SPORTS
Wideouts share painful season
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Also by Kevin Hagstrom:
- Family comes 1st for ex-Badger WR (December 11, 2007)
- Nothing special about UW power play (December 10, 2007)
- Confident UW squad faces off against Minnesota State (December 7, 2007)
- Sophomores to play for U.S.A. (December 6, 2007)
- Hill of a pickle for UW tailback (December 5, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Mason's guidance sorely missed (August 6, 2007)
- Badger seniors set up Camp for final time (November 9, 2007)
- Worth the wait (September 14, 2006)
- 'Tis better to receive for Wisconsin in 2008 (March 21, 2007)
- Young bloods: Frosh wideouts making strides (September 28, 2006)
by Kevin Hagstrom
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Henry Mason was there in spirit, Luke Swan was there on
crutches and Paul Hubbard Sr. was there in the stands.
Senior receiver Paul Hubbard saved the best for last, catching
seven passes for 134 yards in his best performance at Wisconsin before his
mentor, his friend and his father. Given all that has transpired in the
receiving corps this season, every corral was more than just a catch, it was a
token of appreciation.
As Hubbard acknowledged during the postgame interviews
following Wisconsin's emphatic 37-21 win over Michigan, Saturday was for
everyone who couldn't participate in the spirit and emotion of defeating the
No. 13 team in the country on Senior Day.
Before the season began, the receiving corps lost its
devoted leader and father Henry Mason when he suffered a spinal cord injury
after falling in his house.
Hubbard's 22-yard reception on the first completion of the
game was for the wide receivers coach, giving credit to what he has gone
through this season and what he has meant to the program.
Two weeks into the season Hubbard himself went down with a
sprained right knee. Initially, based on the pain, he thought it was season-ending.
Not wanting to deter his teammates as they attempted to battle back against
UNLV, he kept it to himself. That put the entire burden on Swan, who now had to
play for his coach and teammate.
But soon he too would fall, tearing his hamstring on a play
across the middle against Illinois.
Insert freshmen David Gilreath and Kyle Jefferson. While
they took advantage of the injuries to get better through invaluable playing
time, the entire offense clearly missed the dependability and care of Mason,
Swan and Hubbard.
Racing back from his injury, Hubbard provided that emotional
lift the Wisconsin offense so desperately needed following two straight losses.
He returned Oct. 20 against Northern Illinois — at least a week earlier than
the estimated six to eight weeks he was originally slated to miss.
No injury is a good one, but it offered Hubbard, and later
Swan, a new perspective that they had begun to overlook after coming to UW as
walk-on nobodies freshman year.
"Once you get going through the season, you get complacent,
saying, 'There's nothing that's going to happen.' I mean, you never think that
you're going to get hurt and be done," Hubbard said. "You take it for granted.
"Once you get hurt, you have to go through the situation, go
from being successful to being on the bottom of the mat. It gives you a lot of
time to get humble."
It made them more empathetic to others' problems, knowing they
will never again be able to run out on the field as a member of the Wisconsin
Badgers.
"I take a look at what happened to my teammates like Luke
Swan, and maybe this time next year he's going to be able to walk again, maybe
run again," Hubbard said. "I think about stuff like that— the other guys around
me — and [it] doesn't make me feel as bad about what happened to me."
During Hubbard's time in a leg immobilizer, it was Swan who
picked him up when times looked bleak.
Ever since Hubbard returned he has done the same for his
friend.
"He's been that smiling face that I can talk to whenever,"
Swan said. "It's just good that I can have someone to lean on like that."
Hubbard's 25-yard snare on first-and-19 in the opening
quarter was for himself, to rekindle his draft stock and to show that the
Hubbard of old is back. Catches of 14 and 19 yards, and a spectacular juggling
15-yard reception were for Swan, giving him a chance to live through his
friend.
To the Fennimore Flash, the season hasn't been perfect by
any means. Still, he has no regrets.
"I think in life you've got to deal with what's given to you,
and I think the team has done a great job with that," Swan said.
Hubbard's father might have waited until the last game of
his son's career to attend a Badgers game, but Hubbard didn't mind; it made the
appearance that much more significant. The senior's final two receptions in
Camp Randall — 10 and 29 yards — were for his pops.
Anyone on the team will tell you that this season of
setbacks, particularly in the wide receiving corps, couldn't have happened to
better people. After interviewing them and covering them this season, I
couldn't agree more.
Kevin Hagstrom is a
senior majoring in economics and journalism. He can be reached via e-mail at khagstrom@badgerherald.com.
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