Coach Bret Bielema loves to mention how his first two starting left tackles at Wisconsin won the only two Outland Trophy awards in school history as seniors. Joe Thomas did it in 2006 and Gabe Carimi in 2010. Both went on to be first-round NFL draft picks.
Consider the bar set appropriately high for current senior left tackle Ricky Wagner. When Bielema met individually with Wagner prior to spring practices, the Outland topic came up again.
“I’ve been hearing that for the last two years,” Wagner said. “I’m fine with it. To me, it’s good that people hold me to those expectations, especially Coach Bielema. That’s definitely a dream of mine. I’ll be working toward that.”
Wagner is typical of many of the team’s great linemen of the past in that he is mammoth (6-6, 322) and a state product from West Allis, a suburb of Milwaukee. But Wagner’s story is different than most.
He was a wide receiver as a sophomore at Nathan Hale High School and was a good enough basketball player to generate five Division I offers. He arrived at UW as a walk-on tight end, then put on 80 pounds and moved to tackle.
New offensive line coach Mike Markuson has coached some top left tackles, including Michael Oher at Mississippi. Markuson said Wagner has comparable talent to the top tackles he has coached.
“I’ve been around some great left tackles … and this guy (Wagner) can play,” Markuson said.
Oher was the inspiration for the 2009 film “The Blind Side” and was a first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens. He was going into his senior year when Markuson went with Houston Nutt from Arkansas to Mississippi.
“Guys like Michael and Ricky, they’ve been groomed by good coaches,” Markuson said. “It’s my job not to screw them up and, hopefully, make (Wagner) a little better in some areas of his game.”
Wagner is humble and soft-spoken and he recoiled at the suggestion his own story might make a good movie.
“I hope not,” he said. “I don’t think I could handle that.”
Forget the Oscars, if Wagner is in contention for the Outland, it would be a Hollywood ending few could have envisioned when his college career started.
“I’m real proud that I came here as a walk-on and stayed true to the home state and I earned a scholarship,” he said. “We’ll see what the future holds.”