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Too good not to share here :
Too good not to share here :
It was a typical mid-summer afternoon in this quiet community in far southwest Wisconsin and Trent Denlinger was surrounded by family and friends talking football.
A year ago, the former Cuba City standout was moving up the depth chart on the University of Wisconsin football team as the utility player along the offensive line. When the Badgers touted their "next-man in" approach to dealing with adversity, Denlinger was that man.
"It was really going well," Denlinger said. "I was the sixth guy in the (line) rotation, the next guy in."
On this day, like anyone with a keen interest in college football, Denlinger should have been looking forward to a new season and all the possibilities that go with it. The chance to be a starter. The challenge of playing for a third head coach in the last four years.
Instead, Denlinger found himself looking back.
Sadly, he has been doing a lot of that lately. Almost always, his mind zeros in on the one game last season — vs. Maryland in late October — that changed everything.
Denlinger was playing right guard on the Badgers' field-goal unit. He remembers taking a nasty hit that he never saw coming. Everything after that remains a blur.
"The lights kind of flickered for a second," he said.
And, the next thing he knew, Denlinger's college football career went dark.
UW career starts with a switch
Trent Denlinger knew there were no guarantees he'd ever see the football field in a Badgers uniform when then-coach Bret Bielema made him a preferred walk-on in 2012.
Sure, several preferred walk-ons from southwest Wisconsin have beaten successful paths through Camp Randall Stadium in recent years. Zach Hampton of Lancaster. Luke Swan from Fennimore. Bradie Ewing of Richland Center. Most recently, senior wide receiver Alex Erickson from Darlington.
Still, Denlinger understood he was an undersized defensive lineman. He knew he had much growing to do to play Big Ten Conference football — physical growth, emotional growth.
"I wasn't nearly as strong as some of these other guys when I first came in," he said. "I definitely had ground to make up there. I just wanted to become the best player I could and do as well as I could with what I was given."
As it turned out, all he needed was a chance.
Unexpectedly, that chance came after Bielema departed for Arkansas following the 2012 season and Gary Andersen came aboard.
The new coach and T.J. Woods, his offensive line coach, were looking to develop a smaller, more athletic brand of offensive linemen to give the Badgers a chance to dabble in the read-option game with a more athletic brand of quarterback. Denlinger fit the description.
"What Coach Woods told me was he wanted the most athletic of the young guys from the (defensive) line, (guys) who'd be able to make the transition," said Denlinger, who was 6-foot-6 and 266 pounds when he left Cuba City and listed at 271 pounds as a freshman. "I got thrown into the mix right away and I didn't know anything about the O-line. I was just starting to get all the D-line technique down and it's totally not the same, all the footwork and stuff.
"When I got moved over to O-line, I thought it was over. I didn't think I had any chance. I got recruited to play D-line so I didn't know what they were expecting. But it ended up working out well. Coach Andersen was great."
Opportunities emerge on O-Line
Opportunities presented themselves right away. Denlinger was listed at No. 2 on the depth chart at right guard during spring football that first year under Andersen.
That fall, Denlinger saw action in his first two games as a Badger — against Tennessee Tech and against Indiana, a game in which UW piled up 554 yards rushing and rolled to a 51-3 victory. As he gained experience, Denlinger worked his way into a "utility" role, filling needs at other areas on the offensive line and even playing in one spring game at center with a club cast on his broken left hand.
Denlinger said he owed his progress to former graduate assistant coach Josh Oglesby, who is now on Andersen's staff at Oregon State. Told by Woods to take Denlinger under his wing, Oglesby would take his protege into the film room after practice and have him study former stars such as Kevin Zeitler, who is now a Cincinnati Bengal.
"Josh is the only reason I was good at football," Denlinger said.
"He was a really big influence," Tom Denlinger said. "Josh would be leaving (after games) and I'd tell him 'Stay in his ear, Coach. Stay in his ear. You're making it work.'"
Indeed, less than two years after seeing his move to the offensive line as a dead end to his college football career, Denlinger had earned one varsity letter and was well on his way to a second.
Now 6-6 and 303 pounds, he didn't play in the 2014 season-opener with LSU at Houston, but then saw action in the next six games, mostly on special teams. As the season wore on, and UW's offensive line dealt with the usual bumps and bruises of the season, Denlinger never felt better about his role with that unit or the team.
"It was going really well," he said. "Everything was falling into place."
One hit changed everything
In the blink of an eye, though, Denlinger's career changed forever as he played right guard on the field-goal unit during the Badgers' homecoming game against Maryland.
"I got blind-sided," Denlinger said. "The guy wasn't lined up across from me. He was more over the center. He hit me in the side of the head. I didn't see him coming.
"It was nothing dirty. He was just coming across (the line) and I didn't see him. I finished the rest of the game, but I had never taken a hit like that before."
And Denlinger had dealt with his share of heavy-hitters during his time at UW.
"I've had to block guys like Chris Borland," Denliner said, referring to the former Badgers linebacker. "He can bring some wood coming up the middle. But that was always like face-to-face, straight on, I've never been hit in the side of the head like that before. I don't know if that's what caused it or something else."
It would be the weeks after the Maryland game, when it quickly became evident that something was wrong.
"That weekend, I came home (to Cuba City), we squirrel hunted and everything was fine," Denlinger said. "That Monday, when I woke up to go to (team) meetings at like 5 in the morning was when I had the worst headache of my life.
"It was like someone was drilling into my head."
Dealing with the effects of the hit
Of course, Denlinger also had it in his head that the 2014 season would finally be his chance to shine.
He had proven himself capable of learning a new position. He had gained the trust of his coaches. He was entrenched as the No. 2 right guard behind senior Kyle Costigan.
"I knew if I couldn't practice, I wouldn't be able to play that week," said Denlinger, who made it through Monday's walk-through but didn't feel any better Tuesday morning when he woke up. "The headaches weren't as bad as Monday, but they weren't going way. So I thought something was up."
Naturally, the UW trainers figured Denlinger had suffered a concussion and put him through the standard battery of tests. He said he passed them all, but the symptoms persisted and, over the next few days, grew worse.
"Until Saturday, it was just a lot of headaches," said Samantha Marti, Denlinger's long-time girlfriend. "(That) is when a lot of the other symptoms began. He couldn't walk in a straight line without holding onto walls. And (he started) slurring his speech.
"All the more noticeable things, I guess."
Denlinger stayed behind that weekend when UW went to Piscataway, N.J., to play Big Ten newcomer Rutgers.
On Friday night, which was also Halloween, he and his family went to Wales to watch his younger brother Theo play in a WIAA Division 6 playoff game against Lake Country Lutheran. Denlinger remembers having difficulty keeping his balance on the bleachers at Kettle Moraine High School.
"We thought it was all concussion stuff," Denlinger said.
The next day, they decided to watch the 11 a.m. game on the Big Ten Network at Union South. That's when his condition became alarming.
"His emotions were different," Marti said.
"He would laugh (unexpectedly)," said Tina Denlinger, Trent's mom.
"Little things, like pressing the button on an elevator," Marti continued. "He thought it was funny."
"He'd start giggling and stuff," Tom Denlinger said. "You're like 'What the heck is going on?"
Diagnosis: cavernous malformation
The next day, Denlinger met again with Mike Moll, the head trainer for the UW football team, and they agreed that he needed further tests to get to the bottom of his problem.
Moll sat with Marti all day in the waiting room at UW Hospital while doctors examined Denlinger.
"First, I had a CT; then, I had an MRI," Denlinger said. "They knew after the CT scan something was up. I'm not exactly sure what they knew, but they saw something."
By the end of the day, Denlinger's condition finally made some sense. He was told he had a cavernous malformation on the stem of his brain.
According to information on the Mayo Clinic's Website, a cavernous malformation "may leak blood, leading to bleeding in the brain." It can also cause neurological symptoms, which likely caused Denlinger's strange behavior in the days after the Maryland game.
According to Moll, however, doctors were unable to tell if the change in Denlinger's malformation came from a single hit, specifically the blow Denlinger remembers taking in the Maryland game. Doctors did tell the Denlingers that it's likely Trent was born with the condition.
"It's something he's had since birth and we never knew a thing about it," Tom Denlinger said.
Despite being a three-sport athlete at Cuba City in high school, Denlinger said he had never had a concussion nor "a reason to have a head scan."
Just to be certain of their diagnosis, UW doctors advised him to see a specialist at the University of Michigan. Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the director of the Michigan Neurosport Program and the director of the NBA's concussion program, confirmed Denlinger's condition and, had it gone undetected, its potential risk.
"He told Trent 'I don't know if anybody told you, but you are a very lucky young man,'" Tom Denlinger said of Kutcher, who also has also advised the NFL, NHL and NCAA on issues related to head injuries. "(He said) it could have been fatal. (Trent) could have been in a wheelchair."
Surgery wasn't required, nor was it advised.
"Too high of real estate," Tina Denlinger said of her son's brain. "The clot will absorb on its own. As it absorbs, it will get better. It might take a year."
Denlingers deal with 'what's next'
The Denlingers returned to Madison to help Trent sort out his future.
"We went and sat down with Coach Andersen and he said, 'Trent, as a father and as a coach, I just cannot put you back out on that field,'" Tom Denlinger said.
As the Badgers had to deal with the meat of their Big Ten schedule, needing to beat Purdue, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota in succession just to reach the conference championship game, their back-up right guard was quietly fighting his own battle. Each and every day.
By this point, Denlinger could no longer walk to class, let alone practice. He had lost many functions in the right side of his body, such as the ability to put weight on his right leg or eat with his right hand.
"He couldn't even hold a pencil with his right hand," said Tom Denlinger, who knew that would make finishing out the semester, even with five weeks left, a real challenge.
Denlinger had grown to embrace UW's academic challenges with the same dogged determination he'd embraced the challenge of moving up the Badgers' depth chart.
He and teammate Alec James had entomology class together and would always sit up front, in the second row. In 2013, Denlinger was named academic all-Big Ten.
"He was doing well in class," Tom Denlinger said. "I told him 'Trent, we'll go talk to all your teachers.' Of course, it was in the back of my mind thinking 'Huge school with 300 kids in every class. They're not going to give one damn about a football player because I don't know how they feel about him anyway.' Well, ... everyone one of them sat (there), and their mouths just about hit the floor. They all knew something had happened; they just didn't know to what degree it had happened."
Denlinger not only finished that semester, he finished it strong, making the Dean's List. He expects to complete work on his degree in agricultural business management this coming May and his parents couldn't be prouder.
"I've always said your education will take you farther than your body ever will," Tina Denlinger said.
"Football was always the icing on the cake," Tom Denlinger said. "But an education is what he was really there for."
Crowning accomplishment: Earning scholarship
Perhaps the most significant event of an injury-shortened career will be what helps Denlinger finish his education.
Little over a year ago, Andersen summoned Denlinger into his office and gave him the big news: He had earned his scholarship and would be adding his name to the list of former walk-ons who had become scholarship players.
"I'd been working so hard; I'd only lost a couple one-on-ones the whole fall camp," said Denlinger, who began to tear up as he talked about the importance of seeing his name among those on a tribute to UW's rich walk-on tradition outside the Badgers' locker room.
But there was one catch: Out of respect for older players not on scholarship, Denlinger was told to keep quiet about it.
"Usually, when they do announce it, they say it in front of the team," Denlinger said. "I didn't get that."
Tom Denlinger added: "We'd been waiting for three years to scream at the top of our lungs 'He did it!' But then we thought ... 'It doesn't matter. He got it.'"
That final month of the 2014 season, Denlinger also got enough football memories to last a lifetime.
It was a crazy month for the Badgers. They lost one coach (Andersen), hired another (Chryst) and, for the second time in Denlinger's career, had former coach and current UW athletic director Barry Alvarez coach the team in a bowl game.
Denlinger's situation became a footnote in the preparations for the Outback Bowl. His eventual departure from the team was barely noticed.
But that didn't keep the Denlingers, who typically only attended home games as well as games at Iowa, had the time of their lives in to Florida.
Because of his inactive status, Trent Denlinger was allowed to spend additional time with his family before the game. On game day, he was on the field and on the sideline with his teammates as the Badgers beat Auburn in overtime.
One of the indelible images following UW's win was of Tom Denlinger pulling Badgers players — including linebacker Vince Biegel — and members of the UW marching into the stands from his front-row seat behind one of the end zones at Raymond James Stadium. It was the snapshot of a lifetime for the family.
"It was fun, for sure," Trent Denlinger said. "But it would have been a lot different experience if I had played."
Badgers, Denlinger carry on without each other
In that respect, the Badgers missed Denlinger then. And they miss him now.
As he had in the Big Ten title game, starting center Dan Volz went down with ankle injury in the win over Auburn. Had Denlinger been healthy, he would have likely played left guard and Dallas Lewallen would have played center.
It was more of the same in camp this fall.
Injuries and inconsistencies led many to question how solid the Badgers, typically strong on the offensive line, would be in that area this season, even before Saturday's loss to Alabama in Arlington, Texas. Walker Williams, a good friend of Denlinger and among the teammates to visit him in the hospital, has claimed the starting job at right guard on a line that has three new faces (right tackle Hayden Biegel and left guard Michael Dieter are the others) since the Outback Bowl.
"We miss Trent a lot," Voltz said heading into fall camp. "He obviously converted from D-line to O-line and he was finally starting to get out of that D-line mindset and really turn into a great offensive lineman."
Indeed, this will be a different year for Denlinger, who says he feels "almost back to normal" and only notices minor symptoms related to his injury.
Marti has moved to Milwaukee where she has begun dental school at Marquette University. Denlinger, who plans to join her once he earns his degree, will share a house near Camp Randall Stadium with current football players Logan Schmidt, Vince Biegel, Joe Schobert, Williams and Tyler Marz and another former Badger — Vonte Jackson, who like Denlinger had his career cut short by injury.
"It would have been perfect," Denlinger said. "All the football guys living together, getting up for practice and everything."
Instead, Denlinger admits he's distanced himself from the program. His medical scholarship requires him to work 10 hours per week in the athletic department. But he said he's not sure he can bring himself to go to the games, knowing he would have likely been a key contributor this season.
And, after all he has gone through, who could blame him?
"It is very challenging (to) find out you have a very significant life altering condition and have to give up the sport you love so abruptly," Moll said. "I think Trent handled himself very maturely and was appreciative of all the support and care that we tried to provide for him."
"To have him walk away from the game like he did, it's heart-breaking for me," Biegel said. "I saw him as a starter this year. He was a phenomenal player (but), at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason.
"Hopefully, Trent can transition into life as a man and life without football."