The Wisconsin Badgers have had plenty of walk-on success stories, with many making it to the NFL (including the likes of Jim Leonhard, Mark Tauscher, J.J. Watt and Jared Abbrederis).
But a former walk-on quarterback? Joel Stave intends to be the first to make such a leap.
Stave certainly had his ups and downs at Wisconsin. He ranks second in school history in passing yards and passing touchdowns as well as first in quarterback wins, but also second in interceptions. His losing the starting job in 2013 and then regaining it is well documented.
But he was perhaps a surprising selection to the NFL Combine, where he outperformed expectations, and is being mentioned as a possible NFL Draft pick.
In this Q&A, Stave describes what he learned from Russell Wilson, the advice passed on by Scott Tolzien, how playing in four offenses in five years has turned out to be a help, his athleticism and more.
I hope to follow up with Stave after the draft, but until then here's our Q&A:
Q: I know you put on some weight -- or maybe I should say gained some muscle. What do you weigh now and what was the purpose of gaining weight?
A: I'm about 235 right now. I think the biggest thing was it just kind of happened when I was training. The place I was at, at Exos in Florida, it was a tremendous setup where they had breakfast, lunch and dinner all for us. Really good healthy food, so I'd eat a lot of it, then we're training twice a day and I'd sleep about nine hours a night. So when you do that, you're going to put on some weight.
Q: And if I recall you were that weight at the combine.
A: I was 236 at the combine.
Q: One thing I noticed with your combine numbers, people probably have knocked you for not being mobile but you ran the heck out of it (4.80 in the 40) and looking at your SPARQ you were the No. 4 quarterback. The weight obviously didn't affect you. Do you think you showed you were more agile than people may have given you credit?
A: Yeah, I know that's something . . . I've never really been called the most mobile quarterback out there but I definitely think I'm a better athlete than I get credit for and I thought I did a good job showing that at the combine.
Q: I don't know if you've seen the SPARQ charts, which accounts for height, weight, 40 time, 3-cone shuttle, etc., but you were No. 37 overall and No. 4 among quarterbacks.
A: I didn't know that. Huh, nice. That'll build up a little confidence going into this (laughs).
Q: Speaking of confidence, you went to the Shrine game and were at the combine, what did that do for your confidence?
A: You know, it was just fun. It was a great experience being able to play in the East-West Shrine Game and getting to be there for that week of practice. Really it was fun meeting a lot of the guys. You meet a lot of guys you've played against or seen on film. Then your whole perception of different guys and teams can change once you get to know people. Then at the combine, just getting to meet some of the quarterbacks and talk to them and learn their stories and the things they went through at their schools. It was a great experience.
Q: We don't get to see the practices at the East-West Shrine Game, which are just as important as the game. How do you think you fared? Did you get any feedback?
A: I thought the practices and everything went pretty well. That's really a big part of the week is making sure you're good in practice and I thought I was pretty consistent, was able to throw a lot of completions and picked up the offense for the most part. Really it wasn't a simple offense, it was a complex offense that Charlie Weis had us running. I thought me and the other quarterbacks did a pretty good job in picking it up and able to effectively run the offense in a very short work time.
Q: I was going to ask this later, but you kind of let me into it -- speaking of offenses, you had four offensive coordinators in five years. How much of a help and how much of a hindrance was that going into this process?
A: It definitely helped in that you know you're able to learn. And that's a big thing people look for, your ability to pick up an offense and pick it up quickly. And it felt like we were doing that almost every year at Wisconsin. Every spring ball meant we had a new offense to learn. That can be frustrating at the time, but I think in the long run as far as trying to move on in football it is good for you to adjust from one offense to another, one coaching style to another because regardless of what level you're at there's coaching changes and turnover and people are flipping and flopping all over the place. It's always good to learn something and adapt to something new.
Q: Paul Chryst is noted for a pro-style type offense. Do you think that will help making the transition to the NFL easier?
A: Just being in a pro-style offense like that and having the experience of running something like that under coach Chryst, who is definitely a pro-style coordinator, I think that will definitely help me in the long run. Obviously all offenses are different, but his is more similar to a professional offense than maybe some of the spread offense and the hurry-up offenses you see across college football. I think that's one of the advantages of playing for him and at a school like Wisconsin.
Q: Circling back a little bit, you went to Pro Day and didn't do as much there as you did at the combine since you did well there. What was your take going into Pro Day?
A: Really at Pro Day because I was pretty happy with how I ran and jumped at the combine, there was really no reason for me to do that again. All I did was put together a script of routes with Alex (Erickson), (Austin) Traylor, Derek (Watt) and Tanner (McEvoy) and we just kind of ran through them. More than anything I wanted to look sharp, wanted to look crisp, like we knew what we were doing (and) like we had prepared for it. I thought it really came across that way. The guys running the routes did a great job. Everyone knew what came next, they were sharp on the depths and the timing and everything like that. That was my big goal going into Pro Day and I think we really came across well.
Q: Did you get feedback that day?
A: I thought for the most part teams were happy with how we performed. I think there were only a couple of balls on the ground. When you are throwing routes on air that's how you want it to look. You want it to be clean and sharp and not having any balls on the ground, and I thought we did a good job of that, throwing and catching it and just being on the same page.
Q: How many teams have you met with?
A: Between the Shrine Game and the combine I met with pretty much every team. Some just a scout, some a position coach. And then I took one visit to New England and had a couple of workouts with New England and Arizona, and then had some meetings in Madison with a few others. So it was a good process I think I got a fair amount of interest from teams and now it is just of matter (laughs) you know, waiting and seeing what happens.
Q: Do you think the style matters of a quarterback of a team matters as to what team might be interested? Like Tom Brady and Cam Newton are different quarterbacks . . .
A: Right, right, that I'm more inclined to run a Tom Brady offense than a Cam Newton offense. Yeah, I think that's definitely something you look at and that teams look at. For me, personally, it'd be awesome to get an opportunity to learn from and be under a guy like Carson Palmer or Tom Brady, someone who has been around the league for as long as they have and have had as much success as they've had. You can really learn from those guys and the kind of consistency and the kind of work ethic it takes to be successful at that level.
Q: You have the size and the arm strength, but do you feel like you have to sell yourself on other properties about yourself and your game?
A: Teams are going to for the most part, they do such good research on you if they are going to pick you they know what kind of player you were in college. I think most importantly you have to be yourself in meeting and interviews. You don't want to come across as something as you're not because if the team does end up taking you, you want to be the same guy they thought they were getting. I think the most important thing is to be true to the person you were in college, the player you are. Obviously you're always trying to work to get better and improve but I think the best way to be a leader, to gain people's respect and be trusted is you have to be a consistent person. You have to be that same guy every day.
Q: Could you imagine back when you were a freshman -- and you were a walk-on, no less -- that one day you'd be working out for the New England Patriots and pursuing a career in the NFL? Did you have the confidence that you'd get to this point some day?
A: To be honest, it was obviously always a dream of mine ever since I was young. Once I got some good size in high school, got an opportunity to be at Wisconsin and was in some of those practices, I always thought I performed pretty well. At a fairly young age in college I thought it was very realistic that I'd be able to continue this down the road. I know it takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of time and effort and you need things to fall your way sometimes, but I didn't think necessarily it was too big of a long shot.
Q: Your redshirt freshman year was Russell Wilson's year at Wisconsin. It's been a few years and I don't recall where you were on the depth chart, but did you learn anything from him? I know your styles of play aren't really comparable, per se, but did you learn anything leadership-wise, or playbook-wise or just watching him do his thing?
A: The biggest thing I took away from Russell was just the way he prepared. He got all his confidence on game day knowing he was very prepared going into each game. And you could see that in the way he practiced. He was always the guy who was the leader in practice and was always very sharp in practice. Knew what was going on, knew the look the defense was trying to show us. Even if you were playing the scout team and it may not be perfect, he knew what they were trying to show and was able to visualize what he thinks teams were going to do and stuff like that. And with that, that's a reason he was so successful is because he was so well prepared for every game.
Q: He famously remembered the playbook in two months. Do you feel like watching his preparation helped you?
A: Yeah, I mean it was something fairly similar to me because as soon as he left we had a new offense. I had to be just like that, make sure I was learning it. One thing that was nice for him is that he had to learn the offense but everyone else in the offense knew it very well because coach Chryst had been there for so long. That's just the nature of college football, learning new offenses, new coaches, new coordinators and things like that. But I think that's one thing he did a tremendous job of was coming in and in two months really mastering the playbook.
Q: From one former Badger to another. I know you've talked to Scott Tolzien and got some advice from him. What did he say and has it panned out or come true?
A: He's just been a great guy to talk to because he's a guy who went through this whole process and did it very successfully. To be in the position that he's in now in Indianapolis, a nice two-year contract there. He's been able to stick around for five years and be known as a fairly trusted backup in the NFL. He's a good guy to bounce ideas off of and more than anything keep you level-headed. Like, don't worry if you're not getting a ton of visits or a ton of workouts. Teams are going to pick who they are going to pick, so just relax and enjoy the process.
Q: What have you been doing since the Pro Day? You train for the Shrine Game, the combine and Pro Day. What's the focus been since then?
A: Just a lot of working out, really. I bounce back and forth between back home in Milwaukee and Madison. When I'm in Madison, I like to work out. And I work out with Joe (Schobert) and Alex. And we throw and we lift and just do what you got to do so when you do have an opportunity come May, you're ready for it.
Q: What's your gut feeling going into this thing? I don't know if teams are telling you anything, if you think you'll be drafted or more of a free-agent guy. What's your feeling on what might happen?
A: You know, I'm not really sure. That's the biggest thing about this process. You think you get an idea of who likes you, and really when you hear from everybody who has been through this process that's not who is going to pick you. It's someone you had no idea. Obviously, I'd like to get the opportunity to get drafted and if I do, it would be sometime during Day 3 -- so (rounds) 4, 5, 6, 7. And if not, I know I've had teams tell me they'd certainly be interested in me as a free agent. So if it comes down to that, then I'll just have to sit down with my agent and make a good decision on who I'll sign with. But at this point I know I'll get a shot with someone and that's all you can really ask for.
Q: You sound pretty confident you'll be with some team, and that's the bottom line.
A: Right. Whether I get drafted or not, I don't know. But I think come May I'll have a team that I'll be able to go to camp with.
Q: What are your plans on that third day of the draft? Will you watch it or try to stay occupied and not really worry about it?
A: I don't think I'll watch it. I'll probably just hang out at home. Obviously I'll have my phone on me and be ready. But I'll have my family around, maybe go play some golf. Just something to stay relaxed. Just as much you can enjoy the day.
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