Walk-on to star player, it’s a story very familiar to the Wisconsin Badgers’ program. Whether we’re talking Jim Leonhard, JJ Watt or Jared Abbrederis — the story of Wisconsinites chasing dreams and excelling in the face of incredible odds is a tale as old as the BCS era.
Just ask the 15 former walk-ons that earned there way from there to the NFL just how potent the walk-on program can be at Wisconsin.
Yet, as the Badgers began to look towards life without former walk-on and now Green Bay Packer, Jared Abbrederis, few were looking towards another walk-on as “the guy” to fill that role.
At least from the outside looking in.
For the coaching staff and even fellow players, there was belief that sophomore walk-on Alex Erickson had the talent and drive to become the next great weapon on the outside for the Badgers.
That belief has been rewarded early on this season.
Erickson is the leading receiver for the Badgers after two games, with 13 receptions for 155 yards and one touchdown.
Just how big of a deal is that? Well, the rest of the Wisconsin wide receivers have combined for all of three receptions through two weeks according to CFBstats.com.
Head coach Gary Andersen put his importance pretty bluntly on Monday, calling Erickson the “focal point” of offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig’s passing attack.
“He’s a focal point of this offense, and the coaches on the offensive side of the ball have really felt like that for quite some time, that he was going to rise up and be a very good wide receiver, and that’s not coaches that just have coached a year or two,” said Andersen during his weekly press conference. “That’s Andy Ludwig and Chris Beatty and when they say that, that’s a pretty good compliment to a young man.”
Erickson’s 13 catches put him in a tie for 11th, but he is seventh in receptions per game.
All of that from a guy who caught all of nine passes for 127 yards, which coincidentally were the highest totals for any returning receiver on the Badgers’ roster.
It’s an interesting scenario given the fact that there were three highly touted freshmen coming to campus and plenty of intriguing options in sophomores Reggie Love and Rob Wheelwright.
However, Erickson is the one who has seized the opportunity, and it shouldn’t be surprising given the work ethic that most walk-on players have to have to even get a sniff of the field in the first place.
For Andersen, it’s that work ethic and his mind that have him settling in as the No. 1 receiving option.
“He’s so smart and he’s so competitive and, a lot of times, that’s a vicious combination. And he runs great routes. He’s got good hands. He knows how to leverage in and out of routes, and I think he takes coaching well.”
With Bowling Green and its 70th ranked pass defense coming to Camp Randall on Saturday, the budding relationship between Erickson and quarterback Tanner McEvoy has a good chance to get even better.
The better that relationship, the better the chances for Wisconsin’s offense to be the backbone of this team in 2014.
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