Injured Wisconsin redshirt freshman quarterback Joel Stave made it clear Monday that he is not pushing a comeback in any way, despite his status for the team’s bowl game still being up in the air.
“If I could [be the starter for the bowl game], I would really like to be,” he said. “I don’t want to do anything stupid and press it and get back before I’m ready. If I get a chance to, I’d really like that. But if not, that’s fine.”
Stave broke his collarbone when he was sacked by Spartans junior defensive end William Gholston in the team’s 16-13 overtime loss to Michigan State last weekend.
Stave did say, however, that the injury is already healing pretty well and that he has an X-ray Monday to check exactly how well the injury has been healing.
“It doesn’t ache like it has,” he said. “It’s really coming around pretty well I think.”
He also shared that he knew it was broken even before the doctors told him that it was on the field.
“Right when I got tackled I could kind of hear it,” he said. “I was able to touch it and feel a little bit of a lump there.”
“[Gholston] kind of picked me up and drove me,” Stave added. “Really big, strong guy. With the way I landed on it, [I knew] it was going to happen.”
Despite the setback, Stave sees himself as the starter by the time spring camp rolls around but isn’t eliminating the possibility of having to win it back.
“I just have to keep telling myself I’m in a good position to compete for it again".
Stave started every game after playing the second half of the Utah State game on Sept. 15th. He had 1,104 yards through the air with six touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 70 of his 118 pass attempts.
Stave still says he learned plenty and that transfer redshirt junior quarterback Danny O’Brien and redshirt senior quarterback Curt Phillips were always eager to lend a hand during games.
“We’ve always kind of done that,” he said. “[We] work together and try to make whoever is out there play as well as they can.”
