed around already by one conference, per Mark Blaudschun of TMG Sports.

The Ivy League is currently discussing holding a seven-game season in April and May in lieu of games in the fall. The other option is to play in the fall with the eight conference rivals playing a round-robin against each other and refrain from hosting or visiting other schools, 

As for now, the NCAA cleared schools to welcome football players to return to campuses for voluntary workouts beginning on June 1. Mandatory workouts can begin July 13.

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh and men's basketball head coach Juwan Howard have each accepted 10 percent salary cuts for the 2021 fiscal year to help compensate for the athletic department's projected $26.1 million budget deficit due mostly to the COVID-19 pandemic, per Bryan Fischer of College Football Talk:

Michigan announces a $26.1 million budget deficit for the upcoming year, among other items: pic.twitter.com/boEkjX0ijk

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) June 29, 2020

The cancellation of sports has caused numerous athletic departments to make budget cuts, including Michigan's.

NCAA winter championships were canceled this year, and spring sports seasons ended in mid-March.

Although the fall sports season is scheduled to begin on time, it's unclear if that will be case because of the pandemic.

The United States has recently seen a stark rise in COVID-19 cases, with the country setting a one-day high with at least 44,580 on Monday, per figures from the World Health Organization.

Harbaugh's salary was $7,504,000 for 2019, per USA Today. Howard signed a five-year deal starting at $2 million annually in 2019, per Nick Baumgardner and David Jesse of the Detroit Free Press.

Harbaugh and Howard aren't the only high-level athletic department employees taking pay cuts. Of note, athletic director Warde Manuel, other senior-level administrators and "many" head coaches will take 10 percent pay cuts beginning August 1, per Michigan's announcement.

Staffers earning between $100,001 and $150,000 will take 7.5 percent pay cuts, and those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 will see 5 percent pay cuts. Anyone earning below $50,000 will not have their salaries reduced.

The school projects spectator admissions revenues to drop 50 percent from fiscal year over fiscal year. Expenses have been cut in every area except for student-athlete financial aid, which has risen $800,000.

Former Iowa running back Akrum Wadley detailed his negative experiences at the school in a Facebook post Monday via Pre-PostGame CEO Robert T. Green (h/t Mark Emmert of Hawk Central). 

In the post, he said he was the subject of racism and mistreatment at the hands of head coach Kirk Ferentz, offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz and former strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle:

"I felt like playing for Iowa Football was a living nightmare. I never drank alcohol prior to going to college but based on my experience there it became the only thing I could rely on it seems and was what I did to cope. Game day was the only day that it was somewhat of a relief for me, but that even became difficult based on what happened during the week leading up to it."

Wadley cited specific examples of abuse, including being berated by Brian Ferentz over a parking spot. He also said the offensive coordinator joked multiple times about the running back committing a robbery while wearing team-issued black hats.

Additionally, he said Kirk Ferentz wouldn't let athletes speak their mind, while the head coach also prevented him from transferring when he wanted to leave.

The player finished his four-year career with the Hawkeyes with 2,872 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns, both in the top five in school history. Still, he explained that he has major regrets about spending time at Iowa:

"My time at Iowa has done things to me that I am not going to discuss because knowing how these people treated me and other black athletes. I am done giving them power over me. But if I could do it all over again. I wish I never played for the Iowa Hawkeyes. I would not encourage any future athletes or parents to send your kid to go play for the Iowa Hawkeyes under that current coaching staff. My experiences with people outside of the program in the Iowa community are ones that I cherish and will be with me forever grateful for. My hope is my story and those of my teammates save others from the experiences, truths and mistake of playing under and for a coaching staff at Iowa that did and said nothing to stop the bullying and racism from happening to us under Chris Doyle, Brian Ferentz and Kirk Ferentz. What you see on TV isn't what you get behind closed doors."

Many former Iowa players have recently gone public describing abusive and racist actions by the coaching staff. The school parted ways with Doyle after 21 years with the program.

"As a staff and as leaders, we will listen and take to heart the messages we hear," Ferentz said in a statement earlier this month.

Penn State head football coach James Franklin plans to isolate from the rest of his family during the 2020 season in order to protect his youngest daughter's health amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Per ESPN's Andrea Adelson, Franklin's daughter has sickle cell disease, which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes as a "group of inherited red blood cell disorders."

Franklin made his comments on HBO's Real Sports in an episode that aired Tuesday, per Adelson.

"There was a lot of tears," he said. "There was a lot of emotion having this conversation with my daughters. So a lot of heartache over it."

The 48-year-old also said it was "the right thing to do for my daughter."

The American Society of Hematology reported on the increased adverse effect COVID-19 may have on a person with sickle cell disease:

"Patients with SCD often have underlying cardiopulmonary co-morbidities that may predispose them to poor outcomes if they become infected with SARS-CoV-2. Data are being collected by the international COVID-19 sickle cell disease registry and by the ASH Registry, and providers are encouraged to report their SCD patients with COVID-19."

Franklin's wife, Fumi, will stay in Florida with their two daughters while Franklin coaches the Nittany Lions in State College, Pennsylvania.

The family has been quarantining together with the offseason currently in progress and in-person workouts canceled from March through May due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the NCAA allowed teams to welcome student-athletes back for voluntary workouts starting June 1. Penn State's workouts are underway, per Adelson.

The Nittany Lions' opening game is scheduled for Sept. 5 against Kent State. Their final regular-season matchup is slated for Nov. 28 against Rutgers.

Penn State's season may run as long as Jan. 11, 2021, when the College Football Playoff National Championship Game is scheduled to be held in Miami.

The Nittany Lions routinely rank in the top 10 of early preseason top-25 polls, including fifth for ESPN's Mark Schlabach and ninth for Pro Football Focus' Eric Eager.

The University of Iowa announced Monday it has reached a separation agreement with football strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle.

The school also announced it will use a law firm to conduct an independent review into "issues and allegations relating to racial disparities within the football program."

According to Brett McMurphy of Stadium, Doyle will receive a $1.11 million buyout and full health benefits for the next 15 months as part of his settlement.

Athletic director Gary Barta said in Monday's press conference that removing the coach "was the thoughtful and sensible thing to do," via Scott Dochterman of The Athletic. Barta also apologized to those affected.

This decision comes after several former Iowa players detailed negative experiences with the program, including allegations of racist behavior from Doyle.

Doyle was placed on administrative leave earlier this month pending a review.

The coach denied the allegations in a statement that went against the school's wishes.

"I have been asked to remain silent, but that is impossible for me to do," Doyle said. "There have been statements made about my behavior that are not true."

He maintained his innocence while defending his career at Iowa.

"I am confident that a complete review of the body of work over 21 years will speak for itself and I am trusting the process to respect the rights and experiences of all parties involved," Doyle said.

The 51-year-old joined the Hawkeyes in 1999, the program's first season under head coach Kirk Ferentz. He was the highest-paid strength coach in college football with a salary of $800,000 per year.

His son, Dillon, was a linebacker on the team but announced his decision to transfer last week.

The expectations will be unreasonable. Impossible to fulfill, even. Those who came before Jack Sawyer at Ohio State—players he has dissected and idolized for much of his football life—have created a tradition in which dominance is the standard.

Anything less than that will be seen as subpar, and Sawyer is content with that. He knows what defensive ends have done recently in Columbus. He understands and welcomes anyone calling him the next Chase Young. Or Nick Bosa. Or Joey Bosa.  

"I kind of love that people expect that," Sawyer says. "I want those expectations."

Five years of football dominance. Three top-three NFL draft selections at one position. One incredibly difficult act to follow, especially for someone who was born at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, a cool 2.9 miles from Ohio Stadium.

But for the player ESPN ranks No. 1 in the class of 2021, none of it is out of reach.

"We project Jack to potentially hear his name called among the first five picks of the draft when it's his day in the sun," says Steve Wiltfong, the director of recruiting for 247Sports, which has Sawyer only slightly lower than ESPN at No. 3 in its composite rankings. "You feel even better about that with the school he chose, given their player development.

"Jack just has this relentless drive to get to the quarterback."

A 6'5", 242-pound defensive end who was athletic enough to fill in at quarterback during a pinch last season at Pickerington High School North despite never playing the position, Sawyer also owns a silky-smooth jump shot and a scholarship offer in basketball. He would've had dozens more if football wasn't his natural destination.

And the Buckeyes were just as natural. For prospects like this, the recruiting process can be an enormous undertaking, sorting through the offers and visits and coaches' pitches. It's usually not as simple as falling in love with a program at a young age and traveling 12-15 minutes—"depending on traffic"—to their future school.

It's a drive he's made hundreds of times in his life. It's a culture he feels like he already lives and breathes.

Michigan has always been, and will always be, The Team Up North to Sawyer. He doesn't call the program by its name; the respect and hatred are just too pure for OSU's greatest rival, and it's been that way for as long as he can remember.

Later this year, his commitment will be finalized. No drama. No speculation about decommitting. Less than a month later, he will make that familiar drive, only this time it will be different.

From there, the anticipation will grow larger. Louder. In a place and at a position where greatness has been normalized, Sawyer will be asked to be the next one.

To him, it's not a burden. He would have it no other way.

---

In the immediate aftermath of Urban Meyer's announcement in December 2018 that he would leave Ohio State after the season, the attention shifted in two directions.

To Ryan Day, Meyer's handpicked replacement whom he'd groomed to one day take over. And to Sawyer, then just a sophomore, who was uncommitted but already considered a virtual lock to attend Ohio State.

Because of his talent and proximity to the school, Sawyer represented more than a 5-star defensive player. His commitment, particularly for a young head coach hoping to make an impression, was significant beyond the player himself.

Day arrived at Pickerington High School North at 7:30 a.m. the first day he was allowed to visit with players. Although Sawyer was still two years away from potentially joining his team—and with another recruiting class to assemble before then—Day met with him before anyone else.

"He made me feel at home immediately," Sawyer says. "He let me know I was a priority for him, and I committed a few weeks after that."

It was a moment 17 years in the making. It was a place where his passion and efforts and wonderful genetics finally converged.

Michelle Sawyer, Jack's mother, was a McDonald's All-American in high school. She played basketball for Bowling Green in college and eventually professionally in Europe. His father, Lyle, was an all-state football and wrestler in high school who eventually went on to play football at the University of Findlay (Division II) in Findlay, Ohio.

By the time Jack was four, Michelle saw signs. Like when she watched Jack score 12 goals in a single half in his first soccer game. The last few goals, she recalls, became almost painful to watch amid a crowd of stunned parents.

"I think we kind of realized early on that he was different," Michelle says. "He's just genetically gifted." 

Not long after, Sawyer fell in love with baseball and basketball. A few years after that, when his parents allowed it, he began playing football.

All the while, his connection to Ohio State grew. Saturdays in the fall were reserved for the Buckeyes—on his couch or in Ohio Stadium. He marveled at the way former Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis played the position. He obsessed over footage of Eddie George, a running back with a bigger build, much like his. For a while, he played the position as a result.

As an eighth-grader, Pickerington High School North coach Nate Hillerich watched Sawyer beat upperclassmen who had college offers in most drills. He knew then what was coming.

Sawyer's local reputation blossomed. Then the national recognition began to build.

When offers started rolling in, his parents urged him to look elsewhere—not to dissuade him from playing for the school he grew up rooting for but to provide perspective and reference for what else was out there and what other schools could offer.

He visited Penn State and Michigan State. He even visited The Team Up North, which was the trip he felt was necessary.

"You've got to respect them," Sawyer says. "It's a great program, great academic school. They have a great facility and obviously a good coaching staff. So, I don't really have anything bad to say about them."

Still, he refuses to say the program name.

No matter where he visited, though, Ohio State was always there. In the back of his mind, he couldn't deny a lifelong dream.

So despite the uncertainty of a coaching change, and with two years remaining to make his decision, Sawyer committed to Ohio State in February 2019—six months before Day coached his first game as full-time head coach.

He was the first commitment in his class, and the significance of the moment cannot be overstated. At a time when Ohio State was in transition, Sawyer provided stability.

Since then, his commitment along with the team's performance under Day have helped Ohio State assemble the nation's top 2021 recruiting class.

---

Before last fall, Sawyer had never played quarterback.

He has always played two ways. Defensive end is his position on defense and will likely be his ultimate destination in college and the pros. And on offense, after outgrowing running back, he was featured at wide receiver and tight end—especially in the red zone.

With Pickerington North's starting quarterback injured and the team 0-2, however, Hillerich made Sawyer his starting quarterback on a Wednesday with the team's next game two nights away.

For one of the best defensive ends in the country, who at the time had a combined seven sacks in his first two games, the move was a surprise. Still, Sawyer was eager to try to contribute under one condition: As long as I can still play defense.

With one full practice and a walkthrough to prepare, Sawyer debuted against Olentangy Orange. On his first drive, he fumbled the ball and nearly fell on his back. But then he managed to pick the ball up and run it for a touchdown.

"He's a little different than most true defensive players because he's just so skilled," Hillerich says. "He's a true athlete. If he focused at tight end, he'd be the best one in the country. And if he played quarterback at a younger age, he'd probably be a 5-star QB now."

Sawyer rushed for 135 yards and three touchdowns in his first game. He also threw a touchdown pass and added a sack in Pickerington North's first win of the year.

He stayed at quarterback after that, leading the team to five wins in its next seven games. He threw nine touchdown passes and finished the year with 13.5 sacks despite having his defensive reps limited. During the final game of the season, he injured his MCL, though that injury is now fully healed.

Day encouraged Sawyer to do everything in his power to help the team win. His mother wasn't as thrilled with the position change as her son was, at least at first.

“I just like watching him play," Michelle says. "He plays with so much joy and love of the game.

"But I prefer when he's doing the hitting, rather than everybody trying to hit him."

---

The finesse button. That's what Jason Bates, the varsity boys basketball coach at Pickerington North, has called it for many years. It's the smoothness of the natural gifts that he's seen in Sawyer since middle school.

It's not a button most people have. It's even rarer in people of his size.

"He could have not played a single game of football, and he would be a Division I basketball player," Bates says of Sawyer. "He's so skilled and big."

While it is not unusual for football players to play basketball, not many do so as effectively as Sawyer. And although his size would imply a more brutish style, Sawyer's wide-ranging abilities on the court provide a glimpse into just how different he is.

As a freshman, Bates put Sawyer on the varsity team. And though his group was ripe with upperclassmen, some of whom had offers to play in college, Sawyer eventually found his way into the starting lineup.

"He plays pretty much everywhere," Bates says. "He can rebound and knock down three-pointers, but his go-to move is a mid-post turnaround jumper. It's unguardable, and he'll score it all three levels.

"And if he's on a fast break, it's going to be a dunk. He can really jump. He just is masterful, honestly."

His sophomore year, Sawyer exploded. He led the basketball team to its most wins in school history while averaging 22 points, 11 rebounds and almost three assists. He shot 58 percent from the field and 41 percent on three-pointers.

His efforts drew the intrigue of coaches, though that intrigue faded quickly for most when they learned just how coveted he was in football. Still, Sawyer earned a basketball scholarship offer from Stony Brook. Had football not been in the picture, he would have likely had dozens more, Bates says.

Unable to play basketball during his junior year because of his MCL injury, Sawyer's basketball career is now over. Since he plans to enroll early at Ohio State, he will not play his senior season either. Still, Bates can't help but think about what might have been.

"He'd definitely be playing in the Big Ten," he says. "I truly believe that. He's that good."

---

The countdown is underway, and it has been for some time now. Although he still has his senior football season in front of him (or so he hopes), Sawyer has long itched to find out what the next step will feel like.

"It's surreal to think about," he says. "In less than seven months, I'll be enrolled at Ohio State and hopefully on the path that the Bosas have taken and Chase Young has taken and other guys before them. That's kind of just awesome."

To him, it's not pressure. It's an opportunity. It resonates in his voice—almost a giddiness and childlike excitement about finally being this close.

Part of that is due to his readiness. Over the past five years, Sawyer has studied the way Young and the Bosa brothers thrived. In turn, he has tried to implement pieces of what made them successful into his own game.

Joey Bosa's power and the way he could maximize it in a single rep. Young's "off-the-wall" athleticism and imaginative repertoire of moves.

But the playing style that calls to him most is that of Nick Bosa, who finished his debut NFL season with nine sacks, a Super Bowl appearance and Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

"Nick is just such a good technician when it comes to the pass rush," Sawyer says. "Every time the offensive line tries to put a hand on him, he's just impossible to knock down. I try to emulate all the stuff he does with his hands."

The goal is to combine all of these strengths—easier said than done, mind you—into a style that also highlights his unique abilities. The finesse button. And while one would expect this transformation to take years, if it happens at all, Sawyer is hoping he'll be able to showcase a glimpse of what he can provide his freshman year.

"If you're not going in there thinking to try to win a starting position," he says, "I think you're in the wrong sport."

When he arrives, Sawyer will join an immensely gifted group headlined by Zach Harrison, another 5-star defensive end out of Ohio who looked like a future star as a freshman last fall and could set the bar even higher for Sawyer.

The hype will just grow. And the expectations to be brilliant will greet him the moment he arrives on campus for good.

Luckily it's a quick drive, because Sawyer can't wait.

     

Adam Kramer covers college football for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @KegsnEggs.