Photo by: David Stluka
Lucas: Herbig shares Hawaiian culture with Badger family
September 27, 2022 | Football, Mike Lucas
Junior captain eager to lead Badgers into divisional play
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – On the trip to Ohio State, Nick Herbig morphed briefly into a flight attendant. Walking down the aisle with his bag of snacks, the Wisconsin outside linebacker handed out a popular Hawaiian dining treat – Spam musubi – to each of his teammates and everybody in the travel party.
That morning, Herbig's mother, Robyn, prepared over 200 rectangular pieces of the tasty comfort food consisting of grilled Spam, rice blocks and a seaweed wrap. A homemade teriyaki-style sauce pulls it all together. Not that Nick was willing to divulge the ingredients of his mom's sauce.
"I can't let that out," he said.
Spam musubi is sold at convenience stores throughout Hawaii. How was it received here?
"I'm looking north and south, and east and west on the plane and everybody is shoving it down their face like they hadn't eaten in a couple of days," said Badger safety Kamo'i Latu. "Honestly, it's just a little taste of Hawaii and it warms my heart that Nick and I can share our culture and food."
Neither Latu, nor Herbig left their seat on the charter flight home from Ohio State. Latu listened to what he termed "old school, '90s Hawaiian music" for the purpose of "calming down" and "trying to be in my own world." Herbig put on live satellite TV and blanked out in front of the seatback screen.
"I didn't even listen to music," he said, "I just sat there and watched the Golf Channel."
Hours earlier, the Buckeyes routed the Badgers, 52-21, in the Big Ten opener at Ohio Stadium.
But the Golf Channel? "I just wanted to take my mind off the game," Herbig explained.
Couldn't blame him. Ohio State had 21 points and 210 yards in the first quarter alone.
"I was frustrated more than anything," he said. "I thought we had a good game plan going in."
By the time the plane touched down, Herbig had moved on to Illinois. Par for the course.
"I was just thinking about last year when we were 1-3 – it's a similar feeling," he said Monday, reflecting on how the UW rebounded by winning seven in a row, starting with a 24-0 shutout of the Illini. "I know the guys are going to rally and we're going to come together. It's going to be a heckuva story."
It already has a unique family storyline. For the second consecutive season, Bruce and Robyn Herbig are living with their youngest son in a West Side home not far from campus. They reside in the basement while Nick lives upstairs with Latu, a Utah transfer, and Kaden Johnson, an outside linebacker.
Johnson is a redshirt sophomore from St. Paul, Minnesota. "Him and Nick built some chemistry and a bond when they both first got here," Latu noted. "I met Kaden before I came here and it kind of helped with my transition that I knew some of the boys on the team."
As far as his parents committing to spending another fall in Madison, Herbig said, "The only thing I can say is that I'm blessed, I'm blessed for sure. It's pretty special. My mom is always doing laundry and cleaning the house and taking care of not only me but my roommates, too."
Latu can attest to that. "I look at the Herbigs as my second family – I look at Nick's mom and dad as my own mom and dad," he said. "They've showed nothing but love to me. It's like coming home to my own parents. Just like back in Hawaii, they're there if you need something. It helps a lot.
"I'm just a kid from a small island in the Pacific Ocean. Coming to the states can be hard for someone like me. But it helped that I have a best friend here and it has helped that his parents are here. Nick's whole family loves it here, the atmosphere, the coaches, the people. That's all I needed to hear."
Since the Washington State game, Herbig's grandparents have been in town as well. They're staying at the house and living upstairs with the boys (to eliminate walking up and down steps). They're returning to Hawaii next week. Nick's grandmother helped Robyn with the preparation of the Spam musubi.
"Nick's grandparents were the ones who moved to my island so Nick could go to high school – his grandparents always took care of me, making sure there was food for me – they're family," said Latu, who's from Oahu, the most populated of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu is on its south shore).
The Herbigs are from Kauai, aka the Garden Island, 63 miles from Oahu. The Saint Louis School is a football powerhouse in Honolulu, a prep proving ground for Marcus Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa and the Herbigs, Nate and Nick. The former earned a scholarship to Stanford and is now in the NFL with the Jets.
Nick Herbig likes to bounce sports-related things off both of his brothers, Nate and Jake, a UI-UX designer, who's working and living in Dallas. "I talk to them on the phone about football and stuff," Nick said. "My mom and dad are here for support. But I don't go in-depth (with X's and O's)."
What advice did Nate Herbig, an offensive lineman, offer after the Ohio State loss?
"It wasn't advice, it was more so just learning from what went right and how I could be a better player and a better leader," said Nick, who had three tackles and a near pick-6 against the Buckeyes. "It was all about bouncing back. This week is what is in front of me, and I need to focus on that."
What will that resiliency potentially look like for the Badgers? How will they get there? "It's just trusting in each other, trusting in the plan, trusting that guys are going to be in the right spot, trusting that we're going to have the right call," Nick Herbig said. "A lot of it just comes down to trust.
"We're young, but we're talented. It's conference play now and everybody is looking at the schedule thinking that they're going to win the West (Division of the Big Ten). So, I think we just need to outwork every opponent that we go against."
Regarding his own messaging to teammates, he commanded, "Realize we have to play for each other. We're not playing for anybody but ourselves because at the end of the day, nobody in the outside world is on that field with us. None of the media. Not even our coaches. It's just us, 11 guys at a time.
"We need to realize that once the ball is snapped, nobody is going to save us but us."
Latu, one of the hardest hitters in the secondary, was on the same wavelength. "We all just have to do our job," said the 6-foot, 195-pound junior, who has taken over as a starter for the injured Hunter Wohler. "In order to do our job, we need to know our job. It also comes down to trust."
Herbig is delighted to have Latu as a teammate and roommate. "Having somebody you can share your culture and own kind of beliefs with is huge," he said. "Even for guys here, you could be from Ohio or Michigan, but you're both from the Midwest and there were similar things you grew up around.
"Me being from Hawaii, nobody had any idea on where I was from. There really wasn't anybody I could relate to in that sense. That's why having him (Latu) here is so huge … and I think he's done an awesome job. I'm proud of him. He has come a long way.
"Just to see him with a smile on his face every day and coming in here with a good attitude, he works his tail off and always shows up ready to play. He's going to hit somebody, you know that. He's growing and maturing and realizing that he can have an impact on this team."
Latu's comfort level has grown in the company of safeties John Torchio and Preston Zachman.
"I am starting to feel more comfortable being out the with Torch and Preston – whoever is in (the game), we're all on the same page, we communicate to each other, we vocalize a lot," Latu said. "I look at Torch as one of my big brothers. Coming in here, he took me under his wing.
"Even to this day, I'll pick his brain. He knows this defense like the back of his hand."
A year ago, the Badgers lost to Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan in their first four games. The only win was over Eastern Michigan. Losing to the Irish in Chicago was particularly frustrating. The UW had taken a 13-10 fourth quarter lead before Notre Dame countered with 31 unanswered points.
Following the home loss to the Wolverines, Wisconsin got back on track at Illinois. The Badgers outgained the Illini, 491 yards to 93 – their largest yardage advantage in a Big Ten game since 2014 – while hogging the ball for 42 minutes and 43 seconds. It was their highest time of possession mark since 2009.
Chez Mellusi rushed for 145 yards and Braelon Allen went over 100 for the first time in his college career with 18 carries for 131 yards. Allen experienced another "first" at Ohio State. His first pass completion as a Wildcat Quarterback. Years ago, he had taken some snaps as a QB in Fond du Lac.
"I saw him doing it after practice one day, and I thought they were just messing around," Herbig said. "And then, they actually did it in the game and I'm like, 'Oh, my God, I like that.' Even if you're playing with good eyes on defense, he can still outrun you. That's a whole different element."
The Illini are a whole different team on offense. The tempo has changed dramatically with quarterback Tommy DeVito, a Syracuse transfer. Then, there's tailback Chase Brown, the leading rusher in the country (151.0). Minnesota's Mohamed Ibrahim is No. 2 (141.8), and Allen is No. 5 (124.2).
"He runs hard, he doesn't stop his feet, and he explodes once he gets into the open field, he can kick it up a gear, I respect his game," Herbig said of Brown, a 5-11, 205-pound junior. "He (DeVito) is a little more elusive. He's more of a playmaker. He's savvy. He's good, too. They have a good backfield."
Both of Illinois' starting offensive tackles are over 300 pounds. By comparison, the 228-pound Herbig is undersized, something that he has grown accustomed to. At Ohio State, he was matched against Paris Johnson (6-6, 310) and Dawand Jones (6-8, 359) whom Herbig labeled a "monster."
Business as usual for Herbig, who has usually found a way to compensate for any size differential with quickness and an array of moves. "It was a good challenge," Herbig said. "I like challenges like that. I look forward to things like that. I take pride in being the smaller guy. That has been me my whole life."
He would take even more pride in getting this team squared away. And he's working on it.
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – On the trip to Ohio State, Nick Herbig morphed briefly into a flight attendant. Walking down the aisle with his bag of snacks, the Wisconsin outside linebacker handed out a popular Hawaiian dining treat – Spam musubi – to each of his teammates and everybody in the travel party.
That morning, Herbig's mother, Robyn, prepared over 200 rectangular pieces of the tasty comfort food consisting of grilled Spam, rice blocks and a seaweed wrap. A homemade teriyaki-style sauce pulls it all together. Not that Nick was willing to divulge the ingredients of his mom's sauce.
"I can't let that out," he said.
Spam musubi is sold at convenience stores throughout Hawaii. How was it received here?
"I'm looking north and south, and east and west on the plane and everybody is shoving it down their face like they hadn't eaten in a couple of days," said Badger safety Kamo'i Latu. "Honestly, it's just a little taste of Hawaii and it warms my heart that Nick and I can share our culture and food."
Neither Latu, nor Herbig left their seat on the charter flight home from Ohio State. Latu listened to what he termed "old school, '90s Hawaiian music" for the purpose of "calming down" and "trying to be in my own world." Herbig put on live satellite TV and blanked out in front of the seatback screen.
"I didn't even listen to music," he said, "I just sat there and watched the Golf Channel."
Hours earlier, the Buckeyes routed the Badgers, 52-21, in the Big Ten opener at Ohio Stadium.
But the Golf Channel? "I just wanted to take my mind off the game," Herbig explained.
Couldn't blame him. Ohio State had 21 points and 210 yards in the first quarter alone.
"I was frustrated more than anything," he said. "I thought we had a good game plan going in."
By the time the plane touched down, Herbig had moved on to Illinois. Par for the course.
"I was just thinking about last year when we were 1-3 – it's a similar feeling," he said Monday, reflecting on how the UW rebounded by winning seven in a row, starting with a 24-0 shutout of the Illini. "I know the guys are going to rally and we're going to come together. It's going to be a heckuva story."
It already has a unique family storyline. For the second consecutive season, Bruce and Robyn Herbig are living with their youngest son in a West Side home not far from campus. They reside in the basement while Nick lives upstairs with Latu, a Utah transfer, and Kaden Johnson, an outside linebacker.
Johnson is a redshirt sophomore from St. Paul, Minnesota. "Him and Nick built some chemistry and a bond when they both first got here," Latu noted. "I met Kaden before I came here and it kind of helped with my transition that I knew some of the boys on the team."
As far as his parents committing to spending another fall in Madison, Herbig said, "The only thing I can say is that I'm blessed, I'm blessed for sure. It's pretty special. My mom is always doing laundry and cleaning the house and taking care of not only me but my roommates, too."
Latu can attest to that. "I look at the Herbigs as my second family – I look at Nick's mom and dad as my own mom and dad," he said. "They've showed nothing but love to me. It's like coming home to my own parents. Just like back in Hawaii, they're there if you need something. It helps a lot.
"I'm just a kid from a small island in the Pacific Ocean. Coming to the states can be hard for someone like me. But it helped that I have a best friend here and it has helped that his parents are here. Nick's whole family loves it here, the atmosphere, the coaches, the people. That's all I needed to hear."
Since the Washington State game, Herbig's grandparents have been in town as well. They're staying at the house and living upstairs with the boys (to eliminate walking up and down steps). They're returning to Hawaii next week. Nick's grandmother helped Robyn with the preparation of the Spam musubi.
"Nick's grandparents were the ones who moved to my island so Nick could go to high school – his grandparents always took care of me, making sure there was food for me – they're family," said Latu, who's from Oahu, the most populated of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu is on its south shore).
The Herbigs are from Kauai, aka the Garden Island, 63 miles from Oahu. The Saint Louis School is a football powerhouse in Honolulu, a prep proving ground for Marcus Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa and the Herbigs, Nate and Nick. The former earned a scholarship to Stanford and is now in the NFL with the Jets.
Nick Herbig likes to bounce sports-related things off both of his brothers, Nate and Jake, a UI-UX designer, who's working and living in Dallas. "I talk to them on the phone about football and stuff," Nick said. "My mom and dad are here for support. But I don't go in-depth (with X's and O's)."
What advice did Nate Herbig, an offensive lineman, offer after the Ohio State loss?
"It wasn't advice, it was more so just learning from what went right and how I could be a better player and a better leader," said Nick, who had three tackles and a near pick-6 against the Buckeyes. "It was all about bouncing back. This week is what is in front of me, and I need to focus on that."
What will that resiliency potentially look like for the Badgers? How will they get there? "It's just trusting in each other, trusting in the plan, trusting that guys are going to be in the right spot, trusting that we're going to have the right call," Nick Herbig said. "A lot of it just comes down to trust.
"We're young, but we're talented. It's conference play now and everybody is looking at the schedule thinking that they're going to win the West (Division of the Big Ten). So, I think we just need to outwork every opponent that we go against."
Regarding his own messaging to teammates, he commanded, "Realize we have to play for each other. We're not playing for anybody but ourselves because at the end of the day, nobody in the outside world is on that field with us. None of the media. Not even our coaches. It's just us, 11 guys at a time.
"We need to realize that once the ball is snapped, nobody is going to save us but us."
Latu, one of the hardest hitters in the secondary, was on the same wavelength. "We all just have to do our job," said the 6-foot, 195-pound junior, who has taken over as a starter for the injured Hunter Wohler. "In order to do our job, we need to know our job. It also comes down to trust."
Herbig is delighted to have Latu as a teammate and roommate. "Having somebody you can share your culture and own kind of beliefs with is huge," he said. "Even for guys here, you could be from Ohio or Michigan, but you're both from the Midwest and there were similar things you grew up around.
"Me being from Hawaii, nobody had any idea on where I was from. There really wasn't anybody I could relate to in that sense. That's why having him (Latu) here is so huge … and I think he's done an awesome job. I'm proud of him. He has come a long way.
"Just to see him with a smile on his face every day and coming in here with a good attitude, he works his tail off and always shows up ready to play. He's going to hit somebody, you know that. He's growing and maturing and realizing that he can have an impact on this team."
Latu's comfort level has grown in the company of safeties John Torchio and Preston Zachman.
"I am starting to feel more comfortable being out the with Torch and Preston – whoever is in (the game), we're all on the same page, we communicate to each other, we vocalize a lot," Latu said. "I look at Torch as one of my big brothers. Coming in here, he took me under his wing.
"Even to this day, I'll pick his brain. He knows this defense like the back of his hand."
A year ago, the Badgers lost to Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan in their first four games. The only win was over Eastern Michigan. Losing to the Irish in Chicago was particularly frustrating. The UW had taken a 13-10 fourth quarter lead before Notre Dame countered with 31 unanswered points.
Following the home loss to the Wolverines, Wisconsin got back on track at Illinois. The Badgers outgained the Illini, 491 yards to 93 – their largest yardage advantage in a Big Ten game since 2014 – while hogging the ball for 42 minutes and 43 seconds. It was their highest time of possession mark since 2009.
Chez Mellusi rushed for 145 yards and Braelon Allen went over 100 for the first time in his college career with 18 carries for 131 yards. Allen experienced another "first" at Ohio State. His first pass completion as a Wildcat Quarterback. Years ago, he had taken some snaps as a QB in Fond du Lac.
"I saw him doing it after practice one day, and I thought they were just messing around," Herbig said. "And then, they actually did it in the game and I'm like, 'Oh, my God, I like that.' Even if you're playing with good eyes on defense, he can still outrun you. That's a whole different element."
The Illini are a whole different team on offense. The tempo has changed dramatically with quarterback Tommy DeVito, a Syracuse transfer. Then, there's tailback Chase Brown, the leading rusher in the country (151.0). Minnesota's Mohamed Ibrahim is No. 2 (141.8), and Allen is No. 5 (124.2).
"He runs hard, he doesn't stop his feet, and he explodes once he gets into the open field, he can kick it up a gear, I respect his game," Herbig said of Brown, a 5-11, 205-pound junior. "He (DeVito) is a little more elusive. He's more of a playmaker. He's savvy. He's good, too. They have a good backfield."
Both of Illinois' starting offensive tackles are over 300 pounds. By comparison, the 228-pound Herbig is undersized, something that he has grown accustomed to. At Ohio State, he was matched against Paris Johnson (6-6, 310) and Dawand Jones (6-8, 359) whom Herbig labeled a "monster."
Business as usual for Herbig, who has usually found a way to compensate for any size differential with quickness and an array of moves. "It was a good challenge," Herbig said. "I like challenges like that. I look forward to things like that. I take pride in being the smaller guy. That has been me my whole life."
He would take even more pride in getting this team squared away. And he's working on it.
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