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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. --Â Long before the Memorial Stadium stands filled up, Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave and wide receiver Alex Erickson grabbed a football and played catch.
They weren't wearing helmets or pads. And there was no urgency or crowd noise -- not yet anyway -- not some 90 minutes before Saturday's kickoff in Lincoln, Neb.
"We'll come out and run some routes just to get the timing down," Erickson said of their pregame routine. "He's warming up his arm a little bit and I'm warming up by catching some passes."
Is it akin to playing catch in the backyard with a good friend?
"There's more structure than that," said Erickson. "We're not drilling all the routes that we would during a game. We'll run a few -- some similar routes -- but more general routes."
After Stave was done throwing, he headed back to the UW locker room. Erickson took a seat on a sideline bench, stretched out his legs and lounged back with his arms extended over the backrest.
"I was kind of catching my breath and trying to soak it all in," said Erickson, who let his eyes tour the 86,047-seat facility. "I was trying to enjoy every moment.
"During that time, you get comfortable in the venue so when the game comes around you're not worried about that stuff; you're just locked in and ready to execute."
Erickson sounded comfortable in these foreign surroundings. "It was my first time in Lincoln because I didn't go the last time we were there," he said. "It was beautiful out, too."
The last time the Badgers played at Nebraska, Erickson was on the scout team. As a freshman walk-on, he didn't even make the trip to Lincoln in 2012.
Instead, he watched the game on television; a painful viewing experience because the Cornhuskers rallied from a 17-point deficit in the second half to spoil Stave's first Big Ten start.
Erickson has come a long way since then. And he has traveled an even greater distance from his first semester at Wisconsin when he was paying his own way and playing intramural flag football.
Maybe that best explains why he's so intent on enjoying every moment of his senior year. On Saturday, he eventually got up off the sideline bench and joined his teammates in the locker room.
Stave and Erickson then went out and played catch against the Nebraska secondary.
"It was a cool venue," said Erickson after catching seven passes for a season-high 113 yards. "Especially when you sneak out of there with a victory. That makes it a little sweeter."
It was sweet vindication for Stave, if he chose to look at it that way. Not only did he square his record in Lincoln but he bounced back from a loss to Iowa in the Big Ten opener the week before.
But that was not his focus afterwards.
"I was really proud of the way those guys stepped up in the biggest moments," Stave said of his receiving corps as a whole before singling out Erickson.
"He made a couple of huge plays down the stretch -- that big catch on the sideline to get us out of being backed up on that second to last drive was very big for us.
"It was fun to see him make some plays and it was fun to have him for the whole game."
There was nothing really subtle about that last statement. It was Stave saying what everybody assumed -- that is, how much he missed Erickson during the second half of the Iowa game.
As you might expect, Erickson is still a little foggy on the details of his abrupt exit.
On Wisconsin's second offensive possession of the third quarter, Stave completed a seven-yard pass to Erickson that was good for a first down.
On the tackle, however, Iowa cornerback Desmond King spun Erickson around and planted him into the Camp Randall Stadium artificial turf, helmet first. He left the game and didn't return.
"I remember caching it," Erickson said, "and the next thing I know the trainers are in my face."
Erickson was helped to the sideline and the locker room by the Badgers' sports medicine staff.
"They said I had a concussion, and I agreed with them," he said with a wry grin. "It's always such a weird thing when you take a hit like that -- the mind is so sensitive."
That's the case more so now than ever before because of the spotlight that has been shined on head trauma injuries by one of Erickson's former Wisconsin teammates, Chris Borland.
"He brought a lot of awareness to it," Erickson said of Borland, who announced his retirement from football after his rookie season with the San Francisco 49ers.
"It takes a lot of courage to stand up and say, 'I'm not going to play anymore because I feel the health negatives that come along with playing are important to me as an individual.'
"It takes a lot of courage for a man to do that. People around here know Chris and what type of person he is. If he's making a statement like that, you know it's worth thinking about."
Erickson was grateful for how the concussion protocol was administered by UW officials.
"I'm glad that we have the athletic training staff that we do and the coaches that we do," he said. "They put our interests first and they're always looking out for what's best for us."
On the Monday after the Iowa loss, Erickson said, "I didn't do anything. I still had a headache but I was starting to feel a lot better."
On Tuesday, he reported that the symptoms were gone.
"I didn't have a headache so I did a cardio workout," he said, "to see if the symptoms would come back when my body was under a little stress. Nothing came back."
On Wednesday, he said, "I ran routes with Joel. Got a good workout in. No symptoms."
On Thursday, Erickson returned to practice. But he had no contact.
On Friday, he was cleared to play and took part in the team's walk-through at Camp Randall before departing for the airport and Lincoln.
"On Saturday," Erickson said, "I was good to go and I felt good."
In retrospect, he felt particularly good about the process, the protocol that is in place.
"With concussions, there's so much unknown about them still," Erickson said. "You'd rather be safe than sorry, that's for sure."
In many ways, Erickson is a safety net for Stave. And that speaks to the chemistry between the veteran pitcher and savvy catcher, especially in tense moments in tight games.
"It's something that is definitely built during the offseason with reps and practice," Stave said. "The more you practice it, the more you do it, the better the chemistry gets.
"That's something we've been able to build over the last couple of years. And it just keeps getting better with every game."
What makes Erickson such a reliable target for Stave?
"One of the biggest things is that he's smart; he really understands the game," Stave said. "And with that, he understands his role on every play."
There are certain defensive coverages where Erickson has to expect the ball, Stave noted.
"And he understands what coverages he should be changing his route," he added. "That alone gives him a big advantage going into every game."
Despite his productivity over the last 20 games (88 catches for 1,235 yards and four touchdowns), the 6-foot, 195-pound Erickson is not a physically imposing receiver.
"He's one of those guys that when you look at him, he's not necessarily the most intimidating guy on the field," Stave agreed. "But if you let him, he will beat you. He has done that plenty of times.
"If people want to take him for granted," he said with a smirk, "that's their call."
Stave didn't have to be reminded that Erickson was a former high school quarterback.
"You can tell that he just has good feel for the game," he said. "He understands windows and defense. That helps you so much at the wide receiver position.
"He sees the drops of guys (linebackers into coverage) and he understands where the windows are going to be and how to get to them. He does a great job with that."
That was clear on a 31-yard completion from Stave to Erickson on the Nebraska boundary with about three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Cornhuskers had just charged back into the lead, 21-20, on fullback Andy Janovich's 55-yard touchdown burst up the middle on a third-and-1 call that electrified the home crowd.
The following kickoff pinned the Badgers on their own 9 yard line. After an incompletion on first down, Stave found Erickson open on the sidelines behind Nebraska cornerback Joshua Kalu.
"I couldn't even see where it (the pass) went -- I threw it and went down," said Stave, who was planted by a Nebraska defender after making the throw. "But from watching it on film, it looked like a heckuva catch; just a great play on the sidelines by him."
It was not the first time that Stave and Erickson had executed that route.
"We had been running it when they play man coverage," Erickson said. "I got past the guy (Kalu) and Joel laid it out there and I was able to get a foot down.
"We work on it all the time -- keeping that relationship with the sidelines and giving yourself plenty of room. You have to be aware of where you're at."
The Badgers were still in a hole, still in danger of dropping to 0-2 in the Big Ten even though Erickson's catch was the impetus for a 10-play, 70-yard drive.
That's because Wisconsin placekicker Rafael Gaglianone's 39-yard field goal attempt glanced off the right post with 1:26 left.
"You're waiting on the sidelines, unsure if you're going to get the ball back or not, it's out of your control," Erickson said. "But then we got that opportunity.
"And when we got in the huddle, Joel was calm. Guys really respond to him and really believe in what he's doing. That trust is something that is earned.
"And Joel has earned our trust, he's our guy, we believe in him. He's back there making the calls and we're just out there executing and trying to do the job for him."
Truth is, Erickson was blindsided by the criticism that Stave received after the Iowa defeat.
"I don't think it's at all fair," he said. "It's not just on the quarterback. The wide receivers have to help him out and make plays.
"The line has got to give him time and the running backs have to pick up protections. It's on the whole offense, it's not just Joel. But he takes the heat for it."
Last week, Stave pointed out that he doesn't have a Twitter account or a smartphone.
"He's kind of old school," said Erickson, chuckling.
But when the Badgers needed one more big effort out of him, he delivered at Nebraska by driving the Badgers into field goal position again and this time, Gaglianone didn't miss.
"Joel is confident in what he's doing," Erickson said. "And we're confident in him."
As such, there's no question that Erickson is in a good place right now, and he knows it.
"This coaching staff is awesome," he said, beaming. "They give us a lot of freedom to play. And as a player, you're really putting your stamp on things out there."
•  •  •  •
Erickson might have been thinking about his stamp -- or maybe his legacy -- while he was sitting on that sideline bench before Saturday's game. Or he might have been reflecting on his journey. There have been some potholes on the road between Darlington and Madison dating back to the fall of 2011.
At the time, Erickson didn't know what he didn't know as a freshman. He didn't get cleared by the admissions office in time to be placed on the training camp roster. His goal was still the same: to be a UW student-athlete. But that fall, he was a student only.
"That was weird and that was a long semester," acknowledged Erickson, a business management major. "I didn't have a taste of it all (as a team member), I wasn't part of it yet, so I didn't really know what I was missing out on."
Erickson was a "do-it-all' four-year letterwinner in football, basketball and track at Darlington High School. He was good enough in hoops to seriously consider playing that sport at UW-Stevens Point, a tradition-rich program that has won four Division III championships, including the 2015 title.
It was certainly inviting but he had his heart set on playing football for the Badgers, even if it meant walking on and waiting a semester to join the team. He trained on his own. And to keep his competitive edge, he played in an intramural flag football league on campus.
"We played on the fields over by the hospital," said Erickson, who rushed for 3,856 yards and passed for 3,648 as a dual-threat prep QB. "I was with a few guys that I played against in high school from surrounding teams. It was fun, it was a good time; and I got to play quarterback."
It was the last time that he called signals and took snaps from center. The following spring, he began making the transition to college football as a wide receiver. His orientation to the position continued as a member of the offensive scout team during the 2012 season.
"It's another weird situation," Erickson said. "You're not traveling with the team, you're watching the games at home. But you've grinded with the team all week; you've helped prepare the defense. You grow a lot. I know I made the biggest jumps in my career as a scout team player.
"It's good for young guys to come in and adapt to the speed of the game against one of the better defenses (in the Big Ten). When you start growing on the scout team and start making plays against the first team defense, they'll say, 'Good job. Keep it up' because they want good looks.
"If you're getting better, they're getting better and, as a whole, we're getting better as a team. I also worked after practice on the developmental skelly," said Erickson, adding that former UW wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni would keep an eye on him and "helped me along a lot."
Last season, he got rid of the training wheels and led the Badgers in receiving with 55 catches. He went over 100 receiving yards in three games, including a career-high 160 against Minnesota. Last Saturday was the first time he has gone over the century mark this season.
"I don't really look too much at my numbers," said Erickson, who's leading the Badgers with 33 catches, 14 more than anyone else. "If my number is called (in the huddle) and it's called more than once, I try to make a play and make the most out of my opportunities."
What about his stamp, what about his legacy? "I really haven't thought about it too much," he said, "beyond being a good person and making plays, too. That's part of it -- being a playmaker and doing things the right way."Â
It's carried him a long way from those intramural fields.
