Michael Saffell Recaps Team's Playoff Run, Talks Future Teammates and More
2017 Cal commit Michael Saffell went through a gauntlet of emotions this season. His head coach at Edison (Huntington Beach) told the team he would retire at the end of the season. When faced with the situation, Saffell and teammates set out in the spirit of Jake Taylor in 'Major League.' They wanted to win a title. A CIF Southern Section title would be the second for White in his coaching career, and his guys wanted to give it to him. And according to Saffell, the group started close to the end of the season.
“Coming into the playoffs, we had a couple of guys injured during the regular season, some key wideouts, some key skill position players that were injured, and came back maybe a game or two before the playoffs," Saffell said "So we had some practice time with the full team healthy, everyone started getting healthy at the right time, right before the playoff run, and then the offensive line just started clicking right at the end of league, and everyone started to see that we could make something special out of this season. I think everyone just started clicking at the right time, and once we got into the playoffs, we were completely healthy and we were playing our best ball of the season."
They played their best ball of the season, winning three straight to get to their CIF-SS title game. On the way there, they downed Buena Park, home of future teammates Taariq Johnson and Jeremiah Hawkins.
“Yeah, we talked after the game," Saffell said about the aftermath of the Edison win, "and we were also up at Stanford (during the Big Game) for a visit together. We’ve got a group chat going and things like that, so we’re getting close, and I’m super excited to get up there with those guys. They’re all great guys, I’m excited to see what what we can do.”
Saffell's group marched into the CIF-SS title game against La Mirada, and walked out with a 44-24 victory, on the strength of the offensive line, averaging 10+ yards per carry for the game.
“I think in the first half we had 20 yards per carry, something crazy," Saffell said"we were just popping off huge runs. I think that was the biggest thing for our playoff run. So, early in the season we were relying on the pass so much, couldn’t get the run game going since we had such young guys. We had four first year starters this year on the offensive line, I was the only returner, so we were kinda working our butt off to coach those guys up and get them clicking, and I think after that whole ten games, all that experience, then we really started coming into our own as an offensive line and knowing our identity and what we could do. We really started contributing to the team and to the run game, we got the run game going."
With four new starters on the offensive line, Saffell had to bring his teammates up to speed, calling out the protection scheme and blitzes on the line, noting that his leadership ability has grown throughout the year, as well as his technique.
“I think I’ve tremendously improved, with the pass blocking, everything has gotten more crisp," Saffell said. "I’ve added new techniques, like offhand punch on my set, and things like that. I’m trying to get as technical as possible so when I get to the next level, it’s more of a smooth transition to the techniques they’re talking about. I think my football awareness has gotten better this year, reading coverages and blitzes, I improved a lot on that, trying to get more knowledgeable about the game, just because we had such young guys this year that I really had to lead it and be the eyes for all five of us, and really help them out when it came to technique and things like that.”
The end of the line for Edison came in a playoff game against San Clemente, for the right to go to a state bowl game. They fell to the (USC Commit) Jack Sears-led team 39-35, after making a comeback from two scores down to take the lead. In Saffell's own words, this is how it went down.
"This last game against San Clemente, I was super confident," Saffell noted, "I was more confident going into this game than I was in Rancho Verde and La Mirada, what our offensive line could do against their defense, and some of the matchups we had I was really excited about. I think we came out a little flat. You can’t really do that in a state championship game and expect to win, when you come out flat at any point. We really turned it around in the second half and we got going. Even though we were still in the lead, we were just a little flat, and once the fourth quarter came around, we got it going, and we were firing on all cylinders, but we got down at points and we kept trying to come back and come back. At the end, I think we were down by two touchdowns with five minutes to go, or four minutes to go, something like that. Anyway, we popped a screen off for 80 yards, so that got us back, and then San Clemente drove it all the way down, and we actually had a 100 yard returned pick six. We got up by four, but our defense couldn’t stop them, it wasn’t in the cards for us that night, but it was a great game. It was kind of everything you could hope to give Coach White in his last year. It’s hard to see him go, but I know all he wanted was that CIF championship, and the state would have been the gravy on top. It sucks that we couldn’t give it to him, it just wasn’t in the cards for us.”
Now Saffell faces a new challenge, adjusting to new coaches, new quarterbacks to work with, getting away from working with Edison QB Griffin O'Connor, someone who Saffell has been friends with and watched an ungodly amount of film with. One of the Edison coaches was quoted as saying that they watch about 10 times as much film as anybody else on the team.
With the next level approaching quickly after the end of the football season, Saffell has built a relationship up with his future position coach Brandon Jones, texting with him before games and talking about the film that he puts out, along with a couple of guys Saffell wants to see playing alongside him next year. One, Casey Roddick, committed to Cal late in the season.
“I’m super stoked about Casey," Saffell said about his future teammate, "When me and Coach Jones talked about who we were recruiting, that was the number one guy I wanted to get. We met each other through the camp season, the Rivals and Nike camps. He was just destroying kids, but he’s also a good kid to talk to and hang out with, and a super down-to-earth type of guy that I love to be good friends with, and have him on the offensive line, because of how nasty and physical he is. I love that about him. He was the number one guy I pinpointed and was like ‘hey, we really have to work to get this guy.’ He’s a great player, so I’m so happy he jumped on board."
Saffell racked up a couple awards in the post season, including Sunset League offensive lineman of the year, along with a 1st team spot on the Daily Pilot Football Dream Team for 2016 (QB O'Connor was named one of the offensive players of the year, Cal QB commit Chase Garbers was named MVP). He credits a lot of his work on pass-blocking and general football awareness for his improvement throughout the year.
“I think I’ve tremendously improved, with the pass blocking, everything has gotten more crisp, I’ve added new techniques, like offhand punch on my set, and things like that. I’m trying to get as technical as possible so when I get to the next level, it’s more of a smooth transition to the techniques they’re talking about. I think my football awareness has gotten better this year, reading coverages and blitzes, I improved a lot on that, trying to get more knowledgeable about the game, just because we had such young guys this year that I really had to lead it and be the eyes for all five of us, and really help them out when it came to technique and things like that.”
With that, Saffell is looking forward to "being with the guys, the new commits, because when you’ve got motivated and enthusiastic kids that are excited about football, it’s really contagious, and I think that’s really fun to be around," along with the next level of coaching under Jones, looking forward to "being challenged, and being able to have all the tools that I need to be the best player I can."
Above all else, Saffell is excited to get to Cal and get to work.
"That’s what makes football so fun, you never really get perfect at it, you can just keep working at it.”