BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — In the days, weeks, months leading up to the NFL draft, an anxiety-filled evaluation process compromised by the coronavirus, Wisconsin linebackers Zack Baun and Chris Orr have been staying in touch and comparing notes from different parts of the country.
Baun, for the most part, has been living in his an off-campus Madison apartment with the exception of Arizona training sessions prior to the Combine earlier this spring. Orr has moved back home — DeSoto, Texas — to be with family (mom, dad, two brothers, a nephew and Duke, a bulldog puppy).
While attacking offenses from different angles — Baun off the edge and Orr up the middle — they bonded as teammates and friends the last five years. "I don't have enough words to describe Chris and my relationship with him," Baun said. "And it has been so strong throughout this whole process."
Baun and Orr have many common threads and one that is not.
Both have different expectations for next week's 2020 NFL Draft (April 23-25). Baun has been projected as a first- or second-round pick. One mock draft has him going to Baltimore (No. 28). Another to Tennessee (No. 29). Yet another to Green Bay (No. 30). By contrast, Orr looms as a late-round pick or free agent.
"My goal coming into the season was to make an All-Big Ten team, whether that was honorable mention, third team, second team — it didn't matter," said Baun, a consensus first-team All-American and Butkus Award finalist. "Then my goals were to get invited to the Combine and just get drafted.
"Right now, my biggest goal is to get drafted as high as I can.
"My biggest attribute? I want teams to know I'm a guy who's willing and able to do everything."
It's Baun's answer to the "What position do you want to play?" questions that he has fielded.
"I'd say that I'm most comfortable playing on the edge because that's how I started playing defense (at Wisconsin) and that's where I've been," said Baun, a prep quarterback, who had 12.5 sacks last season, the third most in school history behind Tom Burke (22 in '98) and Tarek Saleh (14 in '96).
"At the Senior Bowl, I exclusively played off the ball at Will linebacker (weakside) and I felt very comfortable. A lot of teams hadn't gotten to see me do that and all the feedback that I got was very positive in respect to the transition to the position. It was very fluid."
After passing through the NFL scouts' gauntlet, Baun added, "They got to see me at the Senior Bowl, they got to see me at the Combine, they got to see me at Pro Day … 80 percent has to do with what you did in the fall and your tape … 10 percent has to do with how you interview.
"And, then, the rest — and people put so much emphasis on it — is what you do at the Combine and how fast you run. But that's not the truest form of your athleticism. There's so much more that goes into it besides your Combine numbers. I did my best to display myself these past few months."
He also heeded the advice that he received on his journey.
"I'm not sure who it was from," said Baun, a Brown Deer native, "but they told me, 'Just be yourself.' There are so many guys who go into this process and they try to be somebody they're not whether interviewing or interacting with other guys. Coaches can sense any inauthenticity."
The last time that Baun and Orr were on the field together was March 11 at Wisconsin's Pro Day in the McClain Center. Baun participated in just one drill — the 20-yard shuttle — and posted a time of 4.08 seconds (same as Orr), which was an upgrade from what he had run at the Combine (4.31).
Since Orr wasn't invited to Indianapolis, his Pro Day took on a different urgency not lost on Baun, who said, "Chris was fortunate he was able to show what he could do, because the teams had him clocked at 4.8 (in the 40). Who knows what could have happened if he didn't get to show his speed?"
Orr ran 4.65 in Madison. "It felt good to come out there and do what I did," said Orr, who had 20 reps in the bench (Baun had 24), a 6.99 clocking in the three-cone (Baun's was 7.0) and a vertical of 36.5 inches (Baun's was 32.5). "A lot of people didn't think I was going to do anything close to those numbers."
But how do these numbers translate on the field? Orr broke it down.
On the 20-yard shuttle: "That's always been my strong suit whenever we used those drills to compete in the summer. It's about your change of direction. How well can you get out of a break? How well can you scrape to another gap? If a back is pressing the interior, how fast can you get to the edge?
"I think it has great value at a lot of positions, more value than the 40. The majority of the time, if you're running 40 yards (to get to the ball), it might not be the best situation. In the pros, the hash marks are a lot closer together and the shuttle time is very important, at least to me."
On the three-cone: "That's more about how fluid you are in your hips and how fluid you are in your moves while still maintaining a good speed. I was confident and I felt good about that drill."
On the vertical: "Pure raw explosion. It was good to see my squat translate to the vertical."
On the bench: "That's more of an endurance type of thing. What I think teams want to see is your fight. Are you going to fight through it? Or are you one of those guys who gets to a certain number of reps and ends up racking it? Are you truly pushing yourself to the end?"
So how has Orr, who prides himself on his football I.Q., been selling himself?
"I feel like I have really good tape. I don't know of another insider 'backer that got to the quarterback as well as me (11.5 sacks). There's not a big minus that I can see in my game; something where they would say, 'He doesn't do this well at all.' I feel like I'm a pretty well-rounded prospect."
What is the best defensive scheme that suits Orr's skill set?
"I feel confident that I can play in any scheme. In the 3-4, I feel like I can play Mike (middle) or Will as an off the ball 'backer. In the 4-3, more so probably the Will, not so much the Sam (strongside). I feel like I have a lot to offer — a tenacious, relentless attitude, which is something you can see on my tape."
But what about his pass coverage?
"We were more in man-to-man coverage at Wisconsin and I didn't necessarily have to drop 15 yards in coverage. But I'm confident that I can do that. I don't feel like that should be a knock on me just because in our scheme I wasn't asked to do that too much."
How did his UW position coach, Bob Bostad, impact his development?
"He helped me a lot by seeing the other side of the coin in playing linebacker. He's a legendary offensive line coach and he knows what an O-line looks like when they work together. He opened my eyes to all the different moves that I can use to beat guys on the O-line. He helped me out a lot."
During his Pro Day, Orr got to renew his friendship with former UW linebacker T.J. Edwards, an undrafted free agent who appeared in 16 games (four starts) with the Philadelphia Eagles last season.
"He knows exactly what I can do," Orr said, "and has the utmost confidence in me. He told me, 'Go out there and just do your thing. You're a hell of a football player and one of the smartest guys I've been around. When you get your opportunity, make sure you show that.'"
Like everyone else, Baun and Orr have been relegated to virtual interviews with teams. All NFL facilities have been closed. And next week the league will stage a virtual draft. Yet both UW graduates, Baun and Orr, who has his master's, have been smart enough to adjust to the COVID-19 world.
"I'm an optimistic thinker," Orr said. "I feel like it's a great opportunity for everybody to band together because everybody is affected by this. As a human race, we need to attack this head-on without flinching, without blinking and we'll get through it."
"It's as simple as washing your hands," said Baun. "It's as simple as not touching your face. It's a simple as supporting small businesses. There are so many people affected. The virus gives us a chance to step back and really look at things from a different perspective."
All of which will come into focus, from a draft perspective, in less than a week.
Baun is ready to learn his NFL fate.
"I reached that point a few months ago," he said with a sigh.
It's no different for Orr, whether he's drafted or not.
"It's all in your tape, to be honest," he said. "I just want an opportunity to play."
