Withers’ Wizardly Ways - Dominance at the X and Beyond
Jul 29, 2021
July 29, 2021 - Ty Merrow
“To sign a five-year deal, they’re a little bit of an anomaly. They don’t happen very often, and they only happen when you have a special player that one, has an attachment to your franchise and wants to be there that long, and two, an organization that is committed to success.”
Thunderbirds Head Coach Mike Accursi knows how rare long-term contracts are in the NLL, especially during this age of expansion. It takes a special player to garner that faith and commitment from his team, elevated abilities and characteristics that make a lacrosse team’s front office salivate at the idea of having that player be central to their immediate and future plans for winning an NLL Cup.
And it’s safe to say that defenceman Jake Withers has done plenty in his three seasons with the Thunderbirds franchise, joining the rarified club of players who have received a multi-year contract from the only NLL team they’ve known, evidenced by Wednesday’s news he and the Thunderbirds agreed to a five-year contract extension.
What makes Withers a special-enough player to have earned such a contract, one that franchises him in ‘25 and ‘26? His youth? Face-off proficiency? Underrated defense? Leadership?
All this and more.
Face-offs
In Sept. 2017 at the 2017 NLL Entry Draft, Withers was selected with the second overall selection in that draft by the franchise. The Ohio State University alum’s defensive prowess was enticing enough to use a first-round pick on him, but the analytics of his draw proficiency made him too tantalizing to pass up.
“He gets us the ball 65% of the time,” Accursi recalled the discussion in the war room in 2017 about who to select with that No. 2 pick. “He can automatically stop runs as an individual. Teams can’t win a face-off and go down and score a goal. He’s going to get us the ball, and we’re going to get an opportunity to make up that goal.
“That aspect to him makes him such an important player on our team just because of ball possession. The more we have the ball, the less they do; the more opportunities we get, the less they get. It’s really a statistical positive for us to have a guy like him.”
In the 2017-18 season, Withers set a then-record for most face-off wins by a rookie and single season record for most face-off wins with 279. His face-off win percentage (FOW%) clocked in at 66.9, elite for any drawman in box lacrosse that wasn’t considered a FOGO (face-off, get off (the floor)).
It led to the Peterborough, Ontario native winning the 2018 NLL Rookie of the Year Award and being named to the prestigious 2018 NLL All-Rookie Team, a prestigious group of the top six rookies in the NLL in a given year.
His draw ability also helped the franchise turn a 2-6 season around into a 10-8 season and one of the deepest postseason runs in NLL history, as they forced Game 3 in the NLL Finals against the Saskatchewan Rush.
And that prowess at the dot isn’t just limited to box lacrosse; Withers, who plays in the PLL for the Waterdogs Lacrosse Club, has a career 51.0 FOW% and does the same things that make him successful in trying to get his team possession.
“Very few excel at the part that’s most important, which is the exit (of a face-off),” Greg Gurenlian, one of the most decorated face-off specialists in lacrosse’s history and founder of The Face-Off Academy (which Withers is a staff member of), said about Withers’ face-off abilities. “A face-off win has everything to do with whatever team picks up the ball first or gets possession. That’s what makes Jake so special, is that he doesn’t necessarily need to win the clamp or direct the ball in order to win the face-off, because he’s so good at countering and getting the possession.”
As Gurenlian pointed out, Withers uses the standing neutral grip (SNG), the only pro field lacrosse face-off player to consistently stand as he takes draws, and is performing at a high rate in that stance, where most pros opt for the knee-down stance. That means he’s the best reference for players playing in the NCAA - where SNG is the only accepted way face-off specialists can take draws - or aspiring to compete collegiately.
Ahead of Week 6 of the PLL in Minneapolis, Minn., Withers was winning the clamp only 11% of the time, but as Austin Owens’ put it in his PLL weekend preview, “he turns every single face-off into a three-on-three war for a ground ball.” Withers then proceeded to go 33-for-48 (.688 FOW%) in the Waterdogs’ doubleheader wins.
That gritty style of play whether he wins the clamp or not is what he does in the NLL, as well. If an opposing player pops faster and gets possession, Withers is either countering his move immediately or on him like a hound chasing a bloody steak, doing everything possible to cause a turnover, force a pass back into the opponent’s back end, or stymie the possessor long enough for a teammate to come in and escalate the situation.
“Blue collar,” Gurenlian described Withers’ style of play. “He’s everything (Head Coach) Nick Myers at Ohio State, I guarantee if you asked him, he’d say, “If I could clone 100 of this guy…’ He picks the ball up off the ground, he’s tough as nails, he’ll play through it, he’s an awesome teammate. I think what embodies him the most is -- like I said with his style of face-off -- he doesn’t care how he has to get the job done. There’s no ego involved at all, he just gets it done.
“And he can do everything. Like after he gets the ball, he stays on offense, and he throws other face-off guys for a loop, because he doesn’t just stand there and then run off. He’ll set a screen, he’ll actually get the ball, and then he’ll take it to the opposing defender. He is so vital to the style of face-off that is needed in the PLL.”
Defense
In box, Withers is more than comfortable with playing an offensive shift if need be, maybe catch the other team by surprise, but the defensive shifts are his bread and butter. Most people think of Withers as a face-off specialist who can play defense; they should be thinking he’s an excellent defender who takes a lot of draws and gives the Thunderbirds those extra possessions.
“He really gets underestimated on that end just cause he’s so elite at one aspect of his game, but just because he’s an elite face-off guy -- there are those face-off guys that we call FOGOs and make fun of them and say, ‘Hey, make sure you get off before you have to play defence,’ he’s not that guy,” Accursi said. “He’s the guy on our last-minute defence. He’s the guy that we have higher expectations, that ‘You’re going to go out there and perform in the defensive end, not just get us the ball.’”
Defence is a six-man game - the goalie protecting the cage and the five guys in front of him -- so not all of the Thunderbirds’ defensive successes in the 2019-20 season can be heaped on one individual, but that’s not to undersell Withers’ defensive prowess.
At even strength, Withers’ has a preternatural sense for snagging loosies and timely slides. He’s always communicating and directing, going from zero to sixty to help on-ball or close an avenue during an opponent’s fast break. That help contributed to the fourth-lowest shots against per game -- the Thunderbirds allowed 50.42 SA/GAME last season.
When he plays on the penalty kill, the right-hander goes where he’s needed, helping the Thunderbirds stop 56.14% of all opposing power plays, fifth-best in the PLL in 2019-20. He can play up high to try and disrupt passes and push in transition, or down low to help shore up those left and right islands.
“When you put the fact that the guy’s a really good defender, it makes him even that much more valuable as a player and that much better of an asset to a team than just a guy that can win face-offs,” Accursi said.
Leadership
This section is all Mike Accursi, because no one knows leadership quite like the head coach of a team. And to say that Accursi unabashedly doled out high praise for a face he’ll continue to see for the next five years is underselling how highly he thinks of Withers’ blossoming leadership:
“(H)e’s a very good leader. It’s hard when you’re young to come on a team that’s veteran-heavy, to find a leadership role, and I think Wiz has really done that. He’s a very good leader, and the young guys really look up to him as a good role model. He’s always at practice, he works his butt off in practice. He does all the right things that you want from a young player.
“He doesn’t just go on his value of (face-offs): ‘I don’t need to work hard because I’m going to play regardless because I’m a good face-off guy.’ He’s easily one of the hardest working guys out on the floor in practice. He works his butt off. You can’t ask any more of a player than a guy like Wiz. He’s just an absolute stud, professional, hard-working guy.
“I love him; we have a really good relationship, and he’s just a really good guy to have on a team. He’s great in the locker room. He’s funny. He gives as much as he takes in jokes and chirping and stuff like that. He’s just a really valuable guy for us. I think he’s only going to continue to get better, because that’s the way he is. He just wants to be the best.
“We need more players like that.”