Interview with University of Wisconsin Wide Receiver Luke Swan

“Luke Swan. Fennimore, Wisconsin, All around American good kid.” This praise couldn’t have come from a higher source other then Wisconsin Badger Football Coach Bret Bielema. Luke Swan just grinned from ear to ear as Coach Bielema interrupted our interview. After some talk about Thanksgiving, Coach Bielema left and a still smiling Swan turned his attention back to us, apologizing and asking what the question was again.

Meeting us at Gate One right outside of Camp Randall, Swan double checked that my partner and I knew just where to meet him for our interview. After some reassurance that we knew our way through the tunnels, we met ten minutes later as he showed us through the McClain center to find the proper place for us to begin.

Swan kept up friendly conversation as we headed down the turf green ramp towards the weight room. Peeking open the door, a grin was thrown in our direction as he shook his head, “too many people in there.” Continuing down the hallway, Swan stopped momentarily as a teammate on crutches and their family came towards us, asking how he was doing and how the surgery went. “I’ll be praying for you” said Swan as he walked away with us to find our destination. As we continued to chit chat, we asked Swan if he’d be more comfortable sitting down, as he was recovering from a leg injury. He brushed our question off telling us whatever worked was fine with him and began to tell us about just getting off the crutches the weekend before, a smile on his face as he spoke.

We settled in the locker room, the cardinal red “1-0, protect this house” mural behind Swan as he relaxed into a chair for the interview, the faint sound of sanders and the low voices of workers talking behind us. “They’re re-doing the floor,” Swan offered as an explanation. That became evident as the interview continued, teammates shoes squeaking as if on a wet rubber floor as they entered the locker room near us.

Football was obviously the main topic of conversation as we began to chat about how Swan juggled football and his academics. “I like to compare it to a full time job, the hours. I think it’s like 20 hours expected to put into football, but I would say close to 40 with stuff associated with football. So full time, plus your going to school.”

As the discussion continued, it became clear that academics are important to him when asked about his motivation to keep his grades up. “Definitely one reason is to get a great education and learn and understand for when football is over. It’s definitely important to me. I’ve had no problem with eligibility so that hasn’t been an issue with keeping my grades above a 1.8, 2.0 or whatever it is, but it is for some guys to keep their academics up to play. It’s always been important to me. It hasn’t been do academics to do football.”

When it came to how much time was spent on homework, well that was a different story. Swan chuckled at the question and shook his head some. “Probably not as much as I should. There’s a saying around here…,” an almost sheepish grin on his face as he spoke. “Academics number one, football number two.” How ironic that when he talked about academics being first, he held up two fingers, and for the importance of football, he held up one. “You got to take care of yourself, know who you are as a person. School is definitely difficult at the University of Wisconsin, you definitely learn to balance yourself, know what’s important to study. You catch 15 to 20 minutes here and there, but it’s definitely not the recommended 2 hours for every hour or whatever it is.”

It would seem with the schedule the football players have, catching anytime to study when they can is a must to keep their grades up. The day begins with lifting three times a week as early as 5:30 am and running non-stop with school, coaches meetings, and practice until 7 or 7:30 some nights. “Any academic stuff as far as school work, that needs to be taken care of in that night time period.” said Swan.

Talking about academics lead to eligibility requirements which Swan explained were laid out in the Athletic Code for athletes, ticking each of them off on his fingers. “There’s definitely things to remain eligible, maintain a certain GPA in classes. If you start missing classes you get certain punishments.” The Athletic Code didn’t just hit on grades however. “There are drug tests, substance abuse, steroids, whole bunch of different tests you can be tested for.” But when it comes to a well known drug on college campus, Swan chooses to abstain. “As for alcohol, you can consume how you like. I’ve chosen not to, I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since I’ve been here. It’s just something as an athlete I don’t feel helps my performance. The guys do choose to, definitely their decision, coaches leave it up to them. But there’s definitely certain nights, after a game it’s fine, but after Wednesday, Thursday night, that might not be the proper time.”

With all the time put into football, one couldn’t help but wonder if the players get a day off or a sick day in a sense. When we asked Swan, he laughed. “That’s a joke. If you’re not here, there’s a problem. You’re here every day, all the time. If you don’t lift, you’re on the Stair Master with a 45 pound plate over your head or something. Definitely consequences for not being at practice or at lift. Obviously, if you’re deathly sick, you have to come in to the trainer room. Okay, you have a huge temp, and you’re throwin’ up, whatever, but you can’t just, oh I don’t feel like coming. That’s not even an option. You’d be out of this program so quick it wouldn’t even be funny.”

As the interview wound down, we asked Swan for his opinion on Division three athletics, such as at the neighboring Edgewood College. He thought for a bit before starting to speak again, those baby blue’s maintaining eye contact with my partner and me as they had the majority of our time with him. “I would guess, more expected to be really committed on time, more intense with their time. There’s a lot of things that demand our time. If we’re supposed to be there, no second guessing that.” He thought again and then laughed as he lost his train of thought. After repeating the question, he began to nod and sat up some before completing his answer. “Obviously different as there’s a whole lot of money involved in Division one. A no win season is bad news for the university, more pressure to produce for the coaches. Division three is not so much money driven, little more pure. Some people like that because it’s pure athleticism. It really depends on if you want that attention or if you love the sport. Definitely people here who love their sport, but it’s a little more driven by the money.”

Wrapping up our interview, the conversation turned back to Swan’s healing hamstring which he said would still take a couple months to heal. While there will likely be no # 1 jersey on the field in the Badger’s Outback Bowl appearance, the “Fennimore Flash” has definitely given red and white fans some memories from his time at the University of Wisconsin. Offering to walk my partner and me out of the McClain center, we declined and thanked him again for the interview. He thanked us as well before adjusting his white Badgers hat, waving, and heading back towards the Coaches offices. A limp was barely noticeable.