Working Like A Dawg

By: Gavin Meyer

I grew up in Franklin, Wisconsin. And I’ll tell you, it’s just a tad different than Los Angeles. There’s constant activity here: the people are buzzing, the city never sleeps. Even the air is different. But growing up where I did and how I did made me ready to meet this next chapter of my football career and life head on, and embrace this opportunity for what it is. 

I grew up running amok in the streets with my brothers and the other neighborhood kids. There’s definitely a family vibe in Franklin and I was really blessed to grow up somewhere like that. It was the perfect environment to teach me the values of family and friendship, hard work paying off and being persistent in the pursuit of my goals.  

I played a lot of sports growing up, and especially loved basketball and baseball, but even from a young age, football was my calling. Shoutout to Franklin Youth Football for giving me my start on the gridiron. I started playing tackle football in elementary school, and started playing flag even earlier than that. Naturally, I ended up on the offensive and defensive line and the rest is history. Football became my whole childhood, and my parents supported me and encouraged me to continue working hard and see how far this sport could take me. Pretty soon it was just football, football, football.

I’ve always given 100 percent for every play that I’m out on the field, and that mentality didn’t just happen overnight. It’s a product of my parents and coaches instilling the values, the environment that I grew up in and the work that you have to grind through to give this game everything it deserves. The only way to play is with that motor and I embrace that. I turn it on every time I step onto the field, and I don’t turn it off until the clock is showing all zeroes.

Playing college football was always a dream, and I was so thrilled to see it come true at Wyoming. I poured all I had into my time there - on and off the field. I’m so proud of myself for graduating there with my degree in criminal justice and sociology. But I wanted to see how far I could take things through football. I was willing to give up the peace and quiet and space that I had become accustomed to in order to see it through.

Enter USC.

As soon as I met with Coach Lynn and Coach Henderson and Coach Riley it was done. It’s amazing how on the same page we were. I wanted to come in and have an impact on the team. I wanted somewhere that work ethic wasn’t just a buzzword, but part of the identity. This team, the players and the coaches have like-minded goals and hard working guys who play football the right way. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to be a part of it. Especially with Coach Henny’s DAWGWORK mantra. 

You’re either getting better or you ain’t. 

A lot of people try to have that mindset in lifting, or in one particular facet of their training. But with Coach Henny and how it applies it to d-line play, it’s focusing on that mentality and channeling it into how we play our specific position. You have to embrace the DAWGWORK mentality that Coach Henny preaches to play defensive line at a high level. You just have to.

It’s actually really self-explanatory. 

It’s working like a dog. 

There’s two dogs, one bone. 

It’s the only way to do it. This is how I’ve tried to play and approach the game of football ever since I started playing. I think I understood some of that before playing here, but to actually live it now with Coach Henny has been amazing. 

This is my final year at the collegiate level and to have someone who’s pushing me that hard, to take that next step, it’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ve had to take that mentality to the next level. It really is necessary for me to leave it all out on the field every single play.

Football has treated me so well, for my entire life, so I give all I can. Of course, when you make it to this level, you want to keep pushing and make it to the next one. But playing in the moment, focusing on this team and working like a dawg will lead to great things - it always does.