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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Football: Healthy and confident, Stave looks to build chemistry during spring ball

Football%3A+Healthy+and+confident%2C+Stave+looks+to+build+chemistry+during+spring+ball
Badger Herald File Photo

This spring won’t be like the last one for Joel Stave.

A year ago, between rehabbing a broken clavicle suffered in the 2014 Outback Bowl Game against South Carolina and then being forced to compete for a job he earned two seasons in a row, the fifth-year quarterback’s confidence was shaken.

He eventually lost the quarterback competition to Tanner McEvoy and developed a case of the yips as a result, which sidelined him for the first five weeks of the season.

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But this time around, new head coach Paul Chryst immediately said Stave is the starter and will take all first-team reps throughout spring practices.

“It’s nice knowing that you’re going to be working with the first team,” Stave said. “Obviously it’s still a competition, but what Coach Chryst always says is you always want to make that competition against yourself.”

Health-wise, Stave enters this spring at 100 percent, unlike last spring, limiting distractions and allowing him to focus on football rather than rehabilitation.

“It feels a lot better not having to go through that whole issue [of] throwing some days, not throwing other days,” Stave said. “I’ve felt good, really since June and it hasn’t really bothered me since … I’m excited about really having the opportunity to be healthy all the way through spring ball, all the way through the summer workouts, and see where this season goes.”

The rekindling of the relationship between Chryst has also led to an increase in confidence. Chryst recruited Stave to Madison as he was the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin when Stave enrolled early to participate in spring workouts in 2011.

“Obviously there’s a little bit of a learning curve as far as the terminology that I haven’t used since spring of 2011, I guess,” Stave said. “But it came back pretty quick. I guess with my experience of learning offenses, it’s becoming a lot easier.”

Even on the first day of workouts, he said he and the receivers were on the same page.

“I thought it was a really clean first day. A lot of completions, guys running the right routes and breaking where they should be breaking,” Stave said.

Stave, who started the last nine games of the 2014 season, is 20-6 in his career as a starter. At the conclusion of the first spring practice, he was adamant that the focus of spring ball is establishing a team chemistry more than being ready to play a game.

“Spring is a tremendous opportunity to learn the offense even better,” Stave said. “And to just really build chemistry with the guys. At the end of the spring we’re not playing a game, the spring game is basically a scrimmage against yourself anyways.

“This spring it’s about building chemistry, building that timing, building that relationship with the rest of the guys in the offense and ultimately with the team as a whole.”

Redshirt junior Bart Houston and redshirt freshman D.J. Gillins will split second team reps, Chryst said. Early-enrollee freshmen Austin Kaftenzis and Alex Hornibrook currently round out the depth chart at quarterback.

Stave and the rest of the Badgers will showcase what they’ve accomplished this off-season on April 25 during the Spring Game. Wisconsin opens its 2015 season against Alabama in Dallas, Texas on Sept. 5.

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