BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. – Of the 46 players scheduled to attend next week's 2022 Big Ten Football Media Days there will be only a handful of linebackers at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Headlining the position group will be Iowa's Jack Campbell, who plays inside, and Wisconsin's Nick Herbig, who plays off the edge (with a fiery competitive edge to his game). They will share the Indy stage with Indiana's Cam Jones, Minnesota's Mariano Sori-Marin and Purdue's Jalen Graham.

In a way, Herbig sees his participation as validation, an oft-used word in his football vocabulary. His presence at a preseason media event, highlighting the league's best, is both recognition and affirmation – validating, by definition, his effort on the field as a playmaking outside 'backer.

"I can't wait, I'm so excited, it's kind of surreal," enthused Herbig, who will be joined in Indy by teammates Keeanu Benton and Graham Mertz. "You'd see guys like Ferg (Jake Ferguson) dressing up and going to these Media Days and that was always cool to me. I wanted to be that guy."

Ferguson, Jack Sanborn and Faion Hicks were the Badger player reps last July. With Sanborn's departure, along with that of Leo Chenal and Noah Burks, Herbig is now the guy, the last one standing among the 2021 starting linebackers. But he's taking ownership and embracing additional responsibility.

"For sure, I wouldn't want it any other way," said Herbig, a 6-2, 230-pound junior from Kauai, Hawaii. "That's why I came to Wisconsin. That's why I came over 4,000 miles away. I wanted to be that type of player. I wanted to be different.

"I feel like nothing in life worth having comes easy. You have to work for it every day. And then you have to wake up the next day and do it all over again. I love that. I won today but I've got to wake up tomorrow and win tomorrow. And I've got to wake up the next day and win ..."

That articulated, Herbig rationalized the inevitable consequence of competition in the very same breath, "You're going to lose some days. But as long as I'm doing everything within my ability to be the best that I can be I know that it's going to take me far."

By most estimations, Herbig is not far from realizing an NFL dream, something that also drives those four other Big Ten linebackers going to Indianapolis. Campbell is No. 3 and Herbig is No. 6 in the Pro Football Focus early Top 10 inside linebackers for the 2023 draft per Mike Renner, the lead analyst.

Although Herbig plays outside in the UW's 3-4, the suggestion is that he could move inside, a transition similar to the one made by former Badger linebackers Joe Schobert (recently of the Steelers, now a free agent) and Zack Baun (Saints).

In late May, Brian Baldinger, a retired O-line vet of 13 years and an NFL Network analyst, posted this tweet on Herbig: "Has everything it takes to have a 'monster year' for the Badgers. His speed to power is what every NFL team gets excited about. Collapse the pocket! Affect the QB."

On whether good or bad projections can motivate, Herbig said, "People say, 'Don't pay attention to that stuff.' But you're lying if you say that you don't look. You're lying if you don't like to see validation of the work that you've been doing.

"That's all it is for me. Validation. I know I'm putting in the work and I'm doing the right thing. And I'd be lying to you if I said I don't pay attention. I saw it and it's definitely motivation because I want to be No. 1. I want to be the best ever to put the Red on."

Last spring, Herbig worked out with one of the best, if not the best – Pittsburgh outside linebacker T.J. Watt, the 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Herbig was reluctant to share any advice or tips Watt might have passed along. But you could tell that he was inspired by the ex-Badger.

"My focal point is being a lot more quick and explosive off the edge – being a stronger presence – I want to be a game-changer," Herbig said of his 2022 goals. "I don't want to just make a play here and there. I want them asking, 'Where's 19 at? Where's 19 lining up?' That's the type of player I want to be."

That entails finishing plays in the backfield for Wisconsin's No. 19, who pointed out, "I think I missed more sacks than I had last year. It haunts me at night sometimes. I can't sleep. I know plays like that will make you or break you. That's what separates the good from the great.

"If I want to be the type of player that I say I want to be, then I need to make those plays. If I'm going to be the leader of this team, then I need to make those plays. If I want to win the Big Ten, I've got to make those plays. There's no excuse. I don't have a choice."

On his Twitter platform, there's a pinned tweet of his 2021 highlights. A friend from back home enhanced the "I can't quit" video with lightning strikes and flames – not only conjuring up the shrimp cocktail sauce at St. Elmo's in downtown Indy but someone playing with his hair on fire, Herbig's MO. 

"He's got that edge – that little craziness to him that you want in a linebacker," said Shaun Snee, the football strength and conditioning director. There seems to be an on-off switch: from hard-charging to the chill of the self-anointed KauaiBoy. "He's a respectful kid, a good character kid," Snee attested.

It was a madly demonstrative Herbig that brought the fire to a July 12 weight room video celebrating 52 new clean PR's. That was followed by 66 back squat PR's on July 18 and 60 bench PR's on July 19, closing out the summer conditioning phase. Training camp will commence in early August.

"We thought this was the best phase all-around," Snee opined. "Even if a guy missed a bench, a squat or a clean, they didn't throw the towel in. They just went after it. Even a lot of the younger guys said the reason they kept going was the camaraderie of the older guys and the whole group."

Offering encouragement to "keep going and push themselves" was Herbig, one of the leaders.

"He brings a mindset," Mertz said of Herbig's team-wide influence with young and old alike. "He sets the tone for everybody every day and it spreads. And now he's allowing everybody else to set the tone. He's just got that dog mindset. Same exact thing with Keeanu. We've got so many guys like that."

Benton also referenced Herbig's mindset. "I feel that's a big part in everybody's play," Benton contended. "If you believe you can do it, you're going to end up doing it. If you keep telling yourself you can't, then you won't. Nick is one of those guys who's going to come out screaming in your face …"

And he's going to tell you that he's going to run through your face, Benton said, chuckling. Herbig's attitude can be traced in part to off-season training sessions with his older brother, Nate, an offensive guard with the New York Jets; and Lane Johnson, a veteran tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I owe a lot to those guys," said Nick Herbig, who also has come under the influence of Johnson's personal trainer, Gabe Rangel, an ex-Marine. "I don't want to say they changed the type of player I am. But they changed my mindset …how I attack things … that Never-Say-Die attitude."

Do the math. Herbig has. A play is about seven seconds long, he estimated.

"Why not give it everything you have?" he posed. "That mentality has really elevated me."

This weekend, Herbig plans on spending some time with his brother in New York. Nate Herbig played three years at Stanford where he was first-team All-Pac-12 in 2019. An undrafted free agent, he appeared in 33 games with 17 starts in Philadelphia before being claimed on waivers by the Jets in May.

Both Herbigs are products of Saint Louis School in Honolulu. So is Utah transfer Kamo'i Latu, a 6-foot, 195-pound safety, a position of limited depth for the Badgers. Last season, Latu played in 14 games punctuated by his only start in a 42-26 win over USC. Latu had a game-high 10 tackles.

"He adds a great element to our backfield, he's tough," Herbig said of Latu, a close friend who was recognized as the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for his Oct. 9 performance against the Trojans in the Los Angeles Coliseum. "He's going to open a lot of eyes this year, I will say that."

At that, there will be no shortage of eyes on No. 19. Just the way that Herbig wants it.