Lucas: As player or coach, Rudolph rolls with punches
September 03, 2015 | Mike Lucas
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September 3, 2015
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com
MADISON, Wis. -- When Joe Rudolph, a converted sophomore linebacker from Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, took over as Wisconsin's starting right guard in the 1992 season opener, he was flanked by tackle Joe Panos, a UW-Whitewater transfer. The bookend left tackle was Mike Verstegen, a Kimberly native.
Twenty-three years later, Rudolph is Wisconsin's offensive coordinator and O-line coach and one of his backup players is Panos' son, George, a redshirt freshman center. On top of that, Verstegen's son, Bret, is a walk-on freshman safety.
That Rudolph wound up in the coaching profession was not a surprise to his former head coach, Barry Alvarez, the UW athletic director. It was probably less surprising than Panos becoming an NFL agent, a good one, at that. Travis Frederick, Kevin Zeitler and Rick Wagner are among his clients.
"Rudy was very smart, very competitive and he loved football; he was a very good leader as a player for us," Alvarez recalled. "There was never any question in my mind that he would do an outstanding job someday as a football coach."
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Alvarez remembered having a conversation with Jim Tressel, the former Ohio State coach, about Rudolph who got into the business as a graduate assistant with the Buckeyes. "Tressel told me how impressed he was with Joe," Alvarez recounted, "and how he was going to be a good one."
During an earlier tour of duty as Wisconsin's tight ends coach -- mentoring such stalwarts as Lance Kendricks, Travis Beckum and Garrett Graham -- Rudolph laid the groundwork for his return to the Madison campus after spending the last three seasons on Paul Chryst's staff at Pittsburgh.
"The one thing I like about Rudy is that I don't see him complaining about anything," said Alvarez, who has seen how Rudolph has dealt with a string of training camp injuries that sidelined his projected right tackles (Hayden Biegel and Beau Benzschawel) and their replacement (Walker Williams).
"I left town for a few days and I'm thinking to myself, 'You've got two young tackles (Biegel and Benzschawel) competing for the starting assignment and between the two of them, you're going to be in good shape at that position.'"
Alvarez also liked the competition at guard with freshman Jon Dietzen pushing fifth-year senior Ray Ball. "At those two positions," he said of right tackle and left guard, "where they're competing, eventually, you're going to have a good player there and have a little depth."
So it seemed, however briefly. "The next thing I know all of them are injured," Alvarez said after Dietzen and Ball got hurt and missed practice time. "But I didn't see Rudy flinch. You have to stay positive and keep coaching your guys because that's all you can do.
"A lot of coaches will show it in their body language; you're frustrated because it's not the guys you expected to be playing with. But Rudy just moves forward. I see him out there after practice working with the guys that he's going to have to play with. He'll have them as ready as he can."
Heading into Saturday's opener with Alabama, Rudolph and UW head coach Paul Chryst were able to put together a depth chart that lists Biegel, at tackle, and Williams, at guard, as the starters on the right side.
Rudolph was unbowed as a player; he was first-team All-Big Ten and team captain. So far, Rudolph has been undaunted as an O-line coach by the things that have been out of his control; namely the graduation loss of three starters and the injuries that have led to a lack of continuity upfront.
"Cohesiveness starts with communication," Rudolph said. "That's as much of a decision as anything. You just have to choose to do it when it comes to communicating and talking in and out of the huddle; those little last-second things that you say on the way to the line sometimes mean everything."
The Badgers are rebuilding their offense line around two dependable returning starters: redshirt junior center Dan Voltz, who has started the last 19 games; and fifth-year senior left tackle Tyler Marz, who has started 27 straight. Voltz was second-team All-Big Ten last year; Marz was honorable mention.
"I love him, I love being around him," Rudolph said of Voltz, a 6-foot-1, 301-pounder from Barrington, Illinois. "He's tough and he epitomizes what a Wisconsin O-lineman is. It's great to have him back out there healthy and working. It means everything."
In 2011, Chryst was UW's offensive coordinator, Rudolph was the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator and Bob Bostad was the offensive line coach. Marz was influenced by all three coaches. That was about 45 pounds ago when he was a true freshman out of Springfield, Minnesota.
"He works, man; he works to get better and he fights his tail off all the time," Rudolph said of the 6-foot-7, 325-pound Marz. "I'm excited for him, I think he's going to have a great year. He leads by reminding people of the (O-line) history, how things were done, and I love him for that."
Chris McIntosh helped write that history. In 1999, he was a consensus All-America left tackle for the Badgers and a finalist for the Outland Trophy. McIntosh, a first-round draft pick of the Seattle Seahawks, is now working for the athletic department in the area of business development.
McIntosh spoke to the team last week. "He talked about his time here and he referenced our group (the offensive line) and how it's a fraternity," said Rudolph, whose graduate assistant is Bill Nagy, a member of that frat. A three-year letterwinner, Nagy could play either center or guard.
Michael Deiter, a redshirt freshman, has exhibited similar flexibility. In fact, he opened camp at right guard and has been switched to the left side between Marz and Voltz. "I liked the way him and Tyler interacted," Rudolph said. "I liked the way him and Dan interacted. That should be a solid trio."
What prompted Rudolph to make the move with Deiter, a 6-6, 314-pounder from Curtice, Ohio?
"You're trying to find the matches and the right mix," he said. "The one thing that Michael struggled with on the right side was some of his footwork. I was kind of picking his brain and he told me he used to play left tackle through high school and he was pretty natural when we moved over there."
Another redshirt freshman, Micah Kapoi, has been a pleasant development.
"Micah came out of nowhere," Rudolph said of the 6-3, 330-pound Kapoi, a native of Kapolei, Hawaii. Kapoi, like Deiter, is flexible enough to play either left or right guard. "Throughout the spring, you didn't seen anything where you thought he would be ready. You liked him and his potential.
"But he didn't show you anything where you thought, 'Geez, this guy is someone that we can have ready to be in the two-deep next year.' And he has done that. He has done that in this camp. There are some things that come natural and that's for me and him to keep pushing that level."
Rudolph had hoped to see more of Dietzen, a true freshman from Black Creek who late last week returned to practice; and Benzschawael, a redshirt freshman from Grafton, who's not back yet. "With guys like Jon and Beau," he said, "they don't have any reps under their belt and these practices are huge.
"They're huge for everyone," Rudolph stressed, "but especially those guys; we'll keep trying to get them back … Guys like Walker (Williams) and Hayden (Biegel) will be back. They missed valuable time but at least they are guys who have reps and been through it before."
Biegel, a redshirt sophomore and the younger brother of linebacker Vince Biegel, is a 6-7, 299-pound right tackle from Wisconsin Rapids. Williams, a 6-7, 321-pound redshirt junior from Tacoma, Washington, offers even more flexibility; he can play guard or tackle.
When Biegel and Williams were inactive, it created an opening for Jacob Maxwell, a 6-6, 309-pound redshirt freshman from Greendale. "He's really talented and he's still gaining his comfort level," Rudolph said. "When he gets there, he's going to be really good."
Although he has taken most of the snaps lately at right tackle, he's just not there yet. "And that's our battle," Rudolph went on. "We have to get him to that point where he can kind of let it go and just play because he has the toolbox. He has some tools that will help him (someday)."
Rudolph has been putting his players, young and old alike, in a position to have success in the same manner that Bill Callahan did with him in the mid-'90s at Wisconsin. Callahan, a former head coach at Nebraska and with the Oakland Raiders, is now the O-line coach with the Washington Redskins.
"That was a true blessing having him as an offensive line coach," Rudolph said of the 59-year-old Callahan. "He gave you the tools that you needed to be successful. But you had to own them and you had to apply them. But he gave you the chance to do that and I'll always be grateful."
As UW's offensive coordinator, Rudolph is entrusted with sorting out the puzzle. After a Thursday practice where "we were all over the place" he was much more pleased with how the offense looked on Friday. "We made some strides," he said. "And we definitely have more work to do."
But he later conceded, "We're getting closer."
The partnership between Chryst and Rudolph has also grown closer over the years.
"Paul is all about the relationships that he has with people, his appreciation for the game and his willingness to put all of that, including his staff, in front of himself; it's all about his humbleness," Rudolph said. "It's pretty remarkable.
"As we've worked together, we're pretty good at throwing ideas back and forth and we challenge each other in that respect. In some ways, we see the world the same, and that's a good thing. Other times, we don't see it the same but we work through it. We've never had an issue with that."
Rudolph shared some thoughts on some of the key skill players going into the 2015 season. Besides senior wide receiver Alex Erickson -- also a key and a gritty former walk-on that led the offense with 55 catches last season -- these are the three individuals who have gotten the most public scrutiny.
On quarterback Joel Stave, he said, "I see him growing in his ownership of the offense. He works at it. He's up here (Camp Randall Stadium offices) and he grinds late at night; he's always on the film. That's where you see his growth. You see the true confidence developing."
On tailback Corey Clement, he said, "He's a very talented football player. He also brings a great energy and focus. He's fun. When he turns it on, the guys feel it. He's a little bit electric with the group. I'm excited to get this season going with him."
On wide receiver Tanner McEvoy, he said, "He's still growing in that role, but he's very talented. He can make plays on the ball; he's a big target; and he can go, he can run. He means a lot to the offense. That group of receivers play off each other. As a group, I like them."
The Badgers will open the season against No. 3-ranked Alabama, whose front seven on defense has already been hailed as the best in college football. Rudolph will recognize an old UW teammate on the opposing sideline in Mel Tucker, the Tide's assistant head coach and secondary coach.
Tucker was a senior safety for the Badgers when Rudolph was a junior. Tucker has worked for Saban at two other schools: Michigan State and LSU. He also coached in the Big Ten at Ohio State. The last two seasons, Tucker was the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears.
There's no underestimating the challenge of facing Alabama, a tradition-rich program that has flourished under Saban with three national championships and an 84-11 record over the past seven seasons. For Rudolph, though, it's about Wisconsin establishing its own offensive identity or personality.
"I think it's still developing, it's still to come," he said. "Our players have to put their stamp on it. But that's OK; they're going to have that opportunity. We'll continue to grow through the first few weeks (of the season). That doesn't mean when we won't be at our best in Dallas.
"But we need to keep getting better and it will be a group that will continue to grow."
And at some point, he promised, "There will be a defining moment."
