Coaches, teammates mourn passing of Justin Sawyer

When David Cutcliffe informed Justin Sawyer that he was moving him from tight end to center, Sawyer was distraught.

“He cried, honestly, when I told him,” Cutcliffe said Saturday afternoon. “He had his heart set on playing tight end. He was a big, fast guy.”

Ole Miss needed linemen to protect Eli Manning, however, and Sawyer had the frame and the feet to grow into the role.

“He loved Ole Miss,” Sawyer’s former Ole Miss teammate, offensive lineman Doug Buckles said. “When they switched him from tight end to center, he didn’t like it at first. He wanted to catch passes from Eli, but he said, ‘I love this team.’ He embraced it and gave it his best. He was the center of ’03 team that won the Cotton Bowl. That says a lot about the man he was.”

Sawyer, who played at Ole Miss from 1999 through the Rebels’ 10-3 season in 2003, died in his sleep early Saturday from an apparent heart attack, according to The Daily Leader newspaper in Brookhaven, Mississippi. He was 36.

“I know he was an incredible husband and an incredible dad and he was going to impact so many lives as a mentor,” said Cutcliffe, who coached at Ole Miss from 1998 through 2004 and is now the head coach at Duke. “I’m just torn up about it.”

“Justin and I came to Ole Miss the same year in 1999,” Manning said. “He was a great friend and teammate. He is definitely the only player to ever snap the ball to me and catch a touchdown from me. I am so saddened to hear about his passing. He was too young for this to happen.”

“When people start calling you that early on a Saturday morning, I said, ‘Man, something can’t be right,’” Buckles said. “I was devastated. It was just hard to believe.”

The Centreville, Mississippi, native left behind a wife, Kim, and two young daughters, Anna Clair and Kaylee.

Sawyer, who had served as an assistant at Lawrence County (Miss.) High School the past three seasons, was hired last month as the head coach West Lincoln High School in Sumrall, Mississippi.

On Saturday, Cutcliffe and many of Sawyer’s former teammates remembered the young man they affectionately called “Big Baby.”

“He was such a big monster but just a sweet, incredible person,” Cutcliffe said. “His smile is all I can remember. It didn’t matter if you were getting onto him or celebrating with him, he had this incredible smile.”

“I just remember Justin from my first summer workouts and two-a-days,” former Ole Miss defensive lineman Dusty Braddock said. “He had this big booming voice and a baby face. He was ‘Big Baby’ to us. He was one of the good guys. He did everything the coaches wanted him to do. Everybody has a good ‘Big Baby’ story.”

Braddock remembered Sawyer filling in at tight end midway through the 2002 season and catching a 12-yard touchdown pass from Manning.

“During the celebration after a touchdown, he twisted his ankle and couldn’t go back in the game,” Braddock said, laughing. “We gave him a hard time.”

Later that season, when starting center Ben Claxton suffered an injury, Sawyer got his first career start at center.

“He was one of those guys you knew would be there,” Claxton said Saturday. “He was always accountable. All the offensive linemen always hung out together. We were always running around. It’s just so sad. He was a great guy. He will be missed.”

“What I remember most about him is he was always upbeat,” Buckles said. “Justin, I realized early on, truly wanted to help. He and I didn’t become close friends until the spring of ’01. We went hunting together, fishing together and then we started beside each other in 2003. That was a memorable season and he was right there in the middle of it.”

While Sawyer played in 47 Ole Miss games and started 11 during his career in Oxford, he was remembered more Saturday for what he did off the field than his exploits on it.

“Justin was just a good guy,” Buckles said. “He was a warrior and a competitor on the field but he was the guy when it was 200 degrees outside, he’d come help you move. He was just a good guy. That’s what makes it tough. It’s just sad.”

“He was always an encourager,” former Ole Miss tight end Eric Rice said. “He always pushed. In the meeting room, he was always a leader. He always had a smile. I can’t remember him having anything but a great attitude. He was a tough, hard-nosed, get down and dirty type of player. He was a great example to me.”

Sawyer is the second former Rebel cut down in his 30s in the past year. Former Ole Miss defensive lineman Dedrick Clark suffered a fatal heart attack in November.

“Losing Justin a couple of months later is really devastating and eye-opening,” Buckles said, adding he had reconnected with Sawyer about five years ago and had begun talking regularly over the past seasons, often about football rules. Buckles doubles as a football official during the season.

“He had some real positive things in his life,” Rice said. “He’s always been a godly man and knowing that, I feel better knowing he’ll get to spend eternity with our father. But the news is shocking. We’re still in our 30s. You never expect something like that to happen.”

“It’s such a sad, tragic thing,” Claxton said. “I got to know Justin really well in college. We had a lot of great times together. He was a fun-loving, easy-going guy. He was a joy and a pleasure to be around. We had a lot of things in common and a lot of good times. It’s tough to think that he’s gone.”