Lucas at Large: How’s Ferg improving? Let’s ask Fum.
April 03, 2019 | Football, Mike Lucas, Varsity Magazine
Troy Fumagalli offers insight on Jake Ferguson’s growing strength, skills
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — The visitor to practice stood inconspicuously behind the Wisconsin offensive huddle on a clear but crisp Saturday morning at Camp Randall Stadium. It's unlikely that any of the high school coaches — in town for their annual state convention — recognized Troy Fumagalli out of uniform.
As it is, he's no longer No. 81, but No. 84 with the Denver Broncos. A fifth-round draft pick, he spent last season on injured reserve recovering from a sports hernia. "I kind of looked at it as a redshirt year," he said. "I traveled with them, went to meetings, learned a bunch and got bigger and stronger."
Mostly, he got healthy.
"Exactly," said Fumagalli, 24. "It's a good feeling. It has been a very long time."
Near the end of Saturday's practice, Fumagalli was asked about another No. 84.
Tight end Jake Ferguson.
"He looks better and better every time I see him," said Fumagalli, who caught 135 passes for 1,627 yards and seven touchdowns during his 52-game UW career. "He looks heavier. Catching looks natural to him. You can kind of tell just watching him."
F U U U U U U U U M ‼️ Always good to have our guy @TroyFumagalli back at Camp Randall Stadium. Can't wait to watch him with the @Broncos this fall! #OnWisconsin
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) March 30, 2019
Fumagalli was perceptive on both fronts. Ferguson, the second-leading receiver last season, is heavier. About 10 pounds or so heavier than what he was against Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. This spring, he's carrying between 245 and 250 on his 6-foot-5 frame. And he says that he feels a little faster.
"He's carrying it better, too," said UW tight end coach Mickey Turner. "He tried to get heavy pretty quick just to match some of the other guys who play tight end at this level and it wasn't necessarily good weight his first couple of years. Now, he's really putting it in the right places."
Ferguson redshirted as a freshman in 2017; a much-needed step in his physical development. "I was 205 when I got here," said Ferguson, a wide receiver and linebacker at Madison Memorial High School. "I was eating five meals a day with snacks in between. A 40- to 50-pound jump is pretty crazy."
Almost all of his weight gain took place during his first year on campus. He's still consuming four meals a day. No red meat, salads. Nothing super fatty. "I'm always hungry," he said, conceding he will cheat a snack here and there. "I make really good Oreo milkshakes. Sometimes I'll put a Pop Tart in it."
Taste aside, Ferguson hasn't settled on what he might be weighing by the time the team convenes for training camp in August. For comparison, Fumagalli is 6-5, 250. "I feel good right now," said Ferguson. "If I can put more weight on, and I can keep my speed, I will. We'll see where it goes."
Turner figures the added bulk will round out the rough edges in Ferguson's game.
"The first thing you look at it," said Turner, a former UW fullback/H-back, "it's going to help him be a better blocker and stronger with his routes. On the other side, it will just help him stay more durable … it will help him maintain and not get run down as the year goes on.
"They've done a great job in the weight room with not just getting him stronger, but getting him a little more flexible and a little more mobile. He's faster, more connected, too. Everything is a lot more efficient. He knows how to work the game better."
Saturdays are for the Badgers #OnWisconsin
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) March 30, 2019
While redshirting his first year, Ferguson tried to learn as much as he could from Fumagalli and Kyle Penniston. "I'd take one wrong step and they'd be in my ear afterwards just helping me," he said. "It was good to have them even though it was only for one year. I really needed that."
Fumagalli was not an accomplished blocker when he got to Wisconsin. Neither was Ferguson. "Coming in, I wasn't the biggest dude and I definitely couldn't block," Ferguson said. "I'm not close to where I want to be, I still have a lot of work to do."
There's no magic formula, according to Fumagalli. "It honestly took working every day — getting my flexibility down, getting more physical — there's no one secret thing," he said. "Throw it all out there and the next thing you know you get more confident and start making blocks."
If the coaches can trust you as a blocker, he pointed out, it means more snaps.
It also means that you're on the field for first and second down, not just third down.
"And the more you're out there," Fumagalli reasoned, "the more balls you catch, too."
As a redshirt freshman, Fumagalli had 14 catches as a complementary receiver to tight end Sam Arneson, who had 29 catches for 387 yards and four TDs. In 2018, his debut season, Ferguson had 36 receptions for 456 yards and four scores.
To expose him to different approaches, Turner is planning on taking Ferguson to the movies.
"We'll have him study other tight ends who have been here and why they all had success and how they're all a little different, too," he said. "Each one isn't a clone of the other. Jake is taking pieces of other guy's games. But he knows that he can add his own flavor.
"I've seen him block well. I've seen him catch well. Now when lining up against some of the opponents we're playing this year (Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are the crossover games), can you still do those things, and can we still count on you?"
Ferguson has not taken his role for granted. Especially as it relates to taking on additional responsibilities and becoming more of a leader, something which has not gone unnoticed. "He feels like he can take on a little bit more of a vocal role," Turner said. "He's not a youngster anymore."
The Badgers are banking on Ferguson and Luke Benzschawel growing together as a tight end tandem. "Spring ball last year I was more watching people," said Ferguson. "Now I've got people watching me — those young tight ends — and I have to help them work and perfect my craft."
During the early spring practices, the receivers have been adjusting to the throwing motions of four quarterbacks: Jack Coan, Danny Vanden Boom, Chase Wolf and Graham Mertz. Each "spins" the ball a little differently. "I like them all," Ferguson said. "They're coming in with the right mindsets."
Since the bowl, Coan and Ferguson have been "connecting" off the field. "He's texting me stuff that I need to know, routes, changes, things like that," he said. "It's good to see that from a quarterback. He has taken on that leadership role. He's a lot more confident. You can see it in his face and his play."
Fumagalli saw the same things in Ferguson's face and play last Saturday. During the scrimmaging, Ferguson ran a crossing route and stretched out and made a one-handed diving catch, securing the ball upon hitting the turf, drawing hoots and hollers from his offensive teammates.
"You really can't teach that," Fumagalli observed. "If you've got it, you've got it."
