XXX His dad, Scott, was a high school wrestler. To-
day, he's a firefighter who makes the daily one- hour drive each way to work in Oshkosh. His mom, Lisa, is a waitress at a Wautoma restaurant. Scott and Lisa Abbrederis have had to take out some loans to pay the school bills.
Until he's put on scholarship, Jared Abbrederis acknowledged, "It's tough right now (on the fam- ily). But we're just trying to get through it.'' The family has rallied around their faith and
Jared, a redshirt sophomore. That includes his two older sisters. "When I was younger,'' he said, "they kind of looked out for me and spoiled me a
little.''
The family is going to get bigger, too. Jared Abbrederis and his fiancée, Rachel, are scheduled to get married on May 26. They met at Bible study. "I knew the day I met her,'' he said, "I was going to marry her.'' Such are his convictions — on and off the field. After his first spring practice, he started to
feel good about his chances to be a contributor. "That's when I started getting confident,'' he said. At times, he can't believe how far he has come. "The first day I came in, I couldn't catch the ball,'' he said. "Being a quarterback in high school,
"I really didn't know how it worked,'' Abbrederis said of walking on to the team. "But I told them, 'OK, I'm com- ing. I'll just work and see what hap- pens.' That's my mindset all the time. Work hard and you can achieve what you want.''