MADISON - Alex Erickson admits to being a bit awestruck the first few times he walked into the McClain Athletic Facility as a member of the University of Wisconsin football team.
"The first week is definitely like that," Erickson said.
But this is Week 2, and one of the most decorated athletes in Darlington High School history said the feeling has changed.
"Now you come in and know you're going to get your butt worked out hard," Erickson said. "I'm glad to be there, but while I'm there, you realize why you got up every morning to work out and prepare."
The former three-sport Redbirds star is loving every minute of it.
"It's tough and it's hard work, but I knew that coming in and I'm just ready to work my butt off," he said.
Erickson was told last summer that he'd be invited to become a preferred walk-on with the Badgers, but it didn't become official until shortly after last month's Rose Bowl. On Wednesday, college football's national signing day, Erickson saw his name listed with the scholarship recruits and the six other preferred walk-ons as a member of Wisconsin's 2012 recruiting class.
It's the first major step in the plan for Erickson, who passed on opportunities to play NCAA Division II football and turned down a chance to play basketball at UW-Stevens Point to go to school in Madison and pursue an opportunity to play football for the Badgers.
"It's everything I can ask for, getting a chance as a preferred walk-on," Erickson said. "I get to work out with the guys early in the spring, get used to everything, go into spring ball and hopefully roll into the fall."
A four-year starting quarterback, the school's all-time leading basketball scorer and an accomplished track and field athlete at Darlington, Erickson will begin his college days as a receiver - a position he's never played.
"You pretty much come in as an athlete and they assess you and put you where they can use another guy," said Erickson, who passed for more than 1,200 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 in leading the Redbirds to the Division 5 state semifinals as a senior in 2010.
Erickson's primary recruiting contact was Luke Swan, a guy who knows a little something about both receiving and the area. The former Badgers walk-on played at Darlington rival Fennimore in the Southwestern Wisconsin Activities League before making his mark in Madison.
A graduate assistant at Wisconsin since early in 2011, Swan "has been in Alex's corner all along," according to Erickson's father, Mike.
"Luke reached out to me last year and helped me get the ball rolling," Alex Erickson said. "He's been giving me advice ever since. He had to deal with being a walk-on, got a scholarship and now he's a GA. He's seen it all. I take everything he says to heart because he knows what he's talking about. I appreciate all the help he's given me."
Erickson, who spent the summer and fall working out with Pat McGettigan, a former Darlington athlete who played at Wisconsin from 1989-1992, is well aware of the Badgers' success with walk-ons from smaller high schools in the state. He knows his chances of joining the likes of Swan, current UW receiver Jared Abbrederis or perhaps the most famous of the Badgers' former walk-ons - New York Jets safety Jim Leonard - are slim.
But he's where he wants to be and ready to give it his best shot.
"They've got a great walk-on program here - they know how to develop players," Erickson said. "They're going to get you in here and do their thing to you. Hopefully I step in, work my butt off and be all that I can be."
"The first week is definitely like that," Erickson said.
But this is Week 2, and one of the most decorated athletes in Darlington High School history said the feeling has changed.
"Now you come in and know you're going to get your butt worked out hard," Erickson said. "I'm glad to be there, but while I'm there, you realize why you got up every morning to work out and prepare."
The former three-sport Redbirds star is loving every minute of it.
"It's tough and it's hard work, but I knew that coming in and I'm just ready to work my butt off," he said.
Erickson was told last summer that he'd be invited to become a preferred walk-on with the Badgers, but it didn't become official until shortly after last month's Rose Bowl. On Wednesday, college football's national signing day, Erickson saw his name listed with the scholarship recruits and the six other preferred walk-ons as a member of Wisconsin's 2012 recruiting class.
It's the first major step in the plan for Erickson, who passed on opportunities to play NCAA Division II football and turned down a chance to play basketball at UW-Stevens Point to go to school in Madison and pursue an opportunity to play football for the Badgers.
"It's everything I can ask for, getting a chance as a preferred walk-on," Erickson said. "I get to work out with the guys early in the spring, get used to everything, go into spring ball and hopefully roll into the fall."
A four-year starting quarterback, the school's all-time leading basketball scorer and an accomplished track and field athlete at Darlington, Erickson will begin his college days as a receiver - a position he's never played.
"You pretty much come in as an athlete and they assess you and put you where they can use another guy," said Erickson, who passed for more than 1,200 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 in leading the Redbirds to the Division 5 state semifinals as a senior in 2010.
Erickson's primary recruiting contact was Luke Swan, a guy who knows a little something about both receiving and the area. The former Badgers walk-on played at Darlington rival Fennimore in the Southwestern Wisconsin Activities League before making his mark in Madison.
A graduate assistant at Wisconsin since early in 2011, Swan "has been in Alex's corner all along," according to Erickson's father, Mike.
"Luke reached out to me last year and helped me get the ball rolling," Alex Erickson said. "He's been giving me advice ever since. He had to deal with being a walk-on, got a scholarship and now he's a GA. He's seen it all. I take everything he says to heart because he knows what he's talking about. I appreciate all the help he's given me."
Erickson, who spent the summer and fall working out with Pat McGettigan, a former Darlington athlete who played at Wisconsin from 1989-1992, is well aware of the Badgers' success with walk-ons from smaller high schools in the state. He knows his chances of joining the likes of Swan, current UW receiver Jared Abbrederis or perhaps the most famous of the Badgers' former walk-ons - New York Jets safety Jim Leonard - are slim.
But he's where he wants to be and ready to give it his best shot.
"They've got a great walk-on program here - they know how to develop players," Erickson said. "They're going to get you in here and do their thing to you. Hopefully I step in, work my butt off and be all that I can be."
