"I was given opportu- nities to compete and that allowed me to stick around. I didn't feel like an outsider — ever — I always felt like I was part of the team, which really meant a lot to me.''
flush sacks to be had. But you have to work hard for them.''
That hard work can pay big dividends, though, as it did in the Badgers' open- er against Northern Iowa. The 6-foot-6, 305-pound Hemer helped seal the win by de- flecting a fourth-down pass attempt. "Once I saw the quarterback bring his arm back, my reaction was to put my hands up and luckily I got a piece of it,'' he said. Despite a scare from the Panthers, UW's lethargic offense was just good enough to avoid the upset. That was not the case last Saturday at Oregon State. The offense was all but non-existent, and not even a solid defensive showing could save the Badgers from taking an unexpected bump. "As a team, we need to embrace challenges and adversity,'' Hemer said, "because these are the times when character gets revealed and we find out what kind of team we are … we can't let something like this bury us, be- cause everything we still want is out there for us.
"Everyone is thinking, 'What could I have done better?' That's one thing that is really good about our team — there isn't any fin- ger-pointing, which will benefit us now in these weeks to come. "It's all going to work itself out. We're go- ing to make adjustments and good things will start happening.'' Walking the walk, after all, is still a part of who Hemer is — a former walk-on.
34 » VARSITY SEPTEMBER 13, 2012
