Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

For many high school football players growing up in America's Dairyland, their dream is to play for the University of Wisconsin Badgers.  For varying reasons, that ends up not being the best option for some high level gridders and they turn elsewhere to play their college ball.  Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo has become a very attractive option for many of these players.  Relative proximity, a quality program, and a prestigious academic institution are all reasons why the Broncos program has appealed to those from Wisconsin.

The Broncos roster currently boasts nine players from Wisconsin:


LB Chris Prom  Fr.  Port Washington H.S.

OL Lee Pethan  RS Fr.  Hibert H.S.

OL Nick Clemons  So.  Waunakee H.S.

OL Paul Wasikowski  Jr.  Cudahy H.S.

OL Matt Lochman  Jr.  Hartland Arrowhead H.S.

TE Jeff Zipfel  Fr.  Kettle Moraine H.S.

DE Zach Davidson  Sr.  Racine Park H.S.

DE Drew Nowak  Fr.  DePere H.S.

P Ben Armer  RS Fr.  Janesville Parker

These players, and others throughout the years, have helped build a strong football tradition at Western Michigan.  Last year the Broncos finished 3rd in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Western Division.  A tough schedule and some costly turnovers prevented the Broncos from moving up.  In fact, five of the teams eleven games were against teams that played in bowl games last year.  Those teams included Missouri and West Virginia, who were both one win away from a BCS Bowl.  The signature win for the Western Michigan program last year was a 28-19 victory at Iowa which kept the Hawkeyes from becoming bowl-eligible.  This year the Broncos look to build on that momentum and have been picked to finish third again in the MAC West by the coaches.  However, prestigious pre-season prognosticator Phil Steele has WMU ranked 40th in the country and picks them to be one of 5 surprise non-BCS conference teams.

Davidson and Wasikowski made the biggest contributions amongst the Wisconsin players last year.  Wasikowski started 5 games at three different offensive line positions while Davidson started all but one of the Broncos games.  He led the team in tackles for loss with 12.5 and finished tied for the lead in sacks with 6.5.  He was recognized for his outstanding season with 2nd team All-Mac honors. 

This year the Wisconsin contingent continues to make impacts on the Broncos program.  Davidson will once again start at defensive end, while 4 different offensive linemen from Wisconsin are in the two-deep.  Nick Clemons from Waunakee will start at right guard and his backup will be Lee Pethan from Hibert.  Wasikowski will be the backup center while junior Matt Lochman from Hartland is the backup right tackle.  Redshirt freshman Ben Armer from Janesville Parker will be the starting punter.

In addition to these 9 Bronco players from Wisconsin, current UW safety Chris Maragos is a former walk-on receiver at WMU who started as a redshirt freshman before transferring to UW. 

The future looks bright at Western Michigan, and a large group of players with Wisconsin roots is contributing to that success.  See more on the Western Michigan football team at:

http://www.wmubroncos.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4600&KEY=&SPID=1922&SPSID=24299