Even before redshirt senior linebacker Chris Borland returned to the sideline in street clothes two weeks ago against Illinois, head coach Gary Andersen already had a game plan for what to do without his star player.
Sometimes, maybe even as you read this, Andersen and his staff conduct “Situation Room” meetings in which they go over game plan changes in the event of a surprise injury. The way the team practices is even structured around expecting the unexpected.
“[The coaches] have to be on the same page as far as who’s going in,” defensive coordinator Dave Aranda said. “[The players] you have are all you have, so when you go through spring and fall and you’ve seen them play ... you know the playmakers.”
At three separate junctures in the season, key players for Wisconsin have been injured. In all three scenarios, the team saw no falloff in production when using second- and third-string players.
Aug. 31 against the UMass redshirt sophomore fullback Derek Watt went down with a hamstring injury. Oct. 12, redshirt senior wide receiver Jared Abbrederis left a game against Northwestern with a head injury in the first quarter. Then, on Oct. 19, Borland made his exit in Illinois with hamstring issues.
Every time, however, the Badgers have been able to seamlessly adjust to the loss, making the transition nothing more than standard operating procedure.
Persistence is an important trait that any backup has to possess, and the players and coaches for Wisconsin exude mental toughness. The old adage is true—a successful football team needs everyone to practice as if they are starting.
“If you’re a guy that’s getting maybe half the reps over the course of practice that week, you’ve got to be disciplined and tough enough to ‘steal the reps,’ watch other guys do it right and not make the same mistakes as the other guys taking reps,” offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig said.
When it was announced that Watt would sit out during the Sept. 7 matchup against Tennessee Tech, Andersen and Ludwig had no hesitations about putting backup fullback Derek Straus directly into the spotlight, targeting the redshirt sophomore with a touchdown pass to cap off the Badgers’ first drive of the game.
“What stood out [about Straus], I guess, what kind of didn’t stand out,” Andersen said after the contest. “It was obvious he was doing his job at the run game. He was moving around very well.”
It’s unclear exactly when it happened, but Abbrederis knew he had a concussion during the first quarter of the homecoming game against Northwestern Oct. 12.
This was a terrible loss for the Badgers’ offense. He had already recorded a 63-yard touchdown reception and looked well on his way to a typical game—Abbrederis is averaging 97 receiving yards a game, even after sitting out three quarters against Northwestern.
What happened next nobody could have predicted—though Abbrederis had almost 45 percent of the Badgers’ receiving yards to date, Wisconsin recorded 241 receiving yards and two more passing touchdowns.
“It’s an opportunity for all of us to step up and make some plays,” said redshirt senior wide receiver Jeff Duckworth, who had two catches for 36 yards in the game. “We all have to step up as a group when a guy like [Abbrederis] goes down.
Football is a game of injuries. For the most part, Borland’s “tweaked” (his word) hamstring didn’t seem like a big deal right away.
He tried to return to the game, though it was already clear the Badgers were going to win. Shortly afterword, the Kettering, Ohio, native returned to the Wisconsin sideline in street clothes. His day was done, as was his subsequent Saturday.
If it wasn’t for backup Marcus Trotter’s different jersey number, you might never have known Borland was out. The redshirt junior tied his career-high with nine tackles and forced an interception in the fourth quarter. “Next man in” was a phrase the Wisconsin coaching staff had become all too familiar with.
But the question still stands: Why have the Badgers’ second- and third-string players been so effective?
Andersen talks a lot about how his players take advantage of moments. He says that’s why UW has been able to sustain itself in the absence of top players when it becomes necessary.
That ability, according to Aranda, goes back to preparation.
“I love [Trotter’s] attitude, his enthusiasm and his confidence, he’s very on top of things,” Aranda said. “What he’s able to do is take all that minutiae that comes from this scheme or that scheme, and just lets it fly”
It also doesn’t hurt that backup players get to watch standout athletes like Abbrederis and Borland operate on a daily basis.
“I’ve been watching [Borland] for a while, even in high school,” Trotter said. “How he times up blitzes and how he reads blocks, it’s definitely artwork.”
