BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. – There have been motivational benefits to having Chris Orr back in Madison after the USFL season. Especially among the inside linebackers, his former roost at Wisconsin. One of the main beneficiaries has been Maema Njongmeta, who was tutored by Orr as an impressionable freshman.

"Chris," Njongmeta said, "made me understand what it meant to be a Big Ten linebacker."

In 2019, Orr was a senior captain and emotional catalyst on a UW team that won 10 games and the Big Ten West.

On an aggressive defense that pitched four shutouts during the season, Orr was Mr. Inside (11 sacks, the most ever by a UW player in that position group) and Zack Baun was Mr. Outside (12.5 sacks). Orr wound up as the team's second leading tackler overall behind his partner, Jack Sanborn.

Njongmeta absorbed it all while redshirting. "Having him come back, it has been unreal," he said of Orr's return to campus. "I don't want to say he was my idol necessarily. But I looked up to him my freshman year just by the way he led the team and his approach. It inspires me to have him around."

What does it mean to be a Big Ten linebacker? How was it conveyed? "I think what he meant," Orr said, "was the work ethic that's needed both on and off the field – meaning studying film and taking care of yourself in the weight room and training room. Just really how to be a pro essentially."

Njongmeta made a good first impression. "I remember when he first came here and I said, 'Man, this young guy looks good,'" Orr recalled. "He was always really lean. He had a real strong lower body. I was like, 'He's got the tools.' I believe that your legs are your foundation and he always had that."

Orr considered him to be a "naturally gifted pass rusher – someone who had fluid hips."

But he has always encouraged Njongmeta to think less and react more.

"He's a smart guy, he's a genius in the classroom," Orr said. "But he was someone who had to let go a little bit when he was out there. He was so focused on his alignment and assignment – which are important – but then you've got to go play. That's what he's doing now. He had a helluva game."

In his first career start, Njongmeta had a team-high eight tackles Saturday in the 2022 opener, a 38-0 blanking of Illinois State at Camp Randall Stadium. In seven previous games combined, mostly on special teams, he had four tackles, three against Rutgers in 2021. He had 58 snaps all of last season.

"I'm just so proud of him," said Orr, who had some words of advice for Njongmeta, a redshirt junior from Buffalo Grove, Illinois. "I was telling him before the game, 'You know everything. You're not going to see anything tonight that you haven't seen on film or at practice. Just go out there and play.'"

Njongmeta confided that the whole opening night experience – particularly from the perspective of a first-time starter – was "unreal." He added, "It felt great to be out there and it felt good to know that I could contribute to the team. I'm excited because that's only the start (of things)."

Njongmeta and Jordan Turner, who started alongside of him, got good reviews from Paul Chryst.

"You felt them, they showed up," said the UW coach. "There were a number of plays where they believed what they saw and triggered on it, and I thought made some really impactful plays. That was good to see. They trusted themselves -- trusted what they were seeing. I thought they played fast."

Reflecting on Njongmeta's development from a 3-star recruiting prospect out of Stevenson High School, where he had 134 tackles, including 24 TFLs during his senior year, Orr conceded, "I didn't know he started playing football so late … he was a little behind in that regard."

Njongmeta didn't go out for football until his freshman year. He has told the story many times. He was in the eighth grade when he came across Cam Green, who was then a senior at Stevenson. Green was taking part in a presentation and Njongmeta remembered thinking, "I want to be like that dude."

He was impressed with his cool, intellect and swag. Not to mention the fact Green had earned a scholarship to play football at Northwestern. He was being groomed for the Superback position on offense. Seeing him, Njongmeta said, "That's actually what made me want to start playing football."

After Njongmeta had committed to Wisconsin, he passed along these words to Green, "Yo, Cam, I wouldn't have started this journey if you had never come into that auditorium that day for the fine arts tour. I wouldn't be here today if you hadn't influence me and you probably didn't even realize it."

During the 2018 season, Green led the Wildcats with four receiving touchdowns. Prior to the start of his senior year, though, he announced his retirement from the sport due to "concussions and head injuries" within his family. His dad was a former NFL player. Njongmeta "felt" for Green.

"You can love the game," he said, "and the game sometimes cannot love you back."

Njongmeta's passion for football was spurred on by another former Wisconsin linebacker, Guy Boliaux, a pugnacious, free-spirited character who played for coach Dave McClain in the early '80s. Boliaux was a coach on Stevenson's sophomore team and recognized Njongmeta's vast potential.

"He told me, 'You're going D-1,'" Njongmeta recalled. "I was like, 'All right, cool.'"

It really sounded good even though Njongmeta had no frame of reference for major college football. His family moved from Cameroon to the United States when he was 3. Both of his parents have their PhD's. And academics always took precedence in the household. But his curiosity was piqued.

Enter yet another Stevenson alum and former Wisconsin linebacker, Mike Maskalunas. "He was a senior when I was a freshman in high school and I remember being scared of him," Njongmeta said. "He was this big guy in the weight room, lifting all these weights and I hadn't hit puberty."

Going into his senior year, Njongmeta touched base with Maskalunas and asked for a favor, "Hey Mike, can you show the linebacker coach (at the UW) my film – pretty much every Big Ten school had been here except Wisconsin. Mike, please throw me a bone.' They hit me up two weeks later."

Njongmeta was grateful for Maskalunas' help before and after becoming a Badger.

"We have a culture here," Njongmeta said, "of the older guys helping the younger guys."

While 2019 was a learning experience, 2020 was a nightmare for Njongmeta. After the campus shutdown because of COVID, he went home and injured his hernia lifting weights. That necessitated surgery. But that wasn't the worst of it. He was diagnosed with a heart issue, pericardial effusion.

Initially, the fear was that it was brought on by COVID. It was later determined that it was not. Once the '20 season finally got under way, Njongmeta was cleared to practice. Until he wasn't. This time because he had torn his groin. His only action came against Wake Forest in the Mayo Bowl.

Asked if football had become secondary to everything that was going on, the assorted injuries and health scares, he said, "Honestly, I was concerned not if it would be a secondary thing but whether it would be a thing at all in my life. You have these thoughts … Is this really for me?

"But I had a really good support system and my faith. I have to thank God for where I am. I've been through a lot … There were a lot of tests (in '20), I'll say that. I think it made me the man that I am today. I will still think about it during a workout. You think how rough it was …"

Leaving him more thankful than ever to be still competing and playing. "Last year, it was good to be back, but I felt I had to play catch-up because I hadn't really been involved in a gameplan in 2020," he acknowledged. "It was fun. But it was hard. I was still dealing with doubt."

Doubt that he had to erase. Slowly but surely. Step by step. Forward and back.

"During spring ball, I started with the ones – I got complacent, and I got moved to the threes before working my way back to the twos," he said. "Coach (Bill) Sheridan (then the inside linebackers assistant) showed me, 'These are the problems with your game. This is why you're not with the ones.'

"It was like, 'Do I just accept this is how I am? Or do I work on it?' The only way to work through the doubt is to build a body of work that you can rely on. All summer, I was doing the same drills. I'd say, 'Hey, let's go do some tackling drills. Hey, let's do some striking drills.' It was consistent volume."

Njongmeta has always possessed resolved. Dating back to when he was 16 and an Eagle Scout. Besides his love of camping, it honed his skills – a conviction to understanding the role of discipline, the meaning of conflict resolution and the value of communication with people from different walks of life.

Qualities that still serve him well on the field or in the meeting room.

"We're all here for each," Njongmeta was saying now about the camaraderie among Wisconsin's inside linebackers, including the tandem of Tatum Grass and Jake Chaney. "The nice part is that we're all rooting for each other, but we're all trying to push each other."

Orr loved hearing that. "It's a good problem to have when you have four guys you feel that you can start and win with," he said, underlining some of their individual strengths. "Jordan is a beast. He's athletically gifted without a doubt. He's someone who has all the tools.

"I remember telling somebody that he's just a different guy than what we've had here in the inside 'back room outside of Leo (Chenal). When you think of guys from the past, they've always had some kind of knock, whether they were too short, they weren't fast enough, or athletic enough.

"Jordan has all of that. Now he just needs experience."

Orr has heard that some have compared Chaney to a "Little Chris Orr." Chuckling, he said, "He's probably more athletic than me to be honest … but he'll put his face up in there. I love that." He also loves what Grass has made out of himself as an invited walk-on. An under-recruited over-achiever.

"Mr. Do Everything Right," Orr said. "You never have to worry about him being out of position. He's going to show up on time and work hard and he's going to play until his tank is empty. Typical Wisconsin walk-on. You know what you're getting. He's going to play until he has nothing more to give."

Which is how best to describe Orr's journey. After joining the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent, he bounced back and forth between the practice squad and active roster, before signing a two-year deal with the USFL's New Jersey Generals. He was the second-leading tackler this summer.

Orr is going to play until he has nothing more to give. A source of inspiration for Njongmeta.