Do you remember that feeling you had when it was the first day of high school?
You look around at all the older kids and notice how blatantly enormous they are compared to you?
You have that shivering feeling of fear, intimidation and desperate hope that the monstrosity that was a 5'8' senior would not step on you and crush your little freshman body.
Well, take that fear, multiply it by 10 and that's what this 5'8' college senior felt every time he stepped within three feet of senior offensive lineman Morgan Davis to conduct an interview.
It's with good reason too.
To put it simply, the man is a 6'5', 327-pound Shrek-like colossus without the monstrous fa??ade. Unquestionably the largest athlete on campus, I was so intimidated by the build that the thought of him devouring me in a fit of rage after a bad question has actually crossed my mind.
Strange, I know.
But after the initial few minutes of mind-numbing questions this past week on what the team wants to accomplish this weekend (and receiving the brain-washed response of only going 1-0 like every week), that obscure thought of a carnivorous o-lineman promptly went away.
You see, it's not until I withstood the first five minutes of questioning that Davis cracked a smile, finally opened up this past week and said a lot to the type of person he really is.
He's not someone people know too much about, very typical of offensive linemen throughout all levels of the game. But when you ask him to consider his lifestyle on campus and his experience within the program, you can't help but acknowledge Davis is in fact a soft-spoken, easy-going Wisconsinite who represents everything it means to be a Badger student-athlete.
A 24-year-old native of Barron, Wis., Davis attended Madison as a regular student in the fall of 1999 before joining the football team in January 2000. It's during this time, when he wasn't even playing, that he notes his most memorable moment in his time at UW.
He vividly recalls Ron Dayne breaking the nation's rushing record and running over Iowa on a cold November day to send the team to the Rose Bowl. And typical of a football fan, he remembers the running back rather than the offensive linemen that paved the success.
But the season as an admirer is what he attributes to his appreciation for the students, tradition and nation-wide support of Wisconsin athletics which he says is the greatest part of being at UW and playing football.
He says the fans are something irreplaceable and at times something he can't explain in regard to how much it helps get the team going. But he appreciates and respects how much history means to the school.
Maybe that's why he's been thinking about exacting revenge on Minnesota in the back of his head since the Badgers' defeat a season ago. He not only wants it for himself, but for the fans as well.
In the past three seasons, Davis has played in 33 games, including starting last year at left tackle. However, this year, the coaches asked more of him and switched him to right guard, which is not as mundane a task as it sounds. But he's done it in stellar fashion, a tribute to his drive and work ethic.
In addition to football, Davis' life is driven also by his work to graduate with a sociology degree. After living life as a student, the senior recognizes the importance of time management. In fact, its something he preaches to the young guys on the team from day one: how to balance life in both the academic and sports worlds.
But on top of these major responsibilities, Davis also balances another major something (or someone for that matter) that only a few have ever done while playing the game in college: a fianc??e.
With plans to get married in February 2006, Morgan and Juliann spend a considerable amount of time together, along with their puppy Sampson.
That's right. Saaaaampson!
It was exactly at this point in our latest conversation when the puppy was brought up that I realized that my fear was over nothing.
This giant is a softy at heart.
Before I take a beating for calling an o-lineman a softy, I'd like to say I mean that in a benevolent and appreciative way. With such a brute and physical exterior, it's refreshing to see a glimpse of the same guy with a sensitive interior.
Considering I can barely manage taking care of myself and handle school, I can only fathom the type of individual it takes to handle the lifestyle that Davis does. With all he has going on, it just goes to show the types of individuals Barry Alvarez has molded who unfortunately go unnoticed.
No. 75 is one of them.
And to think, if I hadn't outlasted that initial minutes of pure trepidation, withstood the fear of the Andre the Giant-esque exterior and listened to Davis really speak, I never could have heard about Sampson. More importantly, I wouldn't have ever seen that side of one UW's most under-appreciated and overlooked seniors on this year's team.
Arvind Gopalratnam is a fifth-year senior majoring in journalism.
