Big Things From a Small Package

At 5 Feet 11 and 201 Pounds, Sovie Has Become a Defensive Stalwart As Navy Looks to Win Its Fifth Straight Commander-in-Chief's Trophy

Clint Sovie had wanted to go to Disney World in Florida with friends on that summer day in 2003, but his father wouldn't let him. Sovie previously had committed to be a counselor at a camp at Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah, Ga., and his father told him to honor the commitment.

"I didn't want to go," Sovie said. "But my dad told me, 'If you do good things, good things will come back to you.' "

So Sovie went to the camp, ran around with the boys and helped coach football for a while. The next day, his father's advice proved prescient: A good thing happened, in the form of a phone call from a Navy assistant coach.

Navy Coach Paul Johnson had attended the camp as well and was impressed with Sovie's speed and demeanor. Quarterbacks coach Ivin Jasper, one of two Navy assistants who recruits in Florida, had been aware of Sovie but stepped up his pursuit following a phone call from Johnson.

Sovie, a junior linebacker, is one of two full-time starters back on defense for the Midshipmen this season. He had 61 tackles and two interceptions last year as Navy went 9-4, won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for the fourth straight year and advanced to its fourth straight bowl game.

At 5 feet 11 and 201 pounds, Sovie is a bit small for a middle linebacker. But he runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, according to published reports, and has become the quarterback of Navy's 3-4 defense.

"If anyone has questions, I have to be able to answer them," he said. "I have become more of a student of the game. Our coaches tell us to watch the New England Patriots. I watch Tedy Bruschi. His drops [into pass coverage], the way he does things, our coaches say it's perfect."

Sovie comes from an athletic family. His older brother, Robbie, was a fourth-round draft choice of the Detroit Tigers (110th overall) as an outfielder in 2002. Baseball America rated him the fastest player available in the draft.

Robbie Sovie spent three years in the minors. But a series of stints on the disabled list led to his retirement from baseball in September 2004, and he currently attends Western Carolina University.

Meantime, Clint Sovie said he had always wanted to play Division I football.

His father recalled that Clint enjoyed dirty work as a child.

"When he was 7 or 8 years old, if he was missing, he was real easy to find," Greg Sovie said. "You just had to look for the sand or dirt in a field, and that's where he'd be."