BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
DALLAS, Texas — There is no elaborate ceremony. No formal exercise to christen the moment.
When the Wisconsin football team completes the 2016 season, a new group of leaders will quietly step forward, take the reins and begin the task of shared guidance.
They will look to build on a legacy that has made UW one of the most consistent success stories at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. Eighty victories since 2009, making the Badgers one of seven Power Five schools to average 10 wins per season.
Fifteen straight bowl appearances, the sixth-longest streak in FBS.
Four appearances in the Big Ten Conference championship game since 2011, more than any other school.
When eighth-ranked Wisconsin (10-3 overall) faces 12th-rated Western Michigan (13-0) in the Cotton Bowl on Monday at AT&T Stadium, it will mark the end of the collegiate road for 13 seniors.
Included in that collection are co-captains Vince Biegel, an outside linebacker from Wisconsin Rapids, and Dare Ogunbowale, a tailback from Milwaukee.
Also part of the group is tailback Corey Clement, the latest ballcarrier to rush for 1,000 yards in a season; starting quarterback Bart Houston; safety Leo Musso, voted team Most Valuable Player; cornerback Sojourn Shelton, a member of the exclusive 50-start club; and starting wide receiver Robert Wheelwright.
During his first Cotton Bowl press conference on Tuesday, UW coach Paul Chryst lauded Biegel and Ogunbowale for their leadership skills, especially as they relate to bringing a relatively young team to the same motivational page throughout the season.
Chryst said he began the year having a sense of his leadership core, but not all the details.
"I think you have an idea, but I don't think you know until adversity hits," he said. "You don't know how a year's going to play out, so therefore I don't think you really know."
It took six games against top-10 opponents, back-to-back heart-breaking defeats, two overtime decisions and the loss of three front-line starters to season-ending injuries for the lineup of leaders to shake out.
Some, like Musso, Shelton, Clement and Houston, did so largely by embracing more prominent roles.
Others, some precociously young, did so because their talent and maturity nudged them into the spotlight.
As such, when the invisible baton of leadership is passed next week, it could be taken up by many hands.
"Probably a ton of names,'' Chryst said.
"There's a lot of guys we see as leaders," junior defensive end Alec James.
"There's a lot of guys who've been through a lot and know the way," junior tight end Troy Fumagalli said. "There's a lot of great role models on the team, guys who understand Wisconsin football."
Without prompting Chryst mentioned six members projected to return on defense: junior inside linebacker Jack Cichy, sophomore inside linebacker T.J. Edwards, sophomore inside linebacker Chris Orr, junior end Conor Sheehy, junior outside linebacker T.J. Watt and junior safety D'Cota Dixon.
Cichy and Orr were embraced by Chryst and his staff as pseudo assistant coaches after they suffered season-ending injuries, while Dixon, a first-year starter, became a respected spiritual leader known for his postgame reflections.
Fumagalli mentioned two other veterans on defense, James and junior end Chikwe Obasih, then identified Peavy and himself as leaders for next season.
"I like to think so," he said.
How does Fumagalli define a leader in the UW locker room?
"Mostly they understand what it takes to be successful at Wisconsin," he said. "Hard work. They don't get in any trouble, things like that. They inspire others. I think that's the greatest quality of a leader. You see that guy go and you think, "I want to go has hard as him.'"
Peavy offered an important endorsement.
"It would be an easy answer to say the quarterback," he said, referring to redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook. "The quarterback is one of those guys that has to be a leader."
Hornibrook began the season as a backup to Houston, but wound up starting nine games before a head injury kept him out of the Big Ten title game loss to Penn State.
"I feel Alex is going to do a great job stepping up and taking a bigger role for himself next year and be a bigger leader for this team," Peavy said.
Peavy said a leader in the Wisconsin locker room has to fit into three categories.
"What we preach every day: smart, tough, dependable," he said. "When you have those three things you can be a leader on this team." Peavy said Cichy and Orr fit that description.
"Those two guys definitely are guys that aren't afraid to show and voice their opinions when things are wrong and guys need to get yelled at and get things right," Peavy said. "They've definitely earned the right."
Peavy said there are returning leaders in every position group and meeting room. He and junior George Rushing are the most experienced wide receivers returning in 2017.
"It's going to be another big step for me to be that guy for our wide receivers," Peavy said.
Chryst said unseen circumstances like injuries pave the way for some leaders to emerge. He shined a light on sophomore center Michael Deiter, who emerged as a thoughtful spokesperson for a young, evolving offensive line.
Deiter began playing a more prominent role in preseason camp when senior center Dan Voltz retired due to health concerns.
"You thought he would be – kind of needed to be in the lineup – but you didn't know if he'd get the time," Chryst said of Deiter. "It all depends on what time of year you're talking."
Chryst said he expects to have a deeper pool of leaders next season, but, of course, the list is subject to all sorts of forces for change. James looks around the UW locker room and sees a lot of similarities from one stall to the next.
"Everyone is seen as a captain in my eyes," he said.
How so?
"It's different for everybody, but for me personally I see a captain or a leader as someone who can show you rather than tell you," he said. "There's a lot of guys that can talk or say they're going to do this or that, but when your actions show it and there's consistency in your actions, that's when it really matters to me."
