BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Since his formative years as a player, Andrew Van Ginkel has dealt with common football-related injuries ranging from an AC strain (shoulder) to a hip pointer. He recalled being slowed in high school once by what he termed a "low-ankle sprain" but admitted, "That's nothing compared to this."
This would be the dreaded high-ankle sprain; dreaded by competitors in all sports. On Tuesday, for instance, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Gio Gonzales was injured in the second inning of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. Diagonosis: the dreaded high-ankle sprain.
Van Ginkel has witnessed others get this type of injury and heard the horrors of it.
"But I didn't know how bad a high-ankle sprain was," he said, "until I got it."
It's something that he's not likely to forget; the cause or effect.
"I went to make a tackle in the BYU game," he said, revisiting the Sept. 15 game at Camp Randall Stadium. "The runner cut back and I cut back with him. It was just kind of a freak deal. I felt something wasn't right. But it didn't really hurt too bad, so I was optimistic.
"You're thinking, 'It's just an ankle sprain. You should be able to play through it.'"
Think again. It was much worse. Van Ginkel left the game in the first quarter and didn't return. Adding insult to Van Ginkel's injury, the Badgers lost 24-21. Of all the pieces on defense that the Badgers could least afford to lose was Van Ginkel, the most experienced outside linebacker.
At the start of last season, he was an unknown; save for being the long-haired transfer from Iowa Western Community College with the unique number (No. 17), high school resume (as a quarterback and defensive back) and college origins (South Dakota, where he was the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2015).
It didn't take long for Van Ginkel to find a home in a linebacker rotation that revolved around a couple of well-traveled, hardened fifth-year seniors in Garret Dooley and Leon Jacobs. The 6-foot-4, 236-pound Van Ginkel had four tackles in each of the first three outings, and five times in 14 games.
Saving his best for the postseason, he had a pick-six against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game and a momentum-swinging interception against Miami in the Orange Bowl. Overall, he wound up with 39 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
That is the Van Ginkel that the Badgers were expecting to get and rally around at outside 'backer in the absence of Dooley and Jacobs. But that was not the Van Ginkel who played a handful of snaps in the Big Ten opener at Iowa, one week after sustaining the high ankle sprain against BYU.
"I was in the training room getting treatments all week long doing whatever I could to see if I could play," said Van Ginkel, who's from Rock Valley, Iowa; a five-hour drive from Kinnick Stadium. "With the adrenaline going, just getting in for five snaps or so, it really meant a lot to me.
"I wanted to be out there and I wanted to play for this team. Every week, it has gradually gotten better and better."
During his rehab, he has been in the athletic training room for early morning and late afternoon treatments sandwiched around his daily routine of classes, position group meetings and practice. "I've been spending so much time in there," he said, "they (the athletic trainers) are all becoming my best friends."
Everybody heals at a different rate and he'd be the first to say that it has been a grind. "But you have to keep grinding and continue to push through it and do whatever you have to do to get healthy," said Van Ginkel. "Stay positive. Don't get down on yourself. Have an impact on people around you."
Be even more team-oriented, he added. "Whether you're on the field or not," he said, "you can always help coach the position, encourage others and make sure they're doing the right things. Sometimes you have to take a different role when you're not on the field. You just have to be a leader."
Van Ginkel has found strength from within his own position group. "They know what it takes to play outside linebacker," he said, "and all the different things that you have to do in pass rushing. A few of them have had the same injury in the past and they can relate and help encourage me."
The Badgers have certainly missed his impactful presence on the edge. Although he saw action against Iowa, however limited, and Nebraska, he didn't show up in the statistics. It was a much different storyline at Michigan. Van Ginkel, who started, had a career-high six tackles, including a TFL.
"It just felt better," he said of his ankle. "I had more confidence on it."
No. 17 looked like the ol' No. 17.
"Just seeing him out there moving around was great to see for all of us," said senior nose tackle Olive Sagapolu. "Getting Gink back will boost everyone as a whole. Having more pressure on the outside definitely helps the interior guys. We can't wait to see what he can do at full-go again."
Van Ginkel can't wait for that final stage in his rehab, either.
"Hopefully it's soon because I feel like it's getting closer and closer," said Van Ginkel, who has the only quarterback sack among the outside linebackers — and that came against New Mexico in early September. "Talking to people who have had this injury in the past, they say that it lingers for awhile.
"I want to get to a point where I'll be as close to 100 percent as I will be."
Is he there yet?
"Not quite 100 percent," he said with a shy grin. "But I'm getting pretty close."
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For the second time this season, Van Ginkel has been preparing to bang heads with a former junior college teammate. In the Big Ten opener, it was Hawkeyes wide receiver Nick Easley. Saturday, it will be Illinois quarterback AJ Bush. All three played on the 2016 Iowa Western team.
Council Bluffs, Iowa, was the second layover for Bush, who spent two years at Nebraska without seeing any game action. Last season, the Alpharetta, Georgia, native was a backup in the Virginia Tech program. In early August, he joined the Illini and was eligible immediately as a graduate transfer.
Bush (6-4, 225) has probably taken a long, hard look at how Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson attacked the Badgers with the zone read. Patterson, a Mississippi transfer, had an 81-yard run on the first play of the second quarter and also rushed for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Bush may be viewed as a more dangerous running threat than Patterson, who had 9 carries for 113 yards (a net of 90 when subtracting three sacks). Despite missing two-plus games with an injury, Bush is the third-leading rusher for the Illini. He's averaging 4.4 yards per rush and 70.5 per game.
In the season opener against Kent State, he had 23 rushes for 319 yards. In Illinois' only Big Ten win over Rutgers, the 22-year-old Bush rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns to become the first Illini QB with multiple 100-yard rushing games in a season since Nathan Scheelhaase in 2010.
Bush, who was voted a team captain, has completed 55 percent of his passes for 482 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Bush and true freshman M.J. Rivers III, who started at quarterback against South Florida and Penn State, have been forced to throw under pressure.
Illinois has given up the most sacks in the Big Ten: 17 for 124 yards (2.83).
"Hopefully this week," Van Ginkel said, eyeing an on-field reunion with Bush, "I'll get more of my balance and strength and mobility back."
First and 10: Illinois
1. Bush is directing a rushing attack that's averaging 228.8 yards per game (120 more than last season's average). The Illini have seven runs of 40 or more yards; 11 of 30 or more yards. Tailbacks Reggie Corbin and Mike Epstein are averaging 7.9 and 6.8 yards per rush, respectively.
2. Corbin, a 5-10, 200-pound junior from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, had a career-high 137 rushing yards (12.5) at Rutgers. He has had three runs of 50 or more yards; five runs of 30 or more yards. Corbin was a member of two national championship rugby teams in high school.
3. After missing last season with an injury, sophomore linebacker Jake Hansen made up for lost time in this season's opener against Kent State. Hansen had 15 tackles, including 6 TFLs, tying the school record. In 2017, James Crawford led the team with 5.5 TFLs in nine games.
4. Right guard Nick Allegretti (6-4, 320), who has started 30 consecutive games, rarely leaves the field. Last year, he played 760 of the 762 offensive snaps. Allegretti, a two-time captain, has "already" missed three snaps this season; the final three in a rout of Western Illinois.
5. Peanut Tillman was a staple of Lovie Smith-coached defenses with the Chicago Bears. His players have now taken on the "Peanut Punch" mindset (Tillman forced 44 fumbles) to go along with his ball-hawking (38 career picks). Illinois has forced a turnover in 20 straight games.
6. Linebacker Del'Shawn Phillips and cornerback Jartavius Martin have three interceptions each. Five other players have one apiece. Martin is one of three true freshman DBs to have started games, joining Sydney Brown and Delano Ware. The Illini have played 17 true frosh this year.
7. Chase McLaughlin (aka McLongkick), a former walk-on, has one of the strongest legs in college football. In converting 9 of 14 field goals through the first six games, he has been good from 50, 53 and 54 yards. For his career, he's 33-of-48 on field goals and 61-of-61 on extra points.
8. Sophomore punter Blake Hayes is part of the Aussie invasion from Pro Kick in Melbourne, Australia. Over 60 Pro Kick graduates are on Division I rosters, and three are in the NFL. The 6-6 Hayes leads the Big Ten with a 45.1 average and has 12 punts of over 50 yards.
9. For the second straight game, UW is facing a Big Ten foe with an ex-Badgers player coordinating weight training. Michigan has Ben Herbert, who was a nose guard and linebacker. Illinois has Joey Boese, who was a DB. Herbert and Boese were teammates (1998-2001).
10. In 1987, Smith coached invert linebackers for Don Morton before leaving after one season for Arizona State. Paul Chryst was a quarterback/tight end in '87. He was also the holder for Todd Gregoire, the school record-holder with 65 field goals (since matched by Rafael Gaglianone).
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Note to Quote
The last time that Illinois didn't have at least one takeaway in a game was on Nov. 12, 2016 at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers won 48-3 and rushed for 363 yards and four touchdowns. Corey Clement had 123 yards, Dare Ogunbowale had 103 and Bradrick Shaw had 80. Quarterback Alex Hornibrook attempted only 12 passes and completed 7 for 85 yards. In last season's game, a 24-10 win in Champaign (best remembered for offensive lineman's Michael Deiter's 4-yard touchdown "scamper"), the Badgers turned it over once with an interception.
Quote to Note
On making the transition as a true freshman to the starting lineup, Wisconsin cornerback Rachad Wildgoose said, "Coach (Jim) Leonhard let me get ready to play the first couple of weeks of the season and when he felt that I was ready he put me in. I guess it just started to click the Iowa week. It's kind of fun (speaking for the young DBs) because we're doing it for the first time, so we're all excited when we get on the field. It's like a dream come true. From where I'm from (Miami, Florida), you have to have a little bit of confidence if you want to succeed even a little bit because everyone is going to come out and try to dominate you."
