Error processing SSI fileFormer Wisconsin fan Stenavich is true blue
Offensive lineman was raised to be a Badger, but his heart led him to U-M, and he has no regrets.
Adam Stenavich will make his 31st start for Michigan on Saturday at Wisconsin.Related links
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ANN ARBOR -- For Michigan offensive lineman Adam Stenavich, a Wisconsin native who once bled red and white, the good old days of Badgers football date all the way back to the 1993 Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl victory.
He recalls the running of tailback Brent Moss and the heads-up play of quarterback Darrell Bevell, who scored the Rose Bowl-winning touchdown on a 21-yard run.
Stenavich was 10, a die-hard Wisconsin and Green Bay Packers fan, destined, of course, to play football for the Badgers.
He attended several games at Camp Randall Stadium, making the 140-mile drive with his family from their home in Marshfield to Madison. Naturally, he had red-and-white Wisconsin T-shirts and paraphernalia, and Badgers stickers covered his desk.
Then, as one of the nation's top offensive lineman, he made a recruiting visit to Michigan. He said he had no prior knowledge off the U-M tradition before he made the visit, but he connected with the coaching staff.
"I made up my mind right then," said Stenavich, an All-Big Ten first-team selection last season.
When he got back to Marshfield he threw away his Wisconsin shirts and scraped the stickers off his desk, and prepared for a new chapter in his life. Badgers fans were not pleased.
"If you're a Division I recruit in Wisconsin, you go to Wisconsin," said Stenavich, whose older sister attended Wisconsin. "I got letters from Wisconsin fans. They said, you owe it to the state to stay and play. There were a lot of people angry about it. Some of my family members were really disappointed, but I think I made the right choice."
It was a decision, Stenavich said, he has never regretted. The 6-foot-5, 317-pound fifth-year senior will make his 31st career start at left tackle Saturday when Michigan opens Big Ten play at Wisconsin.
Stenavich left last week's game against Eastern Michigan after being kneed in the lower left of his back, but he is healthy and said he could have completed the game.
He will have several family members in attendance Saturday at Camp Randall, and all will be wearing maize and blue.
"They've all converted," said Stenavich, a history major. "They might go back (to being Wisconsin fans) when I leave."
There has been only one notable blip in Stenavich's successful career at Michigan. Last November, while at home in Marshfield for Thanksgiving, he was charged with disorderly conduct after urinating on the floor of a bar. He was fined $367 and was punished by Michigan coach Lloyd Carr -- Stenavich did not start the Rose Bowl game.
"It was a wakeup call," Stenavich said of his brush with the law. "I had to realize what was important to me and how it could be taken away."
He said the matter is now "water under the bridge" and he occasionally is subjected to random jokes by his teammates. He also is aware he never wants to upset Carr the way he did late last year.
"He was very mad," Stenavich said. "Madder than I've ever seen him."
Stenavich's focus is now on the present. Michigan's offensive line has been overwhelmed by injuries and has featured three different lineups in three games.
Only the left side of the line, with Stenavich at tackle and Leo Henige at guard, has not changed.
"As far as the shuffling, I just have to say is our line has done a good job with all the stuff that's happened," Stenavich said. "A bunch of guys have had to learn multiple positions with people moving around.
"I think we've done a good job dealing with the adversity. It's no good when all this happens, but you have to deal with it and I think we've done a good job."
And now Stenavich gets a chance to show Wisconsin fans why he made the right choice.
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The Detroit News.
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