{"id":16519,"date":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/16519\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:08:08","slug":"jack-sawyer-college-career-sacks-contextualization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/16519\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Sawyer College Career Sacks Contextualization"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have selected their 2025 draft class, we will be breaking down those seven players more in-depth as the offseason progresses. Personally, I love to do contextualization of players in niche areas. Today, I will present one on OLB Jack Sawyer, the Steelers\u2019 fourth-round selection this year<\/a> out of Ohio State. Specifically, this contextualization will revolve around Sawyer\u2019s college career sacks.<\/p>\n

For starters, the table at the bottom of this post includes the play-by-play data of all 23 sacks that Sawyer recorded during his college career at Ohio State, according to Pro Football Focus charting<\/a>. The data includes whether the sack was scored as a full one or half one, the time to sack, alignment side, turnovers forced, and number of defensive players that rushed. Each play is linked to a video so that anyone reading this post can view it for themselves.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get caught up in the full or half sack designations here, as this is only how the NCAA officially scored. Additionally, there are a few easy ones included in these 26 clips.<\/p>\n

One of the first main takeaways when it comes to this Sawyer college career sack contextualization is that all but one of the 23 came with him lined up on the left side of Ohio State\u2019s defensive front. Only one included Sawyer lined up elsewhere, and that included him being off the ball and in the middle of the field.<\/p>\n

Most of Sawyer\u2019s college career sacks came with him being part of a four-man rush. Additionally, Sawyer forced fumbles on four of his 23 college career sacks at Ohio State.<\/p>\n

As far as Sawyer\u2019s time-to-sacks during his college career, which is subjective to some degree, I have 14 of the 23 coming in under 3 seconds. Only four came 4 seconds or longer after the football was snapped. I have his average snap to sack time at 3.2 seconds on all 26 plays.<\/p>\n

As you will note in these 26 clips, Sawyer likes to win a lot of times with power, often pushing the tackle, tight end or running back deep into the pocket. He uses his hands quite a bit in a few of these sacks, as well. Against Texas, in the final sacks of his college career, Sawyer swipes down that opposing tackle\u2019s hands and then gains the edge.<\/p>\n

While not freakishly athletic, Sawyer\u2019s change of direction and quickness is enough to allow him to occasionally win inside. There are also two sacks in this contextualization that include him stunting from the outside to the inside.<\/p>\n

Sawyer also seems to have a good sense of where the quarterback is or where he\u2019s going.<\/p>\n

Overall, Sawyer\u2019s sack reel probably won\u2019t blow many people away, but it\u2019s certainly good enough and includes a few high-quality ones. I can remember back to the college sack reel<\/a> of Steelers OLB T.J. Watt that I put together after he was drafted, and it wasn\u2019t overly mind-blowing either. Watt obviously has gone on to become one of the NFL\u2019s best pass rushers.<\/p>\n

For a player mostly regarded for his play against the run in college, Sawyer certainly held his own in college and more as a pass rusher.<\/p>\n

Watch these 26 clips included in this contextualization and let me know your takeaways on Sawyer\u2019s college career sacks.<\/p>\n

YEAR
\nOPP
\nQ
\nTME
\nDD
\nLOS
\nF\/H
\nSIDE
\n#RSH
\nTO
\nTTS
\nVIDEO<\/p>\n

2021
\nAKR
\n4
\n8:58
\n2-7
\nOSU 7
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.7
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2021
\nMD
\n4
\n8:21
\n1-10
\nOSU 49
\nFULL
\nL
\n4
\nFF
\n4.6
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2021
\nNEB
\n1
\n3:35
\n1-10
\nNEB 25
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

3.5
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2022
\nTOL
\n2
\n15:00
\n2-8
\nTOL 27
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.9
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2022
\nWIS
\n1
\n3:19
\n2-8
\nWIS 37
\nFULL
\nM
\n3<\/p>\n

3.3
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2022
\nIND
\n2
\n0:16
\n3-18
\nOSU 28
\nHALF
\nL
\n3<\/p>\n

3.3
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2022
\nIND
\n3
\n4:38
\n3-7
\nOSU 42
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.9
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2022
\nMD
\n1
\n9:31
\n3-4
\nOSU 11
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

3.4
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\nPUR
\n2
\n4:28
\n2-10
\nPUR 33
\nFULL
\nL
\n6<\/p>\n

2.7
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\nPUR
\n2
\n0:11
\n3-12
\nOSU 12
\nHALF
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.8
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\nMINN
\n3
\n14:48
\n1-10
\nMINN 25
\nFULL
\nL
\n4
\nFF
\n4.2
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\nMI
\n2
\n4:12
\n3-5
\nOSU 46
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.7
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\nMIZZ
\n2
\n10:58
\n1-10
\nOSU 38
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

3.0
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\nMIZZ
\n3
\n15:00
\n1-10
\nMIZZ 25
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.0
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2023
\nMIZZ
\n3
\n9:31
\n3-15
\nMIZZ 46
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

4.4
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nWMU
\n2
\n1:22
\n2-10
\nOSU 49
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.5
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nIOWA
\n2
\n0:55
\n2-10
\nIOWA 38
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

3.3
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nIOWA
\n3
\n9:28
\n1-10
\nIOWA 19
\nHALF
\nL
\n4
\nFF
\n2.8
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nPUR
\n2
\n1:49
\n4-3
\nOSU 36
\nHALF
\nL
\n5<\/p>\n

3.9
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nIND
\n3
\n2:02
\n1-10
\nIND 41
\nHALF
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.7
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nIND
\n3
\n0:43
\n3-10
\nIND 41
\nFULL
\nL
\n5<\/p>\n

2.8
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nTENN
\n1
\n2:31
\n1-10
\nOSU 49
\nHALF
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.8
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nTENN
\n3
\n0:42
\n1-10
\nTENN 35
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

2.9
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nORE
\n3
\n14:24
\n2-10
\nORE 25
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

3.2
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nORE
\n3
\n7:15
\n2-10
\nORE 25
\nFULL
\nL
\n4<\/p>\n

5.2
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

2024
\nTEX
\n4
\n2:29
\n4-8
\nOSU 8
\nFULL
\nL
\n4
\nFF
\n2.6
\nVIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have selected their 2025 draft class, we will be breaking down those seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[80,7,295,6,520,57,2360,4326,426,602],"class_list":{"0":"post-16519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-2025-nfl-draft","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jack-sawyer","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-stats","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-video"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114435332946540107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}