Lucas: Herbig’s leadership shines through in tough times
November 17, 2022 | Football, Mike Lucas
Junior captain making presence felt on and off the field
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – At the end of the first quarter last Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, Wisconsin's Nick Herbig walked onto the field to say something to quarterback Graham Mertz. The Badgers had a 3-0 lead and the ball on their own 41, when it dawned on Herbig, "Oh, we're about to do the wave."
Herbig immediately turned and fixed his eyes on the top floor of the University of Iowa Children's Hospital overlooking the East stands and visitor's sideline. In what has become the most heartfelt tradition in college football, everybody waves to the young patients and family members.
Everybody. Fans. Players. Coaches. Officials. Staff. Even media. They all wave in unison.
"I felt it was better for me to stand there and be on the field and wave to them," said Herbig, accurately calculating that this would give him the best sight line to the kids and vice versa. "I think that's so cool, man, to just let them know, 'We see you guys. We're here for you.'"
It's a message that he has delivered to his own teammates, directly and indirectly. We're here for you. In that first quarter, Herbig's play spoke loud and clear. He had four tackles, including two sacks, one of which forced a fumble by quarterback Spencer Petras that was recovered by Darryl Peterson.
The takeaway led to a 32-yard Nate Van Zelst field goal. Herbig was far from done terrorizing Iowa's offensive line. He wound up with eight tackles and a career-high three sacks. His previous high was 2.5 sacks in last year's Iowa game during which he also had a strip sack of Petras in the first half.
For the 2022 season, Herbig paces the Big Ten with 15.5 TFLs and 11 sacks in nine games (seven over his last four). He leads the nation with an average of 1.22 sacks per game and ranks No. 2 nationally in total sacks behind USC defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu, who has 11.5 in 10 games.
Since 2009, the only league players to reach the 11-sack mark faster than Herbig have been Penn State's Carl Nassib, who ended up with 15.5 in 2015 (he was the Lombardi winner), and Ohio State's Chase Young, who finished with 16.5 in 2019 (he was a Heisman finalist and the No. 2 pick in the draft).
Herbig's 11 sacks are the most for the Badgers since Zack Baun had 12.5 in '19.
"To me that's one of the best feelings in the world – getting a sack – not just the feeling that it gives me but the feeling that it gives my teammates and my coaches," Herbig said. "You get up and everybody in the stadium is quiet except your sideline. They're going nuts. Seeing that gets me hyped."
He was speaking of silencing Kinnick. He took turns whipping tackles Mason Richmond and Jack Plumb. "I feel like it was one of my better games for sure," Herbig said. "I've been battling through some minor injuries, so I wasn't 100 percent. But I'm going to go out there and give it everything I have."
At that, Herbig had a chance for his first career interception (in 29 games) but muffed the catch.
"That's something I've been working on – my hands," he said with a tinge of disappointment. "If you touch it, you catch it. I have more confidence in my space play – just playing in space – being able to break on the ball, being able to cover people and make plays in the open field."
The bottom line disappointed him more than anything else: Iowa 24, Wisconsin 10.
"Everything felt like it was going my way," he said softly. "But it didn't go the team's way."
Not much has this season. After the Illinois loss (Oct. 1), Paul Chryst was dismissed as head coach and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was named interim HC. With two games left – Saturday at Nebraska and Nov. 26 against Minnesota at home – the 5-5 Badgers are still chasing bowl eligibility.
The last time they failed to play in the postseason was 2001 when they went 5-7 (Leonhard was a freshman safety). The UW's streak of 20 consecutive bowl games is the second longest in Big Ten history and the third longest active streak in the country behind Georgia (25) and Oklahoma (23).
"We've got a lot riding on these last two games – I'd hate to be the first team that doesn't go," said Herbig, who values bowl prep. "It's huge. For me, personally, there was a lot of development during those times (Mayo Bowl and Vegas Bowl). It helps you go forward into winter training and spring ball."
On Monday, Leonhard talked about a fundamental truth, "You get what you earn."
And he related it to playing in December or January. "Anytime you put out a goal and reach it – maybe it's not perfect, maybe it's not exactly what you want at the beginning of the season – but when you accomplish that goal of being bowl eligible, it's a big accomplishment," Leonhard stressed.
"Every time you step on the field is an opportunity to grow and get better and closer as a team."
This team has been forced to bond through adversity. Last April, running backs coach Gary Brown lost his battle with cancer. He was 52. Today, the UW players are mourning the loss of former teammate Devin Chandler, who transferred to Virginia and was killed late Sunday in a campus shooting.
Herbig and Chandler, a wide receiver, were both members of Wisconsin's 2020 recruiting class.
"That was rough," Herbig said. "A lot of my boys back home know him."
Herbig, who's from Kauai, Hawaii, is a product of Saint Louis School in Honolulu. Chandler went to middle school there (2013-2016) before moving to Tennessee and then North Carolina where he graduated from high school. His late dad flew for the Navy and was stationed in Oahu for a decade.
"When you come up short (on the field) and adversity hits, you learn a lot," Leonhard said. "You learn a lot about yourself, you learn a lot about the people around you and kind of the commitment of everyone involved. And unfortunately, it just seems like we keep getting punched.
"We're going to get back up. That's all we can do as a program. As players and men. Just continue to grind through it. That was part of my message yesterday (Monday). I don't know the answer. It's hard to understand why certain things happen.
"You just have to trust that there's light at the end of the tunnel and just continue to push and stay together and support each other and you're going to find that reward at the end. It doesn't seem like it's there right now but we can control as much on the football field as anywhere else.
"And that's where we want our guys to focus. Outside of here sometimes that's not the case. Just getting them to compartmentalize once again the emotions of it … not an easy thing to ask, not an easy thing to do. But we're going to do the best that we can.
"We've been through a lot in the last month, month and half, and our guys are resilient."
Leonhard's message to his players? We're here for you. "They know they have the support around here," he said, "and we've just tried to do everything we can to support them and be available and let them deal with it the best way they can and know they have a lot of help here."
Asked about his state of mind, Herbig said, "This year has not been what I thought or anyone thought or what we had envisioned for the team. Just an unfortunate turn of events. It has happened this whole year. It has made it hard. That's why I'm thankful for my brothers in the locker room."
Emotionally, there have been moments where Herbig has been forced to take a step back.
"There have been multiples situations like that where it's time for other guys to step up," he acknowledged. "I can't always be the guy talking. I sound like a broken record a lot of times. I think it's good for other guys to kind of step up and step into that role.
"There are definitely days like that where I have to decompress and take a break."
There have been many good days, too. Last week, his older brother was the subject of a feature story in the New York Post, whose headline read: "Little-known Nate Herbig coming up big in transforming Jets offensive line." They've won five of six since Herbig began starting on the O-line.
Wrote Mark Cannizzaro: "Herbig's tenacious play completely defies the person he projects himself as off the field, which is baby-faced, shy and docile." Nick Herbig can also be very soft-spoken and was quoted on Nate in the article, "He's my role model. I've looked up to him my whole life."
Bruce Herbig, the father of the three boys (Jake, Nate and Nick), had this to say to the Post, "I never let them win anything. They had to earn it. I still don't think they've won anything from me. I don't like to lose. I guess that spilled over to them and they took the ball and ran with it."
It explains Nick's competitiveness. During off-seasons, he has trained with his brother.
"I'm definitely more like Nate," he said. "I've been trying to copy him my whole life."
As far as having an on-off switch to his personality, Nick Herbig said, "I definitely think I do. That's something I've been trying to work on a lot – how I am off the field – engaging more with players and just being a better person. I feel like I've been doing a better job of it.
"There's definitely a switch. I'm a different person on the field."
Herbig's messaging has stayed the same. We're here for you. Good times. Or bad.
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – At the end of the first quarter last Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, Wisconsin's Nick Herbig walked onto the field to say something to quarterback Graham Mertz. The Badgers had a 3-0 lead and the ball on their own 41, when it dawned on Herbig, "Oh, we're about to do the wave."
Herbig immediately turned and fixed his eyes on the top floor of the University of Iowa Children's Hospital overlooking the East stands and visitor's sideline. In what has become the most heartfelt tradition in college football, everybody waves to the young patients and family members.
Everybody. Fans. Players. Coaches. Officials. Staff. Even media. They all wave in unison.
"I felt it was better for me to stand there and be on the field and wave to them," said Herbig, accurately calculating that this would give him the best sight line to the kids and vice versa. "I think that's so cool, man, to just let them know, 'We see you guys. We're here for you.'"
It's a message that he has delivered to his own teammates, directly and indirectly. We're here for you. In that first quarter, Herbig's play spoke loud and clear. He had four tackles, including two sacks, one of which forced a fumble by quarterback Spencer Petras that was recovered by Darryl Peterson.
The takeaway led to a 32-yard Nate Van Zelst field goal. Herbig was far from done terrorizing Iowa's offensive line. He wound up with eight tackles and a career-high three sacks. His previous high was 2.5 sacks in last year's Iowa game during which he also had a strip sack of Petras in the first half.
For the 2022 season, Herbig paces the Big Ten with 15.5 TFLs and 11 sacks in nine games (seven over his last four). He leads the nation with an average of 1.22 sacks per game and ranks No. 2 nationally in total sacks behind USC defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu, who has 11.5 in 10 games.
Since 2009, the only league players to reach the 11-sack mark faster than Herbig have been Penn State's Carl Nassib, who ended up with 15.5 in 2015 (he was the Lombardi winner), and Ohio State's Chase Young, who finished with 16.5 in 2019 (he was a Heisman finalist and the No. 2 pick in the draft).
Herbig's 11 sacks are the most for the Badgers since Zack Baun had 12.5 in '19.
"To me that's one of the best feelings in the world – getting a sack – not just the feeling that it gives me but the feeling that it gives my teammates and my coaches," Herbig said. "You get up and everybody in the stadium is quiet except your sideline. They're going nuts. Seeing that gets me hyped."
He was speaking of silencing Kinnick. He took turns whipping tackles Mason Richmond and Jack Plumb. "I feel like it was one of my better games for sure," Herbig said. "I've been battling through some minor injuries, so I wasn't 100 percent. But I'm going to go out there and give it everything I have."
At that, Herbig had a chance for his first career interception (in 29 games) but muffed the catch.
"That's something I've been working on – my hands," he said with a tinge of disappointment. "If you touch it, you catch it. I have more confidence in my space play – just playing in space – being able to break on the ball, being able to cover people and make plays in the open field."
The bottom line disappointed him more than anything else: Iowa 24, Wisconsin 10.
"Everything felt like it was going my way," he said softly. "But it didn't go the team's way."
Not much has this season. After the Illinois loss (Oct. 1), Paul Chryst was dismissed as head coach and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was named interim HC. With two games left – Saturday at Nebraska and Nov. 26 against Minnesota at home – the 5-5 Badgers are still chasing bowl eligibility.
The last time they failed to play in the postseason was 2001 when they went 5-7 (Leonhard was a freshman safety). The UW's streak of 20 consecutive bowl games is the second longest in Big Ten history and the third longest active streak in the country behind Georgia (25) and Oklahoma (23).
"We've got a lot riding on these last two games – I'd hate to be the first team that doesn't go," said Herbig, who values bowl prep. "It's huge. For me, personally, there was a lot of development during those times (Mayo Bowl and Vegas Bowl). It helps you go forward into winter training and spring ball."
On Monday, Leonhard talked about a fundamental truth, "You get what you earn."
And he related it to playing in December or January. "Anytime you put out a goal and reach it – maybe it's not perfect, maybe it's not exactly what you want at the beginning of the season – but when you accomplish that goal of being bowl eligible, it's a big accomplishment," Leonhard stressed.
"Every time you step on the field is an opportunity to grow and get better and closer as a team."
This team has been forced to bond through adversity. Last April, running backs coach Gary Brown lost his battle with cancer. He was 52. Today, the UW players are mourning the loss of former teammate Devin Chandler, who transferred to Virginia and was killed late Sunday in a campus shooting.
Herbig and Chandler, a wide receiver, were both members of Wisconsin's 2020 recruiting class.
"That was rough," Herbig said. "A lot of my boys back home know him."
Herbig, who's from Kauai, Hawaii, is a product of Saint Louis School in Honolulu. Chandler went to middle school there (2013-2016) before moving to Tennessee and then North Carolina where he graduated from high school. His late dad flew for the Navy and was stationed in Oahu for a decade.
"When you come up short (on the field) and adversity hits, you learn a lot," Leonhard said. "You learn a lot about yourself, you learn a lot about the people around you and kind of the commitment of everyone involved. And unfortunately, it just seems like we keep getting punched.
"We're going to get back up. That's all we can do as a program. As players and men. Just continue to grind through it. That was part of my message yesterday (Monday). I don't know the answer. It's hard to understand why certain things happen.
"You just have to trust that there's light at the end of the tunnel and just continue to push and stay together and support each other and you're going to find that reward at the end. It doesn't seem like it's there right now but we can control as much on the football field as anywhere else.
"And that's where we want our guys to focus. Outside of here sometimes that's not the case. Just getting them to compartmentalize once again the emotions of it … not an easy thing to ask, not an easy thing to do. But we're going to do the best that we can.
"We've been through a lot in the last month, month and half, and our guys are resilient."
Leonhard's message to his players? We're here for you. "They know they have the support around here," he said, "and we've just tried to do everything we can to support them and be available and let them deal with it the best way they can and know they have a lot of help here."
Asked about his state of mind, Herbig said, "This year has not been what I thought or anyone thought or what we had envisioned for the team. Just an unfortunate turn of events. It has happened this whole year. It has made it hard. That's why I'm thankful for my brothers in the locker room."
Emotionally, there have been moments where Herbig has been forced to take a step back.
"There have been multiples situations like that where it's time for other guys to step up," he acknowledged. "I can't always be the guy talking. I sound like a broken record a lot of times. I think it's good for other guys to kind of step up and step into that role.
"There are definitely days like that where I have to decompress and take a break."
There have been many good days, too. Last week, his older brother was the subject of a feature story in the New York Post, whose headline read: "Little-known Nate Herbig coming up big in transforming Jets offensive line." They've won five of six since Herbig began starting on the O-line.
Wrote Mark Cannizzaro: "Herbig's tenacious play completely defies the person he projects himself as off the field, which is baby-faced, shy and docile." Nick Herbig can also be very soft-spoken and was quoted on Nate in the article, "He's my role model. I've looked up to him my whole life."
Bruce Herbig, the father of the three boys (Jake, Nate and Nick), had this to say to the Post, "I never let them win anything. They had to earn it. I still don't think they've won anything from me. I don't like to lose. I guess that spilled over to them and they took the ball and ran with it."
It explains Nick's competitiveness. During off-seasons, he has trained with his brother.
"I'm definitely more like Nate," he said. "I've been trying to copy him my whole life."
As far as having an on-off switch to his personality, Nick Herbig said, "I definitely think I do. That's something I've been trying to work on a lot – how I am off the field – engaging more with players and just being a better person. I feel like I've been doing a better job of it.
"There's definitely a switch. I'm a different person on the field."
Herbig's messaging has stayed the same. We're here for you. Good times. Or bad.
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