LUCAS AT LARGE
BY MIKE LUCAS ▪ UWBADGERS.COM SENIOR WRITER
Fresh faces feeling right at home
NICK HERBIG
A
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s three of the seven midyear enrollees — first semester college freshmen and technically second-semester preps — Chimere Dike, Nick Herbig and Jack Nelson, each 18, have found strength in numbers while adjusting to a new environment and culture with the Wisconsin football program. “Other teammates have been really good to us but they’re also in different stages (of their education),” said Dike, a wide receiver from Waukesha. “To have guys who are going through the same things that you’re going through, and being able to relate to them, is definitely nice.” On developing a plan to graduate early from Waukesha North High School, he said, “When I started to get recruited, I thought about it a little bit. It kind of came more into fruition this summer. I was just ready for the next step — ready to come here and get better.
CHIMERE DIKE
“But it was something I thought about for a month straight. I knew I would have to sacrifice some things in high school. Probably my biggest sacrifice was basketball and track and just friends. But I thought it was worth it. I thought I was ready mentally for it and it would benefit me in the long run.” Herbig was of the same mindset. After consulting with his parents and older brother, Nate, a second-year guard offensive with the Philadelphia Eagles, he said, “They were open for me to leave early, so we really explored my options and I thought it would be better for me to get a little head start.” Nate Herbig, who was not an early enrollee, started as a true freshman at Stanford. “He said it would definitely be better for me to get here because I could start training and learning the plays,” related Nick, a linebacker from Honolulu, Hawaii. “He’s my
JACK NELSON
biggest mentor and I look up to him.” Before making the decision to accelerate his graduation timeline at Stoughton High School, Nelson, the first commit in the 2020 recruiting class, huddled with his dad, Todd Nelson, a three-year starter at guard for the Badgers (1986-88) and a former teammate of UW head coach Paul Chryst. On transitioning to a Top 25 program on a campus with an enrollment of over 45,000, Jack Nelson, also an offensive lineman, said, “It’s definitely harder — harder classes — and just what you would expect going from high school to college. It’s more serious overall but otherwise not bad.” More serious? “Everyone is taking it way more serious,” he said. “You don’t get the guys in high school that just didn’t care, or they were just there because they didn’t have anything else to