Barry Alvarez
UW Director of Athletics
MADISON, Wis. — I felt bad when I heard Joe Thomas' season was over because of an injury. That was an unbelievable playing streak — 10,363 straight snaps, 167 NFL starts — that he put together.
At left tackle, he has played every week against the best pass rusher who's often the best player on the defense. That brings even more perspective to what he has accomplished.
There's no question that Joe is a great athlete. But what separates him from many others has been the fact that he's smart and very analytical. There's no wasted motion.
All of his movements and techniques are well thought out. His angles are always precise. And he maximizes his strengths — using his intelligence to make himself a better player.
Just watch him play. Watch his hand placement and his feet. You can take a picture of Joe playing left tackle and hand it out to everybody else to teach them how to do it.
During my retirement season in 2005, I remember getting ready to play Auburn in the Capital One Bowl and we were concerned about the lack of depth on our defensive line.
Someone in our meeting room says, "Joe can play defensive end."
So, we took a look at him. During an inside drill, he looked like he had been practicing on defense all along. We decided he could help us, if only for four or five plays to give someone a blow.
Joe wound up playing both ways — on offense and defense — against Auburn. And then he got hurt (his ACL). He was just running to the ball while playing on defense in the third quarter.
You don't like to see anybody get hurt. But it just gutted you when you're asking someone to do a little extra by playing a position that he hadn't played all season.
We won. But you still had this hollow feeling. I remember talking to Joe's dad after the game and reassuring him everything was going to work out with his rehab. And it did.
After 11 seasons in the league, Joe has now put himself in the position where he has choices. If he doesn't want to play again, he doesn't have to play.
He has done very well for himself. He has invested well. He has bought property, a lot of property in Wisconsin. And he has a very good idea of what his future will be and where he wants to be.
He'll put a lot of thought into it — like everything else — and make the right decision.
• • • •
At the beginning of each school year, I talk to our student-athletes about community service and giving back. This fall, I said that I'd be remiss if I didn't mention J.J. Watt and Jake Wood.
Both were active in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Houston. J.J. raised nearly 40 million through his tireless work and the strength of his personality. Jake was on site with Team Rubicon.
Next Wednesday night, Nov. 1, our basketball team will play an exhibition game against Northern Iowa. There will be no admission price.
But people will be encouraged to donate to Team Rubicon, an emergency response team made up of military veterans who are deployed to disaster areas around the world.
Jake, a co-founder of the organization, was an offensive lineman here. I still remember when he told me he was enlisting in the Marines. We had him talk to our staff a few years ago. I'm very proud of him.
The Northern Iowa exhibition will give fans that normally don't get a chance to see us play during the season an opportunity to watch us for free at the Kohl Center.
We were initially concerned we may have a logistical issue in scheduling. But we were able to work it out. I told Greg Gard, "If we have to play in the Field House, we'll play it there."
From my standpoint, with the NCAA allowing another exhibition, if Greg wants to play one with this young team and he thinks it's going to help them develop, then we're going to play.
• • • •
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. But after last Saturday's win, I kept running into people who wanted to know the same thing, "Do you think we can get to the College Football Playoffs?"
My answer was the same to everyone.
I just want to beat Illinois.
And that's not just coach speak. That's just the way it is. If you get too far ahead of yourself — check out all the upsets from week to week — you're in trouble. I know Paul Chryst feels the same.
It's the only way to feel in October.
