It's always nice to return home. The familiar sights, sounds and friendly faces are what make every trip home a pleasant experience.
Well, that's how it's supposed to go at least.
But for Adam Stenavich, a native of Marshfield, Wis., the homecoming might not be so sweet. But that's what tends to happen when you walk into Camp Randall Stadium on a Saturday afternoon donning the Maize and Blue of the Michigan Wolverines.
"It's a rowdy place, a lot like Columbus as far as the noise and everything like that," Stenavich said. "I haven't actually been there [as a player], so I don't know how loud it's going to be. It should be interesting, they've got good fans."
Yet Stenavich, Michigan's starting left tackle, doesn't seem to mind. After five years of battling for Michigan, Stenavich is making his first trip to Camp Randall, a place he visited several times during his youth, as a Wolverine.
"I've been to probably five or six games and my sister went to college there. I know all about the Badgers and everything," Stenavich said. "There's going to be a lot of family and friends there from my hometown. It's going to be really exciting. It will be fun to have everyone there and I'm really looking forward to playing [at] Camp Randall."
Stenavich, though, is not totally unfamiliar with Wisconsin's team, as the fifth-year senior faced several current UW players during his high school days.
"I played against a couple of guys [on Wisconsin's roster,]" Stenavich said. "Mark Zalewski, their linebacker, he's a good linebacker."
A dominating offensive lineman at Marshfield High School, located in a small city (Wisconsin's best small city according to the city website) of just under 20,000 in north-central Wisconsin, Stenavich was receiving interest from several schools including his home-state Badgers.
"I grew up a Badger fan," Stenavich admitted.
Of course, it wasn't exactly a bad time to follow the Badgers either. While Stenavich labored away creating a name for himself in the high school realm, Wisconsin was in the midst of a 30-7 three-year run from 1998-2000, a time frame which also saw the Badgers earn back-to-back Rose Bowl victories.
"[Barry Alvarez] definitely turned [the Wisconsin football program] around," Stenavich said. "He definitely turned the program around and went to a few Rose Bowls. He means a lot to the state just as far as bringing the Badgers back."
Wisconsin was arguably in its most successful run in school history, and Alvarez's name was one of the premiers in college football. None of these facts were lost on Stenavich as he began to wade through the numerous scholarship offers he received in 2000, his senior season at Marshfield.
But the nation's No. 16-rated offensive lineman in the nation, according to Superprep, wasn't ready to pledge his allegiance to the Badgers despite their history of producing professional-caliber linemen and his childhood love for the team.
Instead, Stenavich took several other visits, including a trip to Ann Arbor, Mich., to visit the University of Michigan. The visit would turn out to be the most influential of all of the visits Stenavich would take, as he accepted a scholarship to play for one of Wisconsin's greatest rivals.
"I just came to Michigan and loved the place. I liked it a lot better than Wisconsin, so I decided it was the place for me," Stenavich said.
Five years later, Stenavich has cemented himself as the anchor of an offensive line in flux. A third-year starter who earned all-Big Ten accolades last year from the coaches and media, Stenavich has earned the praise of his coaches thanks to his hard-working style both in games and in practice.
"He's a very good leader because of his consistency," Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr said. "He's the same day-in and day-out. I mean, I never have to get on Adam Stenavich because he hasn't been practicing hard, because he's been making mental mistakes, because he's not doing the things that he needs to do."
"He's been a lot of fun to have around," Carr added. "He's the kind of guy that you know is part of the backbone of our team."
