JARED ABBREDERIS If Abbrederis was looking for
an example of an unsung and under-recruited player from a high school in Wisconsin who has gone on to have success as a walk-on, he didn't have to look very far. Luke Swan is helping coach
the UW wide receivers as a grad- uate assistant. Swan was a walk- on. So was Ewing, who remem- bered Abbrederis from his prep days as a hurdler, not a wrestler. In fact, they competed against each other in track when Ew- ing was at Richland Center and Abbrederis was at Wautoma, a small community of about 2,000 some 70 miles north of Madison. "He was a great athlete,'' said Ewing, noting that Abbrederis was the state record-holder in the 110-meter high hurdles and the state champion in the 300-meter hurdles. "He could fly for sure.''
Ewing admitted to being sur- prised when Abbrederis showed up for football. "I thought he was coming here for track (and he was),'' he said. "But right away you could tell that he was going to fit in.''
If only it was that easy. Getting noticed out of high
school was the first challenge to getting here at all. "I was coming from a real small school and a real small town,'' Abbrederis said. "And the obstacle was trying to get the (UW) coaches to notice. We had to send out a lot of film.''
"I was coming from a real small school and a real small town,'' Abbrederis said. "And the obstacle was trying to get the coaches to notice. We had to send out a lot of film.''
Another challenge was mak-
ing the transition from prep quarterback to college receiver. "Catching the ball on the run
was an adjustment,'' said the 6-2, 180-pound Abbrederis. "It's real easy when you're just stand-
ing there and catching the ball. "But when you have a defen-
sive back in your face and you're running a route at full speed, it's a little bit different. So that was another obstacle that I had to overcome.''
