Training Camp Confidential: Likes and Dislikes
August 04, 2018 | Football, Mike Lucas
Seen and heard around Camp Randall as Wisconsin prepares for the season
 |
||
|
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
QUESTION: What do you like the most about training camp? What do you dislike?
Senior RT David Edwards:
"I like that you're able to focus on football. Everybody is together, and you're focused on getting better. You don't have school, and (in his case) you don't have an internship."
(Edwards interned this summer at Morgan Stanley under the wing of vice president/financial advisor Derek Engler, a former UW center.)
"What I don't like is a tough question. With the time that you're at the facility, whether lifting weights, meetings, practicing, or recovering, there's a lot of stress on your body.
"It's different from spring ball, which is kind of a learning mode; whereas fall camp you're trying to ramp everything up so you're game ready.
"You're trying to get the speed of the game down where you're comfortable knowing what you're doing – and then you're going out and executing it at the fullest capacity you can."
Junior ILB Chris Orr:
"What I like about camp is the fact that is probably the only time of the year where it's just football. You don't have classes and there are not many distractions.
"You're just here with the guys getting better. Everybody is going through the same thing. (When camp opens) this is definitely the best you're going to feel until February.
"You have to adjust a little bit to the contact. The main thing is getting used to the bumps and bruises that you'll get on your thighs and arms. Things you don't notice until practice ends.
"I love the comradery. There will definitely be some fights (on the practice field) which will bring us closer. Everybody is going through the same pain, too, which also brings us closer. I love that.
"What I don't like is the humidity from the lakes. When we go on the grass field, it's always super humid. It's the one thing I complain about the most. You've got to chew the air to breathe."
TAKING A SEAT BUT NOT A BACKSEAT
When is a folding chair a symbol of prestige and progress?
On Media Day.
To facilitate interviews, the returning starters and select members of the two-deep are seated in folding chairs arranged in parallel, facing rows on the Camp Randall Stadium turf.
It can be an unstated goal of a player, young and old alike, to be assigned a folding chair when the annual media session kicks off another season.
If nothing else, it signals another step, another stage of development, especially for someone like Tyler Johnson, a former high school quarterback and walk-on from Menasha who was put on scholarship in the spring.
Johnson got to sit down in a folding chair Wednesday, a far cry from last year when the outside linebacker recalled, "I didn't do any interviews … I just kind of waited around for the team picture."
Johnson, a redshirt junior, is now clearly in the picture on defense after carving out a niche in a limited role while a backup and understudy to Leon Jacobs and Garret Dooley, the departing seniors.
Andrew Van Ginkel, a junior college transfer, turned out to be a perfect and productive complement to Jacobs and Dooley with 39 tackles, 10 TFLs, 6.5 sacks and two interceptions.
Going into his final year of eligibility, Van Ginkel will be a strong candidate for All-Big Ten honors in a rotation that will include Zack Baun, who sat out last year with an injury, and Johnson.
If Van Ginkel and Baun are the starters, could Johnson be this season's Van Ginkel? Of course, any such speculation is not only premature but unfair until things sort themselves out in training camp.
But what a difference a year makes for Johnson.
"My process then," he said of the 2017 Media Day when he was ignored, "and still is, 'Get out there and take advantage of every rep. Show coach that you can play.'
"If I kept working every day, I felt it would come eventually. And that's still the process today. When you get a rep, take full advantage of it. Work as hard as you can and prove that you belong."
Johnson had a couple of special moments, not the least of which were two forced fumbles.
"I can't think of one distinct turning point," he said. "As the season went along, through the practices, I made coach feel more comfortable with my abilities.
"I showed that I could be consistent, and he could count on me to do my job."
Johnson was referencing former outside linebackers coach Tim Tibesar, who's now the defensive coordinator at Oregon State. Replacing Tibesar has been Bobby April.
"I've been looking forward to camp; you always get a sense of excitement, especially when you've had a good summer," said the 6-3, 245-pound Johnson.
"As a position group, we have a lot of guys who can play, and that's exciting. Physically, I've been focusing on getting stronger and faster. Mentally, not much has changed."
Asked to elaborate, he explained, "I don't want to get away from what helped me (last season). I don't want to get down on myself or start thinking too high of myself. I just want to stay humble.
"You take every play like it could be your last and always play like you've got something to prove."
A year ago, there were no expectations for Johnson. How about this season?
"I don't think anyone's expectations for me are higher than my own," he said. "You have to have high goals to push yourself past what other people – and even yourself – think are possible."
Does that translate into pressure, self-induced or otherwise?
"I don't really feel myself under any pressure," he said. "Training camp is just starting. The reason for camp is so you have room to grow and expand your techniques."
Seated comfortably in that folding chair Wednesday afternoon, he looked up at one point during the interviewing and confirmed without a hint of cockiness, "I expect to do big things this year."
