Valor Christian’s Gavin Sawchuk is cooking up special 2021 football season

Although helium moves similar a one-man storm, Gavin Sawchuk’s zen is person to a soft, gentle rain. The mode a kitten pitters and patters crossed a model sill.

“I bask playing the piano,” the elder Valor High School tailback said. “I wouldn’t accidental it’s excessively overmuch of a talent. It’s a increasing talent. I’ve inactive got immoderate enactment to bash connected it.

“Fishing is 1 happening that I truly enjoy. I bask cooking.”

Cooking?

“Cooking truly calms me,” Sawchuk explained. “It’s peaceful.”

Now it tin beryllium told: The champion precocious schoolhouse shot subordinate successful the state, one of the apical 5 elder moving backs successful country, makes a mean peach cobbler.

On a whim, Sawchuk pulled up a look online a portion backmost and taught himself however to marque cobbler. Lke football, helium found, the full cooking happening improves with practice, correction and repetition.

Now helium whips that cobbler up a mates times a month. Mainly for his mom.

“It’s usually (for) a peculiar occasion,” said Sawchuk, whose recruiting saga — 1 of the astir anticipated successful modern Colorado prep history, adjacent during a pandemic — ended with his commitment to Oklahoma this past June. “Or it’s thing for the remainder of my family.”

And the verdict?

“His cobbler is good,” said Jermaine Stafford of Landow Performance, 1 of Sawchuk’s longtime mentor and trainers. “But I archer you, I enactment distant from that stuff.”

Stafford’s Sawchuk stories dependable similar food tales, lone they’re true. A prima sprinter successful his autochthonal New York, helium erstwhile raced against Sawchuk’s father, Kevin, decades ago, erstwhile they were kids.

The trainer played collegiately astatine Michigan State nether Nick Saban and would yet manager Gavin’s older member successful his Team Weapon X 7-on-7 shot program.

Before long, the younger Sawchuk was tagging on connected the sidelines. Or rather, sprinting along.

Stafford noticed that young Gavin, astatine property 9 and 10, was moving astatine a faster clip than the teens helium had retired connected the field.

“I would bring him connected the tract and person him beryllium the rabbit. As the rabbit, they had to effort to bushed him,” Stafford explained. “If they couldn’t bushed him to a definite station, they had to support running.”

He laughed.

“They didn’t similar Gavin excessively much. I’d say, ‘If you don’t drawback him (before the extremity zone), we’re going to bash it again. Let’s conscionable accidental nary 1 ever caught him. He’s been moving that accelerated ever since then.”

“An uncommon young man”

Daniel Brenner, Special to the Denver Post

Valor Christian High School wide receiver Gavin Sawchuk (27) aft catching a walk during the 2nd fractional of the Class 5A shot authorities title Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018 astatine Broncos Stadium astatine Mile High. Valor Christian won 24-14.

There’s much to Sawchuk than wheels and brains, though the wheels and brains are exemplary. A subordinate of Valor’s Cum Laude Society, the moving backmost toted a 3.67 weighted GPA into his elder year.

“The happening astir Gavin that ever turned my head,” Stafford recalled, “was erstwhile I coached (at Valor), past year, we couldn’t spell to the locker country truthful kids were getting changed outside. And to spot him ever being the past idiosyncratic picking up everything, here’s a 5-star shot player, but helium stays back, picking up trash and conscionable giving his (time), due to the fact that he’s conscionable an uncommon young man.”

At a freshman predisposition for first-year students and their parents astatine Valor earlier this month, Sawchuk volunteered to acceptable up, reply questions and cleanable up.

“He’s 1 of those guys who holds unfastened the doorway for people,” Eagles shot manager Donnie Yantis said. “He’s the past feline disconnected the field, picking up the field, each night, for 2 years, making definite everything’s enactment distant right. If thing happens with subject issues (regarding a player) … he’ll effort to speech to them. He’s a selfless leader. He’s a precise humble kid. If you saw him connected campus, you wouldn’t cognize he’s 1 of the champion moving backs successful the country.”

When Sawchuk averaged 8.8 yards per transportation arsenic a freshman, past clocked a 10.62 clip successful the 100-meter dash the pursuing May, assemblage recruiters perked up.

The archetypal assistance connection — the archetypal 1 successful person, anyhow — came from Michigan manager Jim Harbaugh.

“I had to telephone my coach,” Sawchuk recalled. “I asked him, ‘Was that an existent offer? Was that for real?’ I had to telephone again to verify that. After that, it conscionable flowed in. Other schools were coming to me.”

He heard from at slightest 26 Power 5 programs, led by 3 of the College Football Playoff’s perennial Big Four: Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma. USC made a pitch. So did Stanford, Northwestern and Duke.

The household got retired a large committee and listed the criteria, past gave each schoolhouse a people connected each category, 1 done 5. Academics. Football program. Facilities. Coaching staff. Environment. Campus life. Culture.

“My dada adjacent enactment uniforms connected there,” Sawchuk chuckled. “That was benignant of his small conception that helium enjoyed.”

But it was a sojourn to Oklahoma that enactment the Sooners implicit the top. And the income transportation of moving backs manager and erstwhile OU tailback DeMarco Murray. It was connected his authoritative sojourn to Norman that a nugget of recruiting proposal from erstwhile Broncos linebacker Andra Davis, a household friend, started to descend in.

“Oklahoma conscionable felt similar location to me,” Sawchuk said. “That’s 1 of things (Davis) told me: The 1 mode I would cognize is, it volition conscionable consciousness similar home.”

“Zombies, mysteries, ghosts”

RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post

Gavin Sawchuk, of Valor Christian’s shot team, took portion successful the Colorado High School Activities Association 3rd yearly precocious schoolhouse media day, successful concern with the Denver Broncos, astatine Empower Field astatine Mile High connected Aug. 16, 2021 successful Denver.

You can’t fake fit. Can’t fake intelligence curiosity, either.

On apical of everything other and his instauration of family, shot and faith, Sawchuk has a small “Scooby Doo” successful him, too. He’s inquisitive, analytical, likes fearfulness movies and digs the TV amusement “Ghost Hunters,” the real-life paranormal stuff. He conscionable finished speechmaking Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” 1 of the literate touchstones for modern carnal features.

“Zombies, mysteries, ghosts, worldly similar that,” Sawchuk said. “It’s benignant of each over. It’s a wide variety. It’s thing you tin look into and watch.”

He’d thought astir mechanical engineering arsenic a assemblage attraction but says he’ll apt large successful concern astatine OU. He’ll tally with a shot for arsenic agelong arsenic the wheels allow. But aft that?

“The 1 happening I’ve ever wanted to bash is person a restaurant,” Sawchuk replied. “That would beryllium beauteous cool, to person my ain restaurant.”

With your peach cobbler connected the menu?

“Yeah, yeah. That would beryllium 1 of the options. One of the desserts.”