Eastern District player to watch: Mike Privott of Lake Taylor

NORFOLK

Lake Taylor football coach Hank Sawyer knew Mike Privott was going to be special before he ever played a down for the Titans.

“I heard him talking about the game when he was only an eighth-grader and knew right away from the terminology he was using, he already had a strong knowledge of the game,” Sawyer said.

Privott’s accumulation of knowledge commenced at age 8 in youth football and is an ongoing process as this 225-pound All-Tidewater and all-state linebacker gears up for his senior season.

“This is potentially the best Lake Taylor team ever, with eight starters back on defense and seven on offense,” Privott said. “But we have to do all the little things well to get over the hump and win in the playoffs for the first time.”

Lake Taylor rumbled through the 2007 regular season unbeaten before losing to Indian River in its playoff opener. The Titans are winless in six playoff appearances spanning the last nine years.

Privott, one of the area’s premier run stoppers, wants to be more flexible this season.

“I’ve worked on changing direction better and helping more in pass coverage,” he said.

Sawyer ranks Privott with the best linebackers he has seen.

“He’s very hard to block and sheds blockers so well,” Sawyer said. “He’s our monster in the middle and wants to make all the tackles.

“Mike is constantly studying the game. He asks questions and doesn’t go home until he understands why things are being done. He’s a perfectionist.”

Privott credits Sawyer for teaching him volumes about technique.

“He’s strict and a perfectionist,’’ Privott said. ''He’s always there for his players.”

Privott, who played defensive end for the varsity as a freshman, made a permanent switch to linebacker the following year.

The turning point of his high school career came in a victory over Norview.

“Coach Sawyer told me I was on my own calling the defense and not to even look at him on the sidelines,” Privott said. “We shut Norview out, and that’s when I started to believe I had a chance to play at the college level.”

His goals this season other than helping the program to its first playoff victory are shutting out six opponents and earning an invitation to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a showcase for the nation’s top players.

A bevy of Division I schools pursued Privott, who narrowed the field to Louisville and UNC.

“I chose Louisville because they were the ones to tell me I could play as a freshman,” he said.

Sawyer saw a turning point in the recruiting battle.

“He really warmed up to Louisville when Ron English, who had been Michigan’s defensive coordinator, took that job at Louisville,’’ Sawyer said. “He’ll stay at inside linebacker for them, and he’ll make coaches as well as teammates feel good just like he does here. He’s a special young man.”