STEENS — Slow it down.
Dawson Shaw doesn’t know how many times he has heard Columbus Christian Academy football coach Greg Watkins say those words to him.
Most times, the junior is going 100 mph, whether at quarterback or in the secondary, so it sometimes takes him a moment to process what Watkins is trying to tell him.
But Watkins’ patience has found a way to satiate Shaw’s need for speed. As a result, Shaw is learning how to slow down just a little bit to read the situation and to use his athleticism to make plays.
The best example of the 2015 season came Friday night in Columbus Christian Academy’s 34-16 victory against Deer Creek Academy in Steens. Shaw probably wasn’t going as fast as he wanted, but his ability to read a running back flaring out on a pass pattern and to break off his blitz was only the first part of the equation. Shaw then intercepted the pass intended for the running back and returned it for a touchdown to spark the Rams.
“All week coach had been telling me your job is to blitz but it also is to watch in the flats behind you,” Shaw said. “If see the fullback go out on a flare, watch that. They set him in motion and I remembered everything we had talked about all week, I read him and intercepted it. It made me feel pretty good. It shows that when you listen good things happen.”
Shaw was involved in plenty of good things Friday, as he rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another to go with his defensive score to help the Rams (1-7, 1-2 Class A-AA, District 2) earn their first victory of the season.
For his accomplishments, Shaw is The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week.
“He needed that good offensive game,” Watkins said. “He had struggled for the last two or three games. He was productive, but he didn’t have the kind of games that he expects and I expect. He puts a lot of pressure on himself expecting those big games.”
Shaw was 5 of 6 for 70 yards. The 5-foot-5, 135-pound junior also had 15 carries for 123 yards. Watkins said the Rams rotated Shaw and Nate Parker at quarterback in an effort to use Shaw at running back. Shaw gives the offense a different dimension when he brings his speed and escapability to the backfield. Watkins said moving Shaw to running back took some of the pressure off him thinking he had to do so much to lead the team to a victory. In turn, the success on offense fueled a defensive performance that saw him make nine tackles, including four solos.
“We kind of moved him around and put him in more of an aggressive position on defense to let him attack,” Watkins said. “The defensive line and the linebackers did a good job of slowing their progress, and when they slowed that progress, Dawson was coming from behind to make the tackle.”
On plays like that, Shaw usually can fly in and make a tackle at pretty close any speed he likes. In those instances, the faster the better because it allows him to pack a bigger punch. But when he has other responsibilities, like when he is charged to watch a running back out of the backfield, Shaw has to be aware of his surroundings and break down. He said he caught a glimpse of the running back out of the corner of his eye prior to making the interception. He admitted he didn’t think much about it until something hit him in the back of his mind. That’s when he said he remembered and dropped back and then backed up and covered his area. He said he had time to run in front of the running back, secure the football, and cash it in on the other end.
Shaw said learning to slow it down has been part of an on-going adjustment process in his second year as the team’s starting quarterback. He said there still are times when he doesn’t read the field and that he doesn’t trust himself to keep the football and try to make plays. He admits the outcome of a few games this season could have been different if he had seen what he later saw on film at the time of the play.
“I am definitely learning. I don’t think I have learned it all yet,” Shaw said. “It takes a lot of hard work to be able to break a habit. Practice makes habits, and coach always says what you do in practice is what you’re going to do in the game. If I keep working on it and reminding myself to slow down, eventually everything will come naturally and I won’t be going 100 mph everywhere I go.”
Shaw said that realization isn’t as scary as it once might have been because he understands his ability to slow it down will enable him to relax and to think about what is going to happen. He feels he will continue to learn how to read offenses and defenses better so that he will be able to put himself in position to make more plays.
Watkins said he is excited by the growth Shaw has shown this season. He feels that improvement will help the team close the season out on a strong run and set the tone for 2016.
“On the pick-six, he did a great job slowing the game down,” Watkins said. “At the last minute he flared out with him. That is the point I am trying to get across, to slow it down where you can see the things happening. He really did this last game. He slowed it down and made some things happen and made some plays.”
Shaw said slowing it down and using what he learned to help his team earn its first victory of the season made the lessons he has learned even sweeter.
“We were tired of losing,” Shaw said of the team’s mentality prior to the game against Deer Creek Academy, “so we came out in the first half and were killing it and giving everything we had. We got in a rhythm and were doing what we were supposed to do and giving it our all at the same time. Everybody was doing the right things at the right time. It seemed like everything was falling into line at the end of the game. It was a good feeling, and we all knew we had given it all we had.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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