DAVID STLUKA
ICON SPORTS MEDIA
W
isconsin defensive end David
Gilbert couldn���t remember the
subject coming up in the training room with linebacker Ethan
Armstrong and cornerback
Devin Smith, even though all three spent the offseason rehabbing injuries that prevented them
from playing against Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
���It���s funny because we didn���t even talk about going back (to Pasadena),������ Gilbert recalled.
At least not amongst themselves.
���I was more preoccupied with getting healthy and
getting through the rehab,������ Armstrong said.
That was the reality that each player had to accept.
���Everything happens for a reason,������ Smith conceded.
26 �� VARSITY
D EC E M B E R 27, 2012
Working towards another Rose Bowl may have
been implied or understood.
���I had a good feeling we were going back,������ Smith
added, ���and everyone else believed, too.������
But the urgency took on a different shape for
Gilbert, Armstrong and Smith during those long,
grueling hours of rehabilitation; winter, spring and
summer. ���We each kind of took it one day at time,������
said Gilbert, who added the individual focus had to
be on ���I���m going to get healthy today.������
Overcoming their physical setbacks was the No. 1
priority, he rationalized. Once they got back on the
field together, they could again visualize impacting
all three levels of the UW defense; whether it was
Gilbert on the line of scrimmage, Armstrong at the
second level or Smith in the secondary.
One can only imagine what influence each of
