BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Eric Burrell has always looked up to Troy Polamalu and went to school on the former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro safety by watching some of his old videos. He's particularly fond of an airborne Polamalu rising above a blocker and sacking a quarterback. "Old school," said Burrell, a Steelers fan.
Evan Bondoc has always looked up to Leo Musso and literally went to school with the former Wisconsin safety and team MVP. "Leo was a guy who helped me out a ton with the mental stuff, the playbook and my techniques," said Bondoc, a lifelong Badger fan.
School was in session last Saturday for both Burrell, a redshirt sophomore from Severn, Maryland, and Bondoc, a fifth-year senior from Madison. Burrell made his second start in as many weeks at free safety, Bondoc made his first career start at strong safety. Their teacher was pleased.
"Next man up," said defensive coordinator and secondary coach Jim Leonhard. "We have seen that year after year after year here and our guys really believe in it. You never know when your opportunity is going to come … ever.
"To see guys step up and make plays when they get opportunities is exciting as a coach."
A week after recording 11 tackles at Michigan, Burrell had five tackles and a forced fumble in the 49-20 win over Illinois at Camp Randall Stadium. Bondoc also had five tackles, a forced fumble and his first career interception in becoming the fifth different player to start a game at safety this season.
None of this was surprising given the way they're taught and trained by Leonhard, who coaches with the smarts and swagger that allowed him to play 10 years in the NFL as a 5-foot-8 safety. Leonhard, who will turn 36 on Saturday, has a boyish energy and enthusiasm that endears him to his players.
"Coach Leonhard does a great job of rotating guys and putting them in great positions," Burrell said. "Everybody has got to be ready. You know what you've come here for. So, you just have to go out there and compete."
"Everybody is told, 'Keep working, your time will come soon,'" said true freshman Rachad Wildgoose, who has started the last two games at cornerback. "The way he coaches, if you ask questions, he's not going to lose confidence in you if you don't know the answers."
"He breaks it down and keeps it simple," said redshirt sophomore Caesar Williams, who started the first three games at cornerback before getting hurt. "If things get too complicated, he's going to shorten it down, so you can play fast and without thinking."
Evan Bondoc (13) and UW teammates celebrate during game vs. Illinois at Camp Randall Stadium
Leonhard has been in Mix-and-Match-and-Patch mode from week to week. There has been a spate of injuries — variously claiming a half-dozen players who had started at safety and corner — to go along with a pool of inexperienced but eager defensive backs, including the true freshmen.
"You have to approach everything knowing that you've got to give guys a chance," said Leonhard, who got his as a UW walk-on. "You've got to give them a chance to have success."
It's obviously easier to X and O, he conceded, when you have a battle-tested vet like D'Cota Dixon, a fifth-year senior, making all the checks and adjustments. It was more problematic against Illinois when Dixon was one of three injured safeties, along with Scott Nelson and Reggie Pearson.
"Not that you're really basic, but you have to give them something that they can have confidence in," said Leonhard, who enjoyed seeing his players execute the plan Saturday. "I just challenged them to be the spark and make a play and get things rolling.
"Obviously our offense went right down the field and scored a touchdown (on the first series) and that helps everyone settle in. But I thought our guys did a really good job of battling early and playing each play and not worrying about what happened on the one before."
He grinned; a confident grin reflecting his confidence in them.
"With young guys, sometimes they like to hold on to things. As a DB, that's the worst thing you can do. You have to learn how a team is trying to attack you. And you have to kind of move past the results of a play. Our guys are doing a decent job of that right now."
Leonhard has been delivering a consistent, fundamental message to his DBs.
"We're not where we want to be as a group; we're not where we want to be as individuals," he said. "Because of our youth, you try to accelerate that process and the only way I know how to do that is to put it out there every day.
"Our guys are doing a good job of working; they want to be coached."
Nobody is more coachable than Dixon, who has his own message.
"The game has to go on regardless of who's out there," he reasoned. "If we had to put a linebacker at safety, the game goes on, right? The game is not going to stop because I'm hurt or because Scott is hurt, or because anyone else is hurt. Guys are doing a good job of stepping up to the plate."
There's no better example of that than Bondoc, who has taken a page out of the Musso narrative. Musso, a Waunakee, Wisconsin, native, was barely on secondary radar over his first three seasons of eligibility.
Given an opportunity to play full time as a senior, Musso didn't disappoint. Besides finishing as the second-leading tackler with 74, he led the Badgers with five interceptions. At the 2016 team banquet, T.J. Watt was named the Defensive Player of the Year and Musso was honored as the MVP.
Bondoc, like Musso, was a prep running back. After graduating from Madison Edgewood, he sent out his film to the UW coaching staff hoping to land a walk-on invitation. "At one point, I was coming here just to go to school," he said. "If I had the opportunity to play football, it would be great."
Bondoc was put on hold.
"They told me if some guys went down (with injuries), I'd have an opportunity," he remembered. "When a couple of guys got hurt in training camp, they called me up. I was just waiting on that day and it has been good ever since. I've always loved this place. I never thought about leaving."
Michael Caputo was his mentor during his early years. Even though Bondoc was limited to special teams and fourth-quarter reps in blowouts — coming into this season he had eight tackles in 24 games — he tried to absorb as much as he could from Caputo, Musso and Dixon.
"D'Cota is one of my closest brothers on the team," said Bondoc, a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection. "You see what he does every day in practice — day-in and day-out, on the field and off the field — he's a great example. He's the leader of the room."
When Saturday arrived, Bondoc said, "I was ready to get out there and play. It's something Coach Leonhard always says, 'Let it go, let it fly and have fun.' That was my mindset going in — to put it all out there. We have a standard in our room, and we want to keep that no matter who's on the field."
Leonhard was delighted by the results. Whatever the role, big or small, he suggested that Bondoc is going to ask, "What do you want me to do, Coach? And he's going to get it done." That put another grin on Leonhard face. "You're fired up for a kid like that," he added.
Truth is, he's fired up for all his DBs, many of whom are still kids. Like Wildgoose.
"He plays really hard and he understands what we're asking him to do," Leonhard said. "He was a guy who didn't play a lot early. But he just worked and got better and all of a sudden you saw it in practice … two, three, four weeks in a row …. where you start gaining trust.
"Some injuries happen and his role expands. And he jumps in like he has done it for years."
Wildgoose sought guidance from older teammates. And they accommodated him. "It happened to me when I first got here," said Williams, singling out Sojourn Shelton, Nick Nelson and Derrick Tindal. "They kept me under their wing and I realized when I got older, I would to do the same thing."
Leonhard has started four different corners (Williams, Harrell, Wildgoose and Faion Hicks) in addition to Dixon, Nelson, Burrell, Pearson and Bondoc at safety. Madison Cone, the nickel back, was in the starting lineup against Illinois when Leonhard opened with two down linemen instead of three.
On mixing and matching personnel, Leonhard said, "I do it all the time. I've always believed in it. You have to get guys out of their comfort zone. Maybe they really trusted a veteran around them, but you have to force them into positions to communicate for themselves and not rely on somebody else."
Leonhard loves the approach because it makes each individual more accountable.
"Coach is always mixing us up with different guys — young guys and veteran guys," Dixon said. "And now it's paying dividends because you've got a freshman starting here (Wildgoose), you've got a senior safety (Bondoc), a redshirt sophomore (Burrell).
"We still come together as a unit and make it happen."
Illinois' quarterbacks struggled last week as AJ Bush and M.J. Rivers combined to complete just 9 of 21 passes for 90 yards. They were intercepted twice and sacked three times. Northwestern's Clayton Thorson will offer a much different challenge Saturday at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois.
This season, Thorson has thrown for over 350 yards three times, including 455 against Nebraska. With 9,453 career yards, he ranks No. 8 in Big Ten history. Thorson and former Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett are the only two league quarterbacks to ever throw for over 9,000 and rush for over 20 touchdowns.
"I really have a ton of respect for him as a quarterback," Leonhard said of Thorson, a fifth-year senior. "He does everything for that football team and he has done it for years. With his experience, he's a guy that is very difficult to rattle. He understands what you're trying to do with him.
"It's going to be a big test for our group; there's no question about it. But I like our guys. I think we're going to respond. Now, it's just a matter of going out and executing."
