Shevlin has paid high price to play

He was asked to review the parts of his body he has damaged while devoting five years to Gophers football.

"Here's the latest," said Shevlin, putting down his lip and pointing to the front lower teeth. "Four root canals. It happened at the end of two-a-days. I bit down so hard on my mouthguard making a tackle that I damaged four teeth."

Where does this dental injury rate on the Shevlin pain meter?

"It hurt, but nothing like the right shoulder," Shevlin said. "I played with that for quite a few weeks, and it kept getting worse. Finally, a couple of weeks after the Virginia game, I had surgery.

"Dr. [Dan] Buss did the operation. He did a terrific job. Once I rehabbed the shoulder after surgery, it hasn't bothered me."

Shevlin rotated his shoulder and said: "No problem at all."

The Virginia game was a 34-31 loss in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30, 2005. Shevlin played that game despite excruciating pain in the shoulder and finished with 10 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.

There were two screws inserted to repair that shoulder. There were the four root canals. What else has he undergone trying to find glory for the Gophers?

"I had hernia surgery," Shevlin said. "I sprained the MCL in my left knee. I've had a series of ankle sprains ... two on each ankle. I've had any number of stingers. I've had a torn ligament in my right hand. Right there."

Shevlin showed the area on his right hand.

"You want more?" he said. "I've had a couple of concussions. I hyperextended a knee, twice. I hyperextended an elbow, twice. And I've had back problems. That's about it."

Through all this, it wasn't until the middle of last season that the linebacker was forced to miss considerable playing time, including games against North Dakota State, Ohio State, Michigan State and Iowa.

The reason Shevlin was asked to enumerate his injuries was to set up this question: After all you have gone through in order to play 35 games for the Gophers, does it frustrate you that all anyone -- in the media or in the public -- has had to say about your team this month is "what a lousy defense?"

Shevlin stared for a while at a couple of teammates standing nearby and said: "Yeah, it's frustrating. You can't read the newspapers. You can't go on the Internet to see what people are saying. Anybody can say anything they want."

He paused for a moment, then said: "It's a long season. We have a lot of young guys on defense. We're going to get better. What happens in the conference is what counts."

He looked at the interviewer and said: "I would like to have people spend one day in my shoes. This is a tough, tough game. We're doing something that 99.9 percent of the people either couldn't do or wouldn't be willing to do."

Another pause, and Shevlin said: "We've addressed our glaring problem -- tackling -- this week. It's an up-and-down sport. Look at last year ... 3-and-6 and everybody said it was a lost season. Then, this team won three in a row to get to a bowl game.

"We might be 1-10 going into the last game against Wisconsin. I don't believe that, even for a second, but if we were, it wouldn't make a difference. Every Saturday is the most important game of my life."

Shevlin looked at the interviewer and said: "I'm never going to fold my cards."

The injuries have been significant, but they are only a fraction of the price that Shevlin has paid to play in 36 games and make 23 starts (counting Purdue) at linebacker for the Gophers.

He was the state Class AA sprint champion at 100 and 200 meters as an Eastview junior. A year later, he was beaten out by two teammates in the sectional and didn't get a chance to run individually in the state meet. Instead, he helped Eastview to a relay championship.

Gophers coach Glen Mason came to Shevlin's home and told his mother, Shirley: "Your son has football in his eyes."

A half-dozen years later, he also has it in his blood, in his teeth, in the surgical marks, in the occasional back spasms, in the stingers, and in some plaques of little renown but with great meaning to him.

He was redshirted in 2003. At season's end, he was given the Defensive Demo Award for outstanding performance on the scout team. He was a freshman player in 2004 and earned the Bobby Bell Award as the team's top special teams performer.

Think about how Shevlin cut his teeth -- long before he damaged those four teeth -- to get his chance to start for the Gophers.

First, there was a year spent practicing with determination, and with no reward of playing Saturday. Then, there was a year spent running down to break wedges and tackle ball carriers ... and doing it so well that he received an award named for Bell, the greatest Gopher of them all.

The Gophers played in seven secondary bowl games in Mason's final eight seasons. The strategy of that coaching staff was to use the long practice time before those bowl games to make a few lineup and position changes, and most with a look at next season.

Shevlin was given his first start in the Music City Bowl against Alabama at the end of his freshman season. He led the Gophers with seven tackles, and the result was a 20-16 upset of the Tide.

"I would rate that as one of the best moments -- beating Alabama, with all that tradition, in a stadium filled with Alabama fans," he said. "We won at Michigan in '05, too. Won the Jug."

Shevlin shook his head and said: "I was banged up pretty bad in that game. I was so drained I couldn't run over to help retrieve the Jug. We've had the Pig, the Axe and the Bell in my time here, too."

The Gophers last held the Paul Bunyan Axe -- the symbol of victory in the Wisconsin series -- in '03, which was Shevlin's redshirt season.

"When you go through two-a-days and practice every day with the scout team, you're part of the team," Shevlin said.

The Michigan victory in '05 gave the Gophers the Little Brown Jug for the first time in 19 years. They beat Penn State for the Victory Bell in 2003 and 2004, and currently hold Floyd of Rosedale, the Pig, after last season's 34-24 victory over Iowa.

John Shevlin and the Gophers have had their moments in his first four seasons in the program, and in the middle of last week, he was vowing there could be more in his final conference season.

"People can say anything they want to about us," Shevlin said. "I'm not listening."