College football: Medina grad Matt Spatny chasing pro dreams at Lehigh

Whether trying to rip the spine out of the body of an opposing offensive lineman or reach his ultimate goal of playing in the NFL, Lehigh defensive lineman Matt Spatny loves competing. The 2022 Gazette Male Athlete of the Year from Medina always played up a year as a kid because brother Nathan was a year older. Matt Spatny also was one of the youngest players in his class in high school, where he was playing as a 14-year-old freshman. At Lehigh, he was getting snaps in the defensive rotation as a freshman and played all 11 games as a sophomore. It was those first two college seasons that set up Spatny for successful junior and senior campaigns. "I believe it is the most important part of my development, because the reps really gave me real-time looks at what works and what doesn't," he said. "It gave me in-game experience immediately that I could transfer later. I had the chance to freshman year play and work out those kinks early, to hit my stride my junior year and then have a great senior year as well." The 2021 Greater Cleveland Conference Defensive Player of the Year has produced for the Mountain Hawks just as he did for the Bees, earning first-team All-Patriot League and honorable mention All-American accolades a year ago with 36 total tackles, including a team-high eight sacks among 13½ tackles for loss. His breakout game came against Princeton with seven tackles and 2½ sacks despite not feeling his best. "Truthfully, I actually had the flu before that game," Spatny said with a laugh. "It was very surprising to me that I played well that game. It's a combination of preparation and coaching and technique. It's all it's all just trusting what my teammates do. I was just in the right place at the right time. I don't think I did anything special. I didn't do anything that I haven't done before." His success as a junior also landed him on this year's preseason Buck Buchanan Award watch list, which is given annually to the best defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision. While preseason honors are fun for others to look at and discuss, Spatny concentrated on the work that needed to be done for his senior season. "I don't like to look at preseason awards necessarily, because you've done nothing," he said. "It's all based on what you did last year and a projection of the future year. I love it, but I need to back it up with the play this year." So far this season, Spatny has built on last year with 14 total tackles in five games played, with a team-high five sacks and 11½ tackles for loss. He credits the entire defense. "I don't think week in, week out, there's any particular reason I play better or worse," Spatny said. "I think it is the defense making plays. It's everyone doing their jobs, and you're the one that is now going to make the play." His best game statistically came in Lehigh's most recent contest, a 31-7 win over Columbia on Oct. 11 when he recorded a pair of sacks and three total tackles for loss, earning him Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week. "The (defensive backs) gave me enough time to get after (the quarterback)," Spatny said. "On my first sack, it was a drawn-out rollout to his right, and I got him at the last second. I can't do that without perfect coverage on the back end." Spoken like a true leader, which Spatny now is for the Mountain Hawks, the same as he was on his Medina teams. The way he leads at Lehigh is different than when he was playing for the Bees, however. "In high school I was a more vocal guy," Spatny said. "Being in college with other very talented players, it's allowed me to lead by example and my play, and that's what made me a leader when I was a junior and even a sophomore. Now, being a senior leader, I have become more vocal within my group and within the defense, and it's more balancing how the team views me and my words and what I choose to say to them at what times." When it comes to reaching the NFL, Spatny listens to the three words Lehigh coach Kevin Cahill, now in his third year at the helm, tells his players: process over outcome. "(It means) dealing with the moment and not necessarily worrying about I need to make it to the NFL," Spatny said. "It's 'I need to go out to practice today and attack practice and everything else will handle itself.' "Talking with scouts who have come to our practices, the biggest thing they look for is success. Are you able to lead your team? Then everything else handles itself, so being a leader to my team and succeeding is the biggest part." The Mountain Hawks are 7-0 behind a defense that loves to play physical in the trenches, allowing just 70 yards per game rushing. "This team is definitely different," Spatny said. "Our attention to detail, our physicality, we're not the most talented group. (Opponents) see us as a pushover team, but then we punch them in the mouth every single play. That's just not something that other teams want to do." That type of play is perfectly fine with Spatny, who relishes the chance to get his hands on an offensive lineman and be physical. "That's what our D-line is built on," he said. "We want to put our hands on someone and see if we can grab the O-lineman's spine. We want to go through them every single play, so they stop running the ball." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.