W
hen the players gather in Madison for
the 20th anniversary celebration of the
1993 Big Ten championship season and
Rose Bowl, they will reminisce about their unexpected journey.
Along the route, rife with potholes, they bonded
as individuals into a team; the first Wisconsin team
to make it back to Pasadena in 31 years and the first
to ever win the Rose Bowl.
Left tackle Mike Verstegen can speak to how the
offensive line bonded under the drilling of assistant
coach Bill Callahan and how the '93 O-line raised the
bar for those that have followed.
Safeties Scott Nelson and Reggie Holt can speak
to how they bonded as hold-overs from the aborted
Don Morton era and how they survived and flourished and helped change the culture.
Linebacker Tarek Saleh can speak to how he bonded with the players and coaches during his campus
visit and how it made it that much easier to say "no"
From left: Verstegen, Nelson, Holt and
Saleh. Some old, some new, these for
Badgers helped shape a season that
set the stage for UW teams to come
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to Joe Paterno and "yes" to Barry Alvarez.
They each have their stories and views on what
made the '93 team so special.
"I think of the type of guys that made up the leadership of that team and just the character of the
team," Saleh said. "I don't think everyone was highly
touted coming out of high school.
"Everyone had to earn it; nothing was really given
anyone. We just had a group of guys who really liked
football and, in general, we were good people; we
had a good work ethic."
Saleh was highly-touted and a true freshman in
1993; his recruiting class included Daryl Carter,
David Lysek, Rob Lurtsema, Carl McCullough, Pete
Monty, Tony Simmons and Jason Suttle.
At the other end of the food chain were Holt and
Nelson, the fifth-year seniors. They both redshirted
in 1989 when UW averaged 41,734 at home games
during Morton's final season.
"We were a bunch of guys coming from many
