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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — The reminders are on Chris Orr's wall. Pictures of his mom, dad, grandmother and three brothers. Whenever the Wisconsin linebacker hits a snag in his rehab from knee surgery, whenever he feels the need for a pick-me-up, he gets inspiration from his family, even though they're miles away.
"I kind of use that for motivation," he said. "I know they're watching."
Orr is a long way from his home in DeSoto, Texas, a Dallas suburb. UW linebacker Jack Cichy, by contrast, grew up in Somerset, a village in northwest Wisconsin, a four-hour drive from campus. He has people watching over him, too, during his rehab. But he has tried to avoid reminders of his surgery.
"I've thrown my sling away," he said. "I'm trying to think about it as little as possible."
In late October, Cichy tore his pectoral muscle while making a tackle at Iowa. Not unlike Orr, who was injured on the first defensive snap in the 2016 opener against LSU, Cichy has encountered highs and lows during rehab. The process has extended into the spring for both inside linebackers.
"I've got this nice little scar here," Cichy said, pointing to his left shoulder and the incision from surgery. "That's enough for me. Whenever I put my shirt on, whenever I look at it in the mirror, it's a good reminder. It shows that I made it through (the rehab)."
Since being injured, Orr and Cichy have each gotten support from former Wisconsin players. Orr heard from wide receiver Lee Evans, the school's all-time leader in receiving yards (3,468). Cichy tapped into linebacker Chris Borland, a first-team All-American and 2013 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
"Lee called me (after the injury) and we talked for a little while and then we talked here at the Georgia State game," Orr said. "He told me about tearing his ACL (in the spring of 2002) and the (rehabilitation) process. He gave me some encouraging words. I wasn't expecting to hear from him."
Less than two months ago, Cichy ran into Borland. "I remember he had shoulder surgeries and I asked him for any advice," recalled Cichy. "He just said, 'Where you are in your career, don't rush it. Do the rehab. Take your time.' It was really reassuring. It was nice to hear something like that from him."
Although he's technically going into his junior season, the 19-year-old Orr is hoping to regain a year of eligibility. Cichy, a former walk-on, is a fifth-year senior. He played as a true freshman in 2013 and redshirted the following season. Cichy is 21 going on 22 (in May). Both have grown up this past year.
"It was a taxing year and I'm not even 20 yet," Orr allowed. "But I think it made me a better person than it will make me a better player. When you lose something that you love, you kind of reflect on yourself and see who you really are … and you just appreciate everything a lot more."
"I definitely grew a lot as a person," said Cichy. "After that first month of being in the sling, you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you and your family. The biggest thing I've taken away from this is being able to look big picture. You notice those little details — things you're blind to before."
• • • •
During spring break, Steve and Jack Cichy got to reconnect on a father-son getaway to London, Ontario. They attended a Chris Stapleton concert. And on St. Patrick's Day, they went to a British pub and watched Wisconsin's upset of defending national champion Villanova in the NCAA tournament.
"We talked at length about the whole (rehab) situation," said Steve, who was a two-year starter in the Notre Dame secondary during his playing days. "He was a smart football player before the injury. But being able to be a quasi-coach allowed him to take his knowledge to another level.
"He was saying this spring, 'I know every position with every alignment and what everybody is supposed to do.' And what he's doing now, he's making sure that the quiet kids in the secondary are being more vocal. His ability to see the game differently was a blessing in disguise for him."
Steve Cichy knows something about dealing with injuries as a collegiate athlete.
"My junior year, I broke my neck — cracked the vertebral body of my C5 and C6 (vertebrae)," he said. "Quite honestly, if I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn't have come back (to play) because mentally I wasn't the same individual just in terms of hitting and leading with any part of my head.
"I know what Jack was going through, but as I've told him time and time again, you couldn't have asked for a better injury (if you were going to get hurt). You didn't blow out your knee. You didn't blow out your rotator cuff. You didn't blow out your ankles."
He further reminded him, "Given the time frame of six months, the rehab timeline, you will be 100 percent. Not many people are able to come back from an injury and be medically 100 percent."
He also noted, "This was such a black and white injury."
It wasn't like Cichy was going to have the option to play through the pain.
"He would have cut off three fingers if it meant he could keep playing," Steve acknowledged.
But there were no alternatives beyond shutting it down.
"The second thing," Steve said, "was when (coach) Paul Chryst told him, 'Don't worry about any contact during spring football.' He could be patient with his rehab. That was one bit of advice I gave him, 'You have to allow the trainers and medical staff to dictate your timeline. You can't dictate it.'"
On the practice field, Cichy has been limited to 7-on-7 passing and some individual drills.
"When I'm out here," he said, "I want to go full-go and run around and hit everybody."
Old habits are hard to break. It has challenged his patience and heightened his awareness.
"You really learn to not take things for granted," Cichy said. "Especially now that I'm out here and I'm able to run around and laugh and smile and yell at guys. I really appreciate this a lot more. Every time I'm on the field, I want to run all the way to the ball."
You won't hear him complaining, either. "Being out for so long," he said, "you learn that being tired is not so bad, being winded is not bad at all when you're on the field … You definitely take less for granted … It's all fleeting … That's one thing that more of us have to realize."
Nobody realizes that more than Orr.
He's wearing it on his sleeve. Rather, his back. He's now wearing No. 54 to honor his brother, Zachery, who has been forced to give up the sport because of a congenital spine and neck condition. In his third NFL season, first as a starter, Zach Orr, 24, led the Baltimore Ravens in tackles with 132.
"It was over Christmas break," Orr said. "We were all home and we knew that Zach was going to the doctor because of a shoulder injury. He got a CAT scan. Me and my brother Nick (who plays at TCU) got back to the house after getting our haircuts and Zach was there."
That's when the family learned of his decision to retire from football.
"He had a little smirk on his face and we thought he was playing with us; I was like, 'Bro, stop playing,'" Chris said. "And then he got real serious and told us. It kind of hit us all. There were no tears but you could tell that he was real down."
But he didn't stay that way for long. Terrance Orr, the oldest brother, and an assistant coach at DeSoto High School, laid out a game plan for Zach to follow in the upcoming days and months and years. "Instead of asking, 'Why me?"' he implored of him, "ask, 'What's next?'"
Chris was on board with that suggestion. "He has been offered a few positions up there (in Baltimore)," he said. "I know that he wants to get into coaching or even into the media and kind of double-dip that way. I know they (the Ravens) love him."
What's there not to like about a self-made player, an undrafted free agent out of North Texas? "When he got to the NFL and you looked at him, you'd say, 'He's just a cover guy,'" Chris said. "But if you played against him, he was thumping, too. He was an athlete who could stop the run. He did it all."
Terry and Rita Orr's four boys graduated from DeSoto High, the alma mater of Denver Broncos All-Pro outside linebacker Von Miller. Terry, a University of Texas grad, played eight seasons as a tight end in the NFL, seven with the Washington Redskins, and came away with two Super Bowl rings.
After retiring because of broken vertebrae in his back, he never pushed the sport on his sons, preferring to keep his distance to allow them to make their own choices. As a precaution, after Zach was diagnosed with the spinal abnormality, he had Nick and Chris take CT scans, which were negative.
Terry and Rita, an elementary school teacher, made sure their kids knew how fleeting everything could be in the athletic spotlight. It's why they have a wall in their home devoted to academic achievement. Terry's and Rita's college degrees are displayed. So are Terrance's and Zach's.
Terry was at Lambeau Field when Chris blew out his knee.
Throughout his rehab, Chris said of his dad, "He has told me to bring an attacking mindset."
Zach has now become his guiding light.
"It's one of those reality checks," Chris said. "I was down because I was done for the year. But he's done completely and he was on the up and coming and about to be a star in the NFL. And then it was just over. I'm sitting here sad for being done for a few months. He's done for life.
"Now whenever I get tired running, or I get tired doing the rehab, I just think about him because Zach would give anything to be doing what I'm doing right now. It actually made me kind of appreciate — not my injury — but appreciate what I'm going through."
Zach Orr's fate has also resonated with Cichy.
"It's kind of a splash of cold water (in your face)," Cichy said, "or a wake-up call."
And it pushes Jack Cichy and Chris Orr to run out everything like they never have before.
