Lucas: Back together, Badgers strong on leadership — and hope
August 04, 2020 | Football, Mike Lucas
Grateful to be back as a group, Cole Van Lanen and his teammates anticipate opening of training camp
 |
||
|
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Although there were some anticipated changes to the environment, there was something reassuring and "really exciting" from Cole Van Lanen's standpoint last week about finally getting back into the room, the offensive line meeting room at Camp Randall Stadium.
The seating, for one, was different. There was more spacing. And not all the seats were filled, a concession to the physical distancing protocol. As a result, the players were split into two groups, mostly along the lines of seniority. Old guys; young guys; masked guys, all.
"It was pretty much the same and nicer than doing virtual meetings all the time," said Van Lanen, a fifth-year senior left tackle. "You're actually in person. You're watching the big screen and you're able to hear Rudy talk — he's right there with you — showing you tips and stuff."
Rudy is Joe Rudolph, the Wisconsin offensive coordinator and O-line assistant. Zoom or video conferencing has been serviceable for remote coaching and meetings, and the only option up until now. As such, Van Lanen has missed face-to-face interaction between teammates and coaches.
"Especially since it has been so long," said Van Lanen, the 22-year-old native of Green Bay. "I went from spending every day of my life with everyone on this team to not seeing anyone for a very long time. It's good to see more and more faces again and catch up."
Even if those faces are masked-up.
Last Monday, the Badgers entered their enhanced summer access phase. Under NCAA-approved guidelines, teams can utilize — to their discretion based on safety and health — up to eight hours per week for weight training and conditioning and up to six hours for position meetings and walk-throughs.
"We did some position work outside … we ran through certain things on air," noted Van Lanen. "We were still socially distanced and following the protocol, so if I lined up next to the guard, I still stayed a good distance away."
The offensive line's projected starters and backups have largely been kept together, including Van Lanen, tackle Tyler Beach, center Kayden Lyles and guards Logan Bruss and Josh Seltzner. Assistant strength and conditioning coach Shaun Snee has been overseeing this group in the weight room.
"I thought the O-line had a really good training period," said Van Lanen, who's carrying about 308 pounds on his 6-foot-5 frame, not far from his playing weight (312) going into the Rose Bowl. Laughing, he said, "If I'd go to McDonald's, I'd be at weight," and added that he feels good about where he is.
"I honestly feel the most conditioned and strongest I have been in a long time. I know a ton of guys feel that way, too. The guys are invested, and their minds are in the right spot and everyone is excited to get this opportunity in the fall."
During the quarantine period, Van Lanen would often make the short drive from Green Bay to De Pere, the home of junior offensive lineman Aaron Vopal. Joining them there would be Bruss, who lives 30 minutes away in Appleton. Vopal had a full weight set in a storage unit so they'd lift together.
When push came to shove, Van Lanen would also push. He would push a Ford truck.
"I did that in high school, too," said Van Lanen, a four-star prospect out of Bay Port High School. "All you do is put it in neutral. Once you get it going, it's not bad. You just do increments of 10 seconds. It's like when we do Prowlers here. You're engaging in power and pushing weight.
"It was just another form of conditioning, something that pertains to an O-lineman."
Nothing is more pertinent to an O-line than the three Cs. Chemistry. Continuity. Cohesiveness.
Obviously, another C — Coronavirus — has intervened and impacted everything.
On the position group's usual togetherness, Van Lanen said, "It's that way inside and outside football, right? Our O-line group is really close every minute. We hang out a lot outside of football. We can't really do that now because you have to be conscious of the greater good of the team.
"I wish we could be a little closer together and rep things out like we would before a game.
"Hopefully in the next week or two, we'll be able to do that again, which I'm really excited for."
All the uncertainty regarding the start of training camp, let alone the season, can be stressful.
"Garrett Groshek sent something out to all of us and I thought it was pretty powerful," Van Lanen noted of the UW tailback whose message dealt with the team's readiness. "He said, 'Give everything you have now and train the way you would if you were starting training camp tomorrow.'"
Paraphrasing Groshek, he continued, "If we don't have a season, you'd still rather be able to say that at least you gave everything you had and you were 100-percent prepared and ready, instead of you were not giving everything you had and you were not ready and we do have a season."
The satisfaction, Van Lanen interpreted, is in the preparation and "knowing you put yourself in the best position possible" to play the season. By not making that maximum level of commitment, regardless if there are games or not, he suggested, is simply not in the Wisconsin playbook.
"We're all on the same page, we all have the same mentality," he said. "We're only thinking that we're going to have a season until we hear that we're not having a season. I know everyone is working their butts off to be ready. It's important to understand the circumstances, but not think about them."
On July 10, Van Lanen was present for the wedding of Groshek and his fiancée, the former Carly Sowiak. The couple began dating during their early high school years in Amherst, Wisconsin, and were married at one of the most historic sites on campus, the Camp Randall Memorial Arch.
A couple of hours before every home game, the UW players ride buses to the monument at the intersection of Dayton Street and Randall Avenue, where they are dropped off for the Arch March. The stadium is a short walk away. The scheduled 2020 opener is a short time away. Less than five weeks.
"Time is flying, it's crazy," Van Lanen acknowledged. "I just remember we were starting spring break (in mid-March) and we got the text to clean out our locker because we didn't know when we were going to be back here. That was months ago and now we're only weeks from a game."
That is his fervent hope — and that of his teammates — that the Badgers play their scheduled Big Ten opener on September 4. There are no guarantees, of course, in this Age of COVID. The only constant is leadership — or has to be — to keep everyone motivated and moving forward with so many unknowns.
"The coolest thing I've seen," Van Lanen said, "is that there are leaders throughout all the ranks of classes, from freshmen to seniors. I really feel that about our senior class. I can almost say everyone in my class is a leader in some shape or form.
"I like to say that leaders don't have to be vocal leaders. You can be that guy who's the hardest worker in the room and the other guys see that. So, you can be a vocal leader and visual leader. Everyone brings that in our senior class. I love seeing it. The guys are really committed right now."
None more so perhaps than Van Lanen, who has been embracing an expanded role.
"I know I've learned a lot — we've had some great leaders in the past like Michael Deiter, Jack Cichy, D'Cota Dixon and the list goes on and on," he said. "I've taken something from each of them. I kind of have the personality of Deiter. I like to have fun and not take things so seriously.
"But when it comes to football you just have to be. I think the flip switched a little bit. I know in the past maybe position work wasn't my favorite thing to do. But everyone has a different mindset. Especially this week; partially because we haven't done this in months, so we're excited to be back.
"I know that I'm stoked. I know all of our seniors are stoked. This is our fifth year (for many of them at least). And you've got to deal with the hand that was dealt and make the most out of any opportunity we have at this point."
That extends to how each player handles his business outside of the stadium.
Particularly given how contagious the virus has proven to be.
"Everybody knows how extremely important it is," Van Lanen said of personal discipline. "You really have to be careful. Wear your mask. Limit where you're going. Limit who you're seeing because if you're careless, you're going to take away opportunities for a lot of guys.
"That's not something I want to do, and I know no one else wants to do. "
National and regional pundits have taken a liking to Van Lanen, who's projected for nearly every All-Big Ten team. In addition, he was named to the preseason Walter Camp All-America first team (one of only three league players on the offense) and tabbed for the Outland Trophy watch list.
"Right now, it's pretty cool to see that … I think it's awesome," he said. "But, at the same time, I didn't earn anything, and I need to earn it. It's more important if I'm on those lists at the end of the season. It's another motivator to put myself in the best possible position to have my best season yet."
And he will prepare accordingly; a rallying point when one is most needed.
