Varsity - The Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics

JARED ABBREDERIS Nelson came in as a defensive back and red- shirted as a freshman. Abbrederis came in as a quarterback (on the scout team) and redshirted as a freshman. The following spring, Nelson moved to wide receiver. The following spring, Abbrederis moved to wide receiver. As a redshirt sophomore, Nelson had 45 catches and eight touchdowns. As a redshirt freshman, Abbrederis had 20 catches and three touchdowns. This is where the storylines begin to split. Injuries limited Nelson's effectiveness as a ju- nior. But he had 122 catches as a senior and ac- counted for 13 touchdowns, including two punt returns. This season, Abbrederis has 51 catches and eight touchdowns, including one punt return. Nelson, a second-round pick of the Packers in the 2008 draft, has blossomed into a dangerous option for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Nelson had nine catches for 140 yards in Super Bowl XLV. Abbrederis, who would like to have that im- pact in the Rose Bowl, has become a dangerous option for quarterback Russell Wilson with de- fenses keying on Nick Toon and tailback Montee Ball. There's another common thread between Nel- son (6-3, 217) and Abbrederis (6-2, 180). "When you see Jordy out there,'' Aaron Rod- gers observed on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show, "you think, 'Oh, well, he's a white wide re- ceiver. He won't be very athletic.''' Nelson has acknowledged as much – suggest- ing opponents have taken him for granted. "A lot of it,'' Green Bay's Greg Jennings has said, " has to do with the fact that guys look at him and say, 'Okay, yeah, he's the white guy. He can't be that good.' Well, he is that good.'' Abbrederis can relate to the "slight'' if it can be viewed as such."Sometimes people might look at 32 » VARSITY DECEMBER 29, 2011 "Just being the No. 2 receiver in training camp was big for me," Abbrederis said. "That was al- ways my goal growing up — to play for the Badgers.'' you,'' he said, "and think you're slow just because you're white.'' That certainly hasn't dimmed his appreciation for Nelson's skills. "I really like watching how he plays and how peo- ple play him,'' Ab- brederis said. "He's kind of an inspira- tion to me because he's such a good player and he makes tough catches.'' It's too early to predict whether Abbrederis will reach the same NFL heights as Nelson. "But being able to see someone else who has done it,'' he said, "you know it can be done.'' In the next breath Abbrederis said, "There's never really been a doubt in my mind.'' Such is his confidence – which is remarkable considering his lack of self-assurance when he originally made the position change from quar- terback to wide receiver at Wisconsin. "I couldn't catch a pass to save my life when I first got here,'' Abbrederis confided. The irony is that he was a receiver up until his freshman year of high school. "I was always confident in my hands – I thought that I had great hands,'' he said. "But as a quarterback, the only time you're catching the ball is out of shotgun formation.

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