The start of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp brings many things. The fresh start of a season. Intense competition periods. A throng of fans making the trip daily. And special teams coordinator Danny Smith’s booming voice. Rookie linebacker Jack Sawyer has already heard it.
Joining Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast that aired Tuesday, Sawyer shared one humorous interaction with Smith from the spring.
“The first day me and Carson Bruener were sitting next to each other,” Sawyer told the show. “And Danny Smith’s a little colorful the way he talks. We’re sitting there and he’s going down the line of all of us. He’s like, ‘Carson Bruener, you’ve got good technique, you’re a good player. You gotta get lower.’
“He’s like, ‘Jack, you’ve never played special teams, have you?’ I said, ‘No sir.’ He was like, ‘You run around like a wild man. Ain’t no one’s got their hands on the fucking steering wheel. You gotta learn what you doing.’”
Of course, those comments were said in the loving way that Smith brings. His job will be to show Sawyer, a star linebacker for Ohio State’s defense, the ropes of football’s third phase. Though Pittsburgh had enough interest in Sawyer to nearly trade up for him, he enters the NFL as the Steelers’ fourth-string outside linebacker. That means more snaps on special teams than on defense.
Per Pro Football Focus, Sawyer logged just 119 career college special teams snaps. Many of them came on the field goal-rush team with virtually zero covering kicks or punts, something he’ll be doing routinely this summer and fall. Typically, the Steelers’ No. 4 outside linebacker is a “core” special teamer playing on at least four units: kick coverage and return along with punt coverage and return.
They can play upwards of 300 total special teams snaps alone and can’t be taken for granted. One big play created, or allowed, can turn a game on its head.
Sawyer is excited for the challenge.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I like Danny Smith. Like the energy he brings. And excited to play those units and earn a role hopefully on as many as I can.”
Several of Jack Sawyer’s new teammates enter camp with the same mission. That includes fellow draft pick ILB Carson Bruener. As Smith alluded to in his quote, Bruener played extensively on special teams throughout his Washington Huskies career. Even as a 100-tackle starting linebacker last season, Bruener logged 82 special teams snaps, nearly matching Sawyer’s career mark. Others like veteran Mark Robinson and a slew of players at the end of the roster will also be in the mix.
As a fourth-round pick, Saywer’s odds of making the roster are high. But to earn the coaching staff’s trust and a role, he’ll need to impress Danny Smith and work his way up the ladder.
