38 // VARSITY February 6, 2014
I
n addition to the four scholarship players who
enrolled for the spring semester, the Wiscon-
sin football team picked up three more addi-
tions as walk-ons Chasen Andersen, Matt Austin
and Justin Schweitzer joined the team.
All three have their reasons for electing to pass
up other opportunities and walk on at Wisconsin.
For Andersen it was the opportunity to play for
his father, UW head coach Gary Andersen, that
led him to leave behind the chance to play at BYU
and join the Badgers.
Enrolling in January gives him the chance to
get back on the field after spending the fall rehab-
bing from a knee injury in his Logan (Utah) High
School's 2012 season-opener that robbed him of
his senior season after he led the state of Utah
with 160 tackles as a junior.
"I'm able to get my head into the playbook and
have a jump on workouts and getting stronger,"
said Andersen, an inside linebacker. "It's a boost
above everybody else that's coming in."
Austin, also an inside linebacker, was drawn to
attending UW to pursue a degree in biomedical
engineering. The opportunity to continue play-
ing football ― a sport he starred in at St. Mary's
Springs Academy in Fond du Lac, Wis. ― is a ma-
jor bonus.
"I either wanted to play here or just go to
school here, no matter what," he said. "Growing
up in this state, you're always watching the Bad-
gers and this is where you want to end up as a
football player."
Like Andersen, Schweitzer also saw a knee in-
jury derail a promising senior season that came
on the heels of a strong junior campaign. That's in
the past now, with the opportunity to suit up for
the Badgers still in his future.
"I would've gone somewhere smaller to play
football, but I really wanted to go to (Wisconsin),"
said Schweitzer, an outside linebacker. "I'm really
excited I have a chance to be a part of football too.
It's surreal right now."
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BY BRIAN MASON • UW ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
