Lucas: Connections and creativity helping Biadasz adapt draft prep
March 28, 2020 | Football, Mike Lucas
All-America center stuck far from home as he prepares for NFL future
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Tyler Biadasz was a long way from home; a long way from his family in Stockton, Wisconsin; a long way from his mom Lori, his dad David and his brother Joe.
Biadasz, the unanimous first-team All-America center, was a half-country away from home, a little over 2,000 miles from Portage County where he grew up (Stockton) and went to high school (Amherst).
Speaking from the Proactive Sports Performance facility in Orange County, California — where he has been training and rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery — he sounded a little homesick.
But it runs much deeper for Biadasz and everybody else who has been "adapting" — his own word — to a different world and new guidelines and rules since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Since March 19, the state of California has been under a stay-at-home order. Many of the Proactive Sports clients who were preparing for the NFL draft have already left Orange County.
That included Biadasz's roommate, Ben Bredeson, the former Michigan offensive guard and a fellow Cheesehead from Hartland, Wisconsin, and Arrowhead High School.
"We were friends before we came out here," said Biadasz, who was a consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection along with Bredeson. "He was great."
They were not the only ones carrying the league banner. Ohio State's Davon Hamilton, Michigan's Khaleke Hudson and Minnesota's Carter Coughlin also trained with Biadasz and Bredeson.
"We got to know each other pretty good," Biadasz said. "There are only handful of guys here now. A lot of them went home. But I'm still doing physical therapy and yoga on my own.
"Everything is pretty shut down. I don't really go outside as much. I go out on my porch and have a cup of coffee and I go back inside. You have to be respectful with your social distancing.
"Honestly, you have to be adaptable to anything. You go with the flow. It's definitely a process and a waiting period for everyone. I have faith that everything will be okay.
"As a whole, our nation has been getting together so that we can cure this."
Beating this, the coronavirus, is on everyone's minds in Orange County and Portage County.
"They're staying home and kind of waiting it out like us," Biadasz said of his family. "They've been finding stuff to do around the house. I've been playing Battleship with my mom on the phone.
"Hopefully I'll be back home the week before the draft. That's my timetable right now."
The April 23-25 NFL draft will go on as scheduled according to commissioner Roger Goodell. Based on mock projections, Biadasz could be selected anywhere between the third and fifth round.
Under normal circumstances …
Biadasz would be flying from Team A to Team B to Team C for interviews and physicals in advance of the draft. But all the NFL facilities have been closed.
Considering that Biadasz attended the NFL Combine but didn't work out … considering that he was present for Wisconsin's Pro Day but didn't work out … can it be problematic?
"Teams will reach out and we'll talk about this and that," said Biadasz, who had work done on his shoulder following the Rose Bowl and the announcement he was skipping his final year at UW.
"I wouldn't say it's hurting me (with NFL teams). They have my physical from the combine. But it's a thing where you'd love to go see their facilities and what they're all about and everything.
"But you do get to call them and they do have FaceTime, too. It will be curious to see their timetable and what they're going to do with OTAs (organized team activities) and rookie camp and if they all get pushed back.
"We don't really know. With all that is going on, you just have to stay available to them.
"It is what it is, and all you can do is adapt."
After the 2018 season, he had surgery on his hips and adapted well. After sitting out the spring, he went out in 2019 and becoming the first center in school history to win the Rimington Trophy.
As far as his shoulder, he stressed, "I'm pretty dang close to 100 percent right now. I feel pretty good. Especially with all the nutrition and flexibility workouts and everything since January.
"My hips feel really great and I feel a lot more flexible. Getting my shoulder done was a minor thing. I've definitely transformed my body the last year-and-a-half.
"I'm really motivated to get going. But I just have to stay patient. That's the main thing."
Given all the limitations on interaction, the daily routine can grow mundane.
"I've been on my computer looking up stuff — looking forward in a way — helping myself for the future when everything settles," he said. "I've been looking up different types of meditation and yoga.
"I've been doing some flexibility workouts and stretching throughout the day, so I don't get stiff or anything like that. Been watching a lot of movies, a lot of HBO, games from past years, the classics."
Meanwhile, one of his former UW teammates, Zack Baun, couldn't say enough good things about Biadasz — a classic Badger — and what some NFL team will be getting as a center or a guard.
"You're going to get the truest form of a Wisconsin Badger," said Baun, the All-America outside linebacker. "He is the Badger, which is why he got his nickname. That's smart, tough, dependable.
"You're going to get a smart guy and a physical guy.
"And you're going to get someone who knows how to be a good teammate."
Biadasz, by the way, doesn't have a preference, playing center or guard.
"I love both spots," he said. "Honestly, I played center because that's what we needed. I talked to Coach (Joe) Rudolph multiple times about playing guard and he knew I could do it.
"But it was just the players that we had at the time and what was the best situation for the team and that was for me to play center. But I'm open to do both. Whatever they need me to do, I can do."
When he isn't calling his family, he's calling some of his former Badgers teammates, in particular, his former prep classmate, Garrett Groshek. At Amherst, they won two state championships together.
"Been calling a lot of them lately because I've been kind of cooped up in here," he said, chuckling. "My original plan was to go back to Madison for a couple of weeks before the draft.
"But that's not going to happen anymore (the UW campus is closed). So, I've been calling guys and seeing what they're up to and getting ideas on what they're doing throughout the day."
Without spring practice, Wisconsin's returning players have to be creative working on their own, not unlike Biadasz, and everybody else, rookie or NFL veteran, preparing for a season and the unknown.
"You have to stay in shape and make strides even though you can't physically be there (on campus)," Biadasz said. "You have to reach out to your teammates and motivate them.
"You have to motivate them to take time out of their day to stay active. You have to stay mentally tough through this. Because you have nothing to do, it would be easy to do nothing."
Biadasz was still a long way from home. But his words hit home. Especially one word. Adapt.
"It's definitely a process," he said, sighing. "Kind of waiting it out like all the rest really."
