BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — It has been well chronicled how Badger fans had to wait 651 days before finally returning to Camp Randall Stadium for last Saturday's season opener. But it still paled in comparison to the 2,128 days that Mike Maskalunas had to wait between starts.
Prior to replacing Leo Chenal at inside linebacker in the starting lineup against Penn State — Chenal was sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19 — Maskalunas had not started a game since 2015 and his senior year at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. But he stayed ready.
"Anytime you're a backup on the depth (chart), you have to prepare every day like you're about to start," said Maskalunas, who had 54 snaps on defense and another 10 on special teams — the same number as Jack Sanborn — in the 16-10 loss to the 19th-ranked Nittany Lions.
That was the most game action Maskalunas had seen since the 2019 opener at South Florida. Two years ago, Maskalunas and Chenal were the backups to Sanborn and Chris Orr, who was hurt in the first half. That opened the door for Maskalunas to play a total of 51 snaps, 30 on defense.
"That's all it takes sometimes — one play — as you saw in that LSU game, or in the USF game — it can happen liked a drop of the hat, so you always have to be ready to go," said Maskalunas, who was redshirting in 2016 when Orr was injured on the first defensive snap in that LSU game at Lambeau Field.
Back then, it was Ryan Connelly who stepped up and replaced Orr. Maskalunas learned the value of preparation from that moment. As a scout-teamer during his early years in the inside linebackers room, he absorbed those lessons from experienced players like Connelly, Orr, T.J. Edwards and Jack Cichy.
"I think the guys respect his attitude," said UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard. "He's a guy who's earned everything in this program — been in a lot of different situations and had a lot of different roles. Really, from a young player on, you could see the natural leadership. He draws people to him."
Just like Maskalunas was drawn to his mentors. As a sixth-year senior, he's now returning the favor. According to Leonhard, "He's always taking young guys (under his wing) and always doing extra with people to help them understand what the culture is, what the standards and expectations are."
Maskalunas holds the famed Duke's Mayo Bowl trophy 2.0
It's how this program has always been wired. Maskalunas is just another example.
"It's exciting to see him get the opportunity to get a start," Leonhard went on. "Not the situation that anybody wanted. But to go in there on late notice and perform the way he did, I thought he did a great job for us … I thought he handled the big stage … I thought he handled it well."
After finding out Friday morning that Chenal was out and he was starting against Penn State, Maskalunas said, "I spent the whole day hitting the playbook hard."
Throughout training camp, Maskalunas was taking reps at "Will" linebacker behind Chenal. But he moved over to "Mike" linebacker for the Nittany Lions, with Sanborn taking over as the "Will." Maskalunas has played both positions in UW's 3-4. But it was still a transition in a small window.
"I was lucky I had a good supporting cast around me with Jack to help with the calls and everything," Maskalunas said. "I've always done Mike and Will, but when you're preparing for a game, there's certain little nuances you have to pick up at each at position; things that are a little different."
Maskalunas characterized "Mike" as more of a strongside, downhill linebacker — "More often than not, he'll be the point of attack guy where he's got to address pullers" — whereas the "Will" linebacker "is usually on the backside, more of a pace player" and running more freely to the football.
But he quickly added, "I wouldn't say there's a huge difference."
Yet, the plan was to put more on Sanborn's plate because of his 21 career starts.
"Going into the game," Leonhard said, "we knew that we were going to put a lot on the linebackers, especially the Will linebacker position just with the adjustments that they were going to make — a little creative, a little different than what we had done in the past with some of our pressures."
Although Sanborn was credited with just five tackles, two TFLs (one sack), he was a disrupter.
"We felt we put the learning and we put the adjustments on the right guy and obviously he handled it well," Leonhard said. "Extremely productive in the run game, making tackles; and in the pass game, creating pressures. I'm proud of the way he handled it. I loved what Jack was able to do for us."
After ending up with a couple of tackles and a TFL, Maskalunas admitted, "After that first drive, I would say that I really settled in. There were a couple of times that I was out there that I would catch myself lining up like I was going to be the Will and then I'd see Jack, and go, 'Oh, no, I'm the Mike.'"
Citing the crowd noise in Camp Randall and how it impacted the Badger defense, as a whole, he also conceded, "That was actually probably the biggest shock to me just how loud it was. In practice, you're able to communicate everything vocally and be all on the same page with that.
"But when you're in a big game situation and the crowd is that loud and noisy, a lot of the communication is more hand signals. You've just got to know that. On the field, I realized you've really got to be locked in because you're not always going to get a verbal communication."
UW coach Paul Chryst verbalized his respect for Maskalunas.
"He's one of those guys who's been all-in this whole time," he said. "Doesn't matter what his role has been. He takes it serious, prepares. You know he's with you. He's a really good teammate. He cares about people, checks on people, tries to lead. He has been that for a while."
But what does that mean? What is a good teammate?
"It's all about earning the respect from the people around you by showing that you want what is best for the team, not what is best for yourself," Maskalunas said. "I've been lucky to be a part of a lot of great cultures whenever I've been on football teams going back to high school and youth football. I'd always have coaches that would promote that type of culture where it was a team-first mentality."
You can learn a lot about Maskalunas by just reading his Linkedin profile.
"My experience as a student-athlete at Wisconsin has equipped me with valuable life skills that I believe will translate direction into the business world," he wrote. "If there is one life lesson that I have taken from my experience at the university, it would be to have grit.
"To me, grit is finding a way to win no matter the circumstance. This is a message that my coaches have continuously hammered into my mind and one that I apply to all facets of my life."
The 23-year-old Maskalunas is working on his master's after earning dual undergraduate degrees, one in Finance, Investment and Banking and the other in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics. Over the summer, he completed a remote internship with Lever Capital Partners. His role model, in this case, was Adam Horowitz, who founded the company in 2009.
To this end, Maskalunas can converse on real estate equity waterfall modeling, pro forma modeling, commercial real estate underwriting and valuation, DCF analysis and ARGUS enterprise experience. But his immediate goal is to help the Badgers find ways to win games.
"What I love about football is the brotherhood and playing for each other," said Maskalunas, who's preparing for another start Saturday against Eastern Michigan. "If you have a team that is truly all together, and has each other's backs, no matter what, those are always going to be the best teams.
"Having adversity like this (the Penn State loss) is when teams with good chemistry are able to conquer that adversity and turn the negative into a positive. You get into situations where you get knocked down … but if you approach it the right way, it could actually be a good thing for us.
"We can still achieve all of our goals if we use it as motivation to come together."
Maskalunas has come a long way from his junior year in high school, when he was a 200-pound starting offensive guard on Stevenson's unbeaten state championship team. And he has come a long way from a loss to Loyola in the 8A playoffs the following season. His last start prior to Saturday.
He has come a long way, too, from being a preferred walk-on. After going on scholarship, he has labored primarily on special teams. But he still has found a way to lead others in that room. It has not gone unnoticed by Chryst, who said, "Just the way he goes about it, people respect him."
Maskalunas laughed at the suggestion that his game plan is ultimately to be a real estate mogul.
"That's the plan someday," he confirmed. "But Plan A is to play football as long as I can."
All that matters to him right now is the real estate between the second level and the ball.
