Lucas: In Wohler’s world, ‘The only thing on your mind is winning’
April 15, 2022 | Football, Mike Lucas
Sophomore has made the most of his mentors at safety while growing into expanded role
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Hunter Wohler, helmet in hand, walked off the practice field. Within seconds, he made eye contact with his out-of-uniform Wisconsin teammate Travian Blaylock, who has been sidelined for the rest of the spring with an injury. Wohler, heart on sleeve, hugged Blaylock.
"He's going through some stuff now and I just wanted to let him know that we're always there for him," Wohler said of Blaylock, a star-crossed fifth-year senior. "We have a brotherhood. We love each other. And no matter what happens, we'll always have each other's back."
Three months ago, Wohler turned 19. Although he has yet to complete two full semesters on the UW campus, he's already fully vested in the Badger family, a foundational piece of the football culture here. It was one of the reasons why he chose Wisconsin over Ohio State, among many others.
Wohler's hometown, Muskego, is 82 miles from Camp Randall. With a population of 25,304, it's a metropolis compared to a village like Tony (Pop. 102), the home of UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard. The communities have many of the same core values. Common ground for coach and player.
"We have a good relationship and it's only growing," Wohler said. "He's easy to relate to. He's not this big arrogant coach. He's down-to-earth. He's a small-town guy. He loves his family. He loves being close to home. I'm the same way. A very family-oriented guy."
The seeds of the Leonhard-Wohler relationship were planted during recruiting. Since then, Wohler said, "It's grown a lot. He brought me in with confidence, he put his faith in me that I could come here and be a good player for him. So, we had a good relationship to start.
"But being here, talking with him, watching film with him, we've been able to build that relationship even more. I find it easier now to see it through his eyes when it comes to the football field. We're at a point where we can joke with each other. We can laugh. It's not all serious all the time."
Wohler then delivered a priceless observation, "He's a little kid at heart, too."
Watching Leonhard interact with players before, during and after practice confirms that. Just like there's no mistaking how badly he feels for Blaylock. "The kid has done everything right in this program," he said, "and unfortunately, he's been hit by the injury bug multiple times. I hurt for him."
Coupled with the departures of Scott Nelson and Collin Wilder (a combined 42 career starts), Blaylock's loss has left the Badgers shorthanded and nearly bereft of starting experience at safety. The returning "veteran" is John Torchio, a fifth-year senior. Torchio, with four career starts, is the catalyst.
"You just see him take that group under his wing," Leonhard said.
Playing alongside of Torchio on the starting defense has been hugely beneficial to Wohler.
"He's a senior leader and he knows the defense like the back of his hand," he said, speaking for the younger DBs. "I'm able to go up to him and ask him questions and talk to him about anything, whether it's football or not. He has meant a lot to us right now and he'll mean a lot to us in the future."
From this mentoring standpoint, Wilder and Nelson have passed the torch to "Torch."
"I couldn't be more thankful for those two guys; they took me and Owen Arnett in with open arms," said Wohler, who still sees Wilder around campus and still plays video games with Nelson. "Every day, every other day, whatever we needed, we could ask questions or watch some ball with them.
"They were always there for us. They always had our backs. It was a relationship I didn't expect to happen. But being able to grow so close with guys that much older — and with that much more experience — was special. And it helped us both on and off the field."
Last season, it was special teams that opened the door for Wohler. It was the same path that Leonhard took in 2001. As a true freshman walk-on, he lettered while contributing primarily on special teams. His only notoriety? He won a team award as a specialist for his play against Michigan State.
Most people wouldn't have been able to pick No. 18 out of a crowd of gunners or sprinters — though his size (5-foot-8, 175-pounds) was a conversation piece. Especially after he won the team's slam dunk competition the following spring by whipping a field including Jonathan Welsh and Erasmus James.
Leonhard blew up as a sophomore safety. Won the starting job during training camp. Picked off two passes in the 2002 opener against Fresno State. Led the Big Ten with 11 interceptions. Named a first-team All-American. Broke the school record for punt return yardage. That was Leonhard's stepping stone.
On his own narrative, and the value of honing techniques on special teams, Wohler said, "The biggest thing was the confidence factor, 'I belong here, I belong on the field, I can play with these guys.' It was learning how precise the college football game is. You have to worry about such little details."
Asked if he would like to be a specialist again in 2022 — in addition to his expanded role on defense — Wohler said excitedly, "Of course. I love special teams. It's another opportunity to get on the field and make plays and to help the team out."
• • • •
About halfway through last season, Leonhard saw it "clicking" for the 6-2, 206-pound Wohler.
"You saw him playing faster, you saw him playing more confident," Leonhard said. "He just hit the next level about midway through the year and it translated into more snaps on game day. There were a couple of games where he ended up playing a decent number of snaps for us."
Wohler had six tackles at Rutgers. And a sack the following week against Northwestern.
"He now knows the game speed of Saturdays," Leonhard said. "I just see a very confident kid right now. He's still learning. But you see the physicality that he plays with, the play speed, the confidence. Obviously, he learned a lot last year and he's trusting what we're asking him to do."
Wohler couldn't pinpoint one single play — or defining moment — from his frosh baptism.
"Like Coach said, it was probably about midseason when I actually understood what we were trying to do defensively, where I could understand the game plan for that week on the first day (of practice)," he said. "It wasn't anything all of a sudden.
"It was Coach Leonhard helping me through fall camp and the first few weeks of the season — slowly bringing me along, slowly working me in — and then I was able to wrap my head around it and just play. Once you can stop thinking, you can just play. It's a game that we've been playing forever."
Mindful of the success that others have had playing safety, at all levels, Wohler has some favorites, including the Arizona Cardinals' Budda Baker, who has been named to four Pro Bowls in five NFL seasons. Baker was a second round pick out of the University of Washington in 2017.
"He plays fast, he likes to hit," Wohler said. "I kind of want to model my game after him."
Some of the more competitive matchups in practice have featured old friends and foes from the Classic 8 Conference: Wohler from Muskego, Chimere Dike from Waukesha North. Both competed in football, basketball and track and field for their respective prep programs, the Warriors and Northstars.
"He was a good hooper back in the day," Wohler said of Dike. "He's just a great competitor. You can tell that he does his homework. You can see from the first practice of the spring ball to now just the evolution of his game already in this short period of time. He's truly a student of the game.
"He's going to be really special this year. He's going to do big things."
As for his own evolution, Wohler said, "I've taken big strides. That's all credit to Coach Leonhard and the older guys — Torch, Blaylock, Scott and Collin. They were able to coach me up in so many ways. It made it easier to get to the point where I am in being able to trust myself and play the game."
Considering that Wohler never lost a game during his three varsity seasons at Muskego — the Warriors went 37-0 with two state championships (COVID denied them an opportunity to notch a hat trick of titles) — when was the last time that Wohler started in a game that his team actually lost?
"It has been awhile," he said with a shrug. "Probably eighth grade."
On its relevance to his ongoing development, he said, "It comes back to having that winning mindset. When you go into a game, you're not thinking about losing. The only thing on your mind is winning. And you play like that. You compete like that. You expect that from your teammates as well.
"It has helped me in all the ways possible. Always being hungry. Always wanting the next step. Always looking forward to the next game and the next play."
Always making sure to play the game the right way for the right reasons. Like a little kid at heart would. Always.
