Big Willie Style - Senior leads Gophers to 4-0 start

Wherever Willie VanDeSteeg has played football, success has followed him. Whether it was youth football or high school football at Glencoe-Silver Lake, he was a part of a winning team.

Even his first two seasons as an active member of the University of Minnesota team, the team managed winning seasons and trips to bowl games.

So when the Gophers squad went 1-11 last year, it was a different feeling for VanDeSteeg, who was in his first year as a captain.

“It is pretty much was the first year I wasn’t on a winning team or one that wasn’t successful. But that may have been a good thing for me personally. It only made me a stronger person and a stronger football player,” he said. “Adversity is something that everyone needs to go through in their life. You can bounce back and get on a roll again.”

Things were only worse when VanDeSteeg suffered a broken bone in his wrist prior to the season opener.

After recording a sophomore team-record 10 sacks and earning All-Big Ten second team honors, he collected only 29 tackles and one sack wearing a cast on his hand.

“When you’re going against a 315-320 pound offensive lineman at the top level of college football, and you only have one good hand — yeah, it was tough,” VanDeSteeg said. “You want to be healthy so you can make an impact.”

Ready for the Big Ten
With the addition of a number of talented junior college and true freshman recruits, the Gophers figured to rebound from the disastrous 2007 season. But not many put the Gophers on four wins in the non-conference schedule, even with the likes of Montana State, Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic.

Through four weeks, a perfect record is exactly what the Gophers have heading into the first week of the Big Ten Conference schedule. The opponent — Ohio State University.

The Buckeyes were predicted to top the conference standings with 20 starters back from a season ago. However, an injury to starting running back Chris Wells hampered their non-conference start.
Ohio State was blasted by No. 1 University of Southern California, while narrowly defeating lowly Ohio University and Troy.

“The big thing is we can’t beat ourselves this week. This weekend is going to be an eye-opener to some of these young guys. But, this is why you play in the Big Ten — playing in front of 100,000 people in stadiums like Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan,” VanDeSteeg said.

Last year at this time, no one would’ve given Minnesota a chance to win this Saturday. That was last year, and this is this year. The Gophers may be a 17 1/2 point-underdog, but nobody is buying an easy win for the Buckeyes.

“We always say a win is a win. No matter how we do it, that’s our goal for Ohio State,” VanDeSteeg said.

To read more about VanDeSteeg and the Gophers, check out Thursday's print edition on newsstands right now.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.