FOOTBALL
The three quarterbacks taking snaps for the Badgers this spring have all arrived at the same destination, but the paths they have followed to get there are as different as their unique personalities
BY MIKE LUCAS • UWBADGERS.COM E
ach of Wisconsin's quarterbacks has their own time- line and timetable bridging where they have been with where they want to go. Competition is their common denominator even though Joe Brennan and Joel Stave are at a different level this spring than Curt Phillips, who's still on the comeback trail.
"We're all very competitive guys but we get along very well in meet-
ings,'' said Stave, a redshirt freshman from Whitnall High School. "We're pushing each other — we all want to play.''
Despite numerous setbacks, Jon Budmayr is
still hoping to rejoin the mix. Budmayr, a red- shirt junior from Woodstock, Ill., has been deal- ing with a nerve condition in his shoulder and/ or arm. Although he has received some reassur- ances on his future, uncertainly clouds his avail- ability.
"There are a lot of difficulties when you don't know what's going on,'' said Phillips, a senior from Kingsport, Tenn. "Now that you see Jon getting some answers, you see him brighten- ing up a little bit. If it's possible for him to come back, he's going to put in the work to do it. I have
24 » VARSITY APRIL 26, 2012
no doubt about it.'' There's no doubt, either, that University of Maryland transfer Danny O'Brien will impact the pecking order at quarterback when O'Brien arrives on campus in June. O'Brien has some- thing the others don't have: starting experience. During his two seasons with the Terps, he start- ed 17 games. "You want to go up against the best,'' said Brennan, a redshirt sophomore from Audubon, N.J. "You want to prove that, 'Hey, I'm the best at what I do.' I'm confident that I have the ability to perform at the college level and be a leader on
