Four-time University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point All-American linebacker Clint Kriewaldt recently completed his rookie season in the National Football League with the Detroit Lions. A sixth round pick (177th overall) in last April's NFL draft, Kriewaldt made the team and spent the first four games on the inactive list.
In the team's fifth game, at home against Minnesota, Kriewaldt made his professional debut and played on the special teams unit. The following week Kriewaldt was named Detroit's special teams player of the week for his efforts against the Carolina Panthers.
As the season wore on, UW-SP's all-time leading tackler started to see action at the linebacker position. In the final game of the regular season, after an injury to starting linebacker Allen Aldridge, Kriewaldt was in on more than 20 plays and intercepted Minnesota quarterback Jeff George.
Detroit finished the regular season with an 8-8 record and advanced to the playoffs as a wild card team. The Lions traveled to face the Washington Redskins in the first round and the Redskins ended their season, 27-13.
Kriewaldt is back at UW-SP for the spring semester to finish his degree in interior architecture. He sat down with The Gazette's Sports Editor Mike Kemmeter Wednesday afternoon to discuss his first season in the NFL.
Q: Your role on the team increased as the season progressed, as you moved from the inactive list to the special teams to a contributor at linebacker. How would you assess your rookie season?
"I was happy with it. I was just happy to make the team. Once I made the team, I was inactive for the first four weeks and I didn't know how long that would be and I finally got worked into it with the special teams. I could see that they were liking what I was doing and they were feeling more comfortable with me in there.
"And later in the season, Allen Aldridge (starting linebacker) had an injury in the Minnesota game and that got me in there. And off and on I'd get in there for a play here and there on defense, but that was my first real shot in there with consistent plays. I had 25, 26 plays out there. So that was fun.
"I know next year will be a lot better. I know the defense going into it where I can relax more. I was happy just to make the team and make it through my first season without getting a serious injury."
Q: Most of your action came on special teams. Anyone who watched your games on TV saw that you were in on many of the special teams tackles. Describe your role on the special teams units.
"Really your role on special teams is just fly around, with reckless abandon. They want you to do your job, but they want you to show that you're not afraid to hit people. When you're running down on the kickoff, you have to blow up the wedge. They want to see you not slow down, they want to see you're not afraid to hit people, that you're aggressive, and that you can run around and make plays out there.
"If you can do your job and if you show you have some football sense of what's going on and understand what their scheme is a little bit, that's I think what they're looking for.
"Special teams is a whole different thing than defense or offense. It's a whole different game out there."
Q: As the season progressed, you contributed to the defense as a linebacker. How did you fit into the defensive schemes? For instance, were you responsible for covering tight ends in pass defense?
"During the preseason, I started out at strongside linebacker. And then toward the end of the preseason, they moved me over to weakside, which I felt more comfortable at and I played that all year. I really didn't get in any games but I practiced it all week.
"And then in the Cardinals game, the backup at strongside linebacker, he blew his knee out. So then they moved me back to the strongside, which was playing over the tight end, in the face of the tight ends all the time. When I went in there, they just expected me to know what's going on. It was different going in there and lining up on the tight end and playing the dime, which I wasn't used to. But I started to get more comfortable with it."
Q: What's the biggest difference playing linebacker in NFL compared to NCAA Division 3?
"Of course the speed, and the physicalness, but the big thing is the mental part. Our defensive scheme (at UW-SP) is nowhere near what is (in Detroit). As far as just coverages, we scheme for when a team comes out in a certain formation, you check to this coverage, check to that coverage. So it's just knowing where you have to be in your coverages and knowing if a guy goes in motion across, you know where your safety support is. It's all mental, it's the main thing. Once you get that down then you can rely on your athletic ability to get you there and make the play."
Q: How much really separates the best athletes in the WIAC from professional football players?
"There were guys there that I saw that we brought in, free agents from bigger Division I schools, and I don't see how they could even play where they were playing. There were some guys who were terrible out there, some good guys that they brought in too. Now, looking at it, I don't see there's any reason why I couldn't have played in the Big 10 or whatever. I probably wouldn't have been as big of a standout as what I was here but at least I would've known I would've been able to go down there and compete with those guys.
"At least, like here, there's maybe one or two guys that stand out on a team that have the ability, but I suppose in those schools, the whole team is full of those guys. That's probably the biggest difference."
Q: Do you think going to a small university hurt you?
"I don't think so. I'm glad I came here. It probably even helped me a little bit. I was able to come here and have four years of playing experience. And to get the recognition I did really helped me.
"Being able to play both offense and defense, I think really helped me. I think that was the main deciding factor for a lot of teams, to see that I was versatile, that I could play both offense and defense."
Q: There is obviously more time devoted toward game preparation in the pros compared to what you were used to at UW-SP. What was your schedule during a normal week?
"I'll start from the beginning of the week. Sunday we play. Monday, most of the time we're in there, sometimes they give us off depending on where we were, if it was a late game. If we go in on Monday, we go and watch the game film, lift weights, do a little running. If we practiced it was only for an hour, it really wasn't that much. Tuesday was our off day.
"Wednesday and Thursday were the bigger days. You get in there at quarter-to-seven or seven o'clock in the morning, you're lifting, you'd have meetings where you'd watch film all the way until 11. Lunch is from 11 to 11:30; 11:30 to 12 is walk-through; 12 to 12:30 is more meetings. Then 12:55 to just about 3 was practice. Then we had 3:30 to just about 4:30 for more meetings. Really, you'd get there at seven in the morning and you weren't leaving, you didn't get home until about five.
"Fridays were kind of the same, but you'd get home about 2. And Saturdays were a real short walk-through, films and then you're either flying out to wherever we're going. If it's a home game, you'd be done by noon or so."
Q: What did you do during your free time?
"Not a lot. You think of the NFL, maybe it's just the city we were in too, but everybody thinks you're out partying, you've got all these girls throwing themselves all over you. After practice, I'd come home at night, I'd eat, I'd lay around on the couch, watch TV, make some phone calls to my buddies or my parents and go to bed and do the same thing the next day.
"And we really didn't have time to go out that much because Friday night, you couldn't go out, Saturday night, you couldn't go out. So if we went out, it would be on a Sunday or Monday night, when there isn't much to do anyway. Then on Tuesdays you just took care of the errands you needed to do all week, go shopping, whatever, and be a bum basically, lay around and do nothing. So I really didn't do a whole lot there."
Q: Did you keep in touch with coaches, former teammates and friends at the university during the season?
"It's hard. You get home at night and you're tired. If I called my mom and dad, or my brothers, you call your girlfriend or something - that's so many. I spent, on the average, every night I was on the phone at least an hour-and-a-half, two hours just calling different people.
"There's a lot of guys I didn't keep in touch with, but I think they understood. I kept in touch with the coaches from here and a few of the players, but not probably as many as I should have. But they understand too - it's hard. They understood it's hard for them to always try to call me too. I mean, as long as they understood that I didn't dump on them after I left, that I forgot about them. It's tough just to try to get a hold of everybody."