University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Gridiron Potter: John Shevlin
9/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
In the world that is college football, toughness is a desirable attribute. It’s those bone-jarring spectacular tackles that make the highlight reels. Sportswriters add the word “hard,” often hyphenated, to give adjectives linebacker-worthy descriptions; hard-hitting or hard-nosed to name a few.
Don’t get it wrong, Golden Gopher linebacker John Shevlin is one of the toughest guys on the gridiron wearing the captain’s “C” as a badge of not only honor but proof yet the fifth-year senior is confident enough to hang up his hard-headed linebacker mentality with his cleats at the end of the day and show us an artistic, somewhat softer side of his personality.
Shevlin, Shevy as he is called by his teammates, has an interesting way to leave the stresses of football and school behind. He is a talented potter. It is when he is able to exchange the pigskin for a mound of clay that the 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker can, as he put it, “turn his mind off,” and relax.
“It’s just me and myself and my artwork,” Shevlin said about his mindset at the potter’s wheel. “I can let my mind wonder and not even think about anything. It’s calming”
Ironic enough, it was Shevlin’s best friend, Brian Keeler, who introduced Shevlin to both playing football and the finer art of pottery making. A pottery and ceramics class at Eastview High School literally fired the hobby into a passion for the duo.
“Brian came to me and said, hey, man you really need to try this out’ and he was doing some pretty cool stuff so I gave it a shot,” Shevlin added.
Shevlin has shared his pottery masterpieces, giving them as gifts to his family and friends. One will find several works of art displayed in Shevlin’s Minneapolis home, which is shared by five of his Golden Gopher teammates.
One might think that Shevlin’s housemates would be prone to giving him some good-natured ribbing about his pottery but that is actually quite far from the truth.
“No, I don’t think they can (pick on him) because they reap the rewards of it,” Shevlin explained. “I think they kind of admire it a little. It’s not something everyone can do.”
“He’s actually pretty good at it,” linebacker Mike Sherels said, a teammate Shevlin considers one of his closest friends. “Shev has a lot of eccentric interests and pottery is just one of them.”
The tools a potter uses include the wheel, to help form the piece, and a kiln, an oven to bake the clay into its final artistic form. At the heart of pottery making however is the simplest tool of all, one’s hands. Shevlin has become as proficient at using his hands to shape a decorative pot as he has in shedding blockers to get to an opposing ball carrier.
And when it comes to football, Shevlin turns serious again and explains that he has some lofty expectations for himself and his team this season.
“I have very high expectations for myself,” Shevlin said, who wears the number 46 in part because his favorite number is four, 44 was taken and he wore 36 as a Gopher freshman. “I feel I have a lot of unfinished business to take care of on the field. I’ve had some injuries that have kept me off the field. I expect big things of myself this year. I know this is the year. I’ve trained very hard and dedicated myself even more so than in past seasons.”
Shevlin will make the 21st start of his collegiate season today versus Miami. He was the Gophers’ second-leading tackler as a sophomore, topped the squad in tackles for loss and even scored a touchdown on an interception return. Last season, his junior campaign was marred by an injury that caused Shevlin to miss a pair of games.
Coming off a strong performance with five tackles in the season opener against Bowling Green a week ago, Shevlin has just as high of expectations for his Gopher team.
“I think our team has so much potential and that it’s starting to click right now,” Shevlin said. “It’s going to be like a snowball down a mountain and it started with the game against Bowling Green. We’re going to build momentum, getting bigger, better and stronger.”
An Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Shevlin sees this momentum continuing as the Golden Gophers and their faithful fans watch as the new TCF Bank Stadium begins to take shape.
“I feel a bit of envy that I won’t get to play in the new stadium,” Shevlin said. “It’s going to be a great atmosphere but I can feel that I had a part in building it.”
And in some way the new stadium has also inspired Shevlin’s choice of major applied kinesiology.
Shevlin would obviously love a shot at extending his football career in the pros but if that is not in the cards, then the thought of becoming an athletic director has a lot of appeal. Like a high school class in pottery ignited an artistic passion, so has a class of dealing with athletic administration has solidified Shevlin’s desired career path after college.
“I had a class with Phil Esten (Associate Athletics Director) and he showed us the business side of sport,” said Shevlin, who would also like to serve as a volunteer high school football coach someday. “As an athlete, I have a different perspective on athletic administration. I can see the textbook side of it but also the athletic side of it since I’ve been a part of it. I think being an athletic director would be a cool job.”
If Shevlin does become an athletic director someday, he will have honed his leadership abilities on the gridiron. He takes his role as a team captain every seriously. Quarterback may be the easy choice to be the extension of the coaching staff on the field but Shevlin sees this as another of his responsibilities though on defense.
“I’ve really become a student of the game,” Shevlin added. “When I sit down and watch film, I analyze where the offense will run the ball. Or if I’m out on a split out receiver and have to find a way to fill a gap, I’ll raise that question to a coach. The coaches like to have questions fired at them because it shows that you’re really into the game; that you’re thinking. You’re thinking of how you tie into the grand scheme of things and want to know what every position on the field is doing. That’s being a good football player.”
Leadership extends off the field as well. Fifth-year seniors have been through the blood, sweat and tears of several training camps and Big Ten battles. These veterans often feel a sense of responsibility to guide the youngsters in the program. Shevlin is no different.
“I have a lot of words of wisdom but my best piece of advice would be, don’t wait to get your shot, always be prepared,” Shevlin stated. “You are in control of your own destiny. You have to perform above and beyond expectations to be a great football player. I kind of realized that late in the game. That’s why I say, do it now. It’s like cramming for a test. You study so you don’t have to cram, so you’re always prepared.”
Now that we have seen a bit of the softer side of Shevlin, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that he could also be a bit sentimental.
“I love the University of Minnesota and proud to be an M’ man,” he said. “There’s a tradition of being at the U in my family and I’m always proud to represent the state and play for the Maroon and Gold. I’ll always be Maroon and Gold.”
by Becky Bohm, associate athletic communications director
