MADISON, Wis. — Dezmen Southward won't soon forget his first day of organized football, if for no other reason than the embarrassing ordeal of properly dressing himself in practice gear.
"I actually put my pads on backwards the first day," Southward said. "I had my knee pads on my thighs. It was pretty bad. I had no idea what to do. I was lost."
This might sound like the kind of story shared by many pre-teen players unaccustomed to the routine of wearing traditional football garb. What makes Southward's story unique is that this scenario didn't originate on a Pee Wee team. It took place during his senior year of high school.
Few players with such limited experience and knowledge of the sport could earn a major Division I scholarship offer in one season, but it speaks to Southward's athleticism and dedication that he defied the odds to reach this point. Southward, now a redshirt junior-to-be in Wisconsin's football program, is expected to be the Badgers' starting free safety in the fall, replacing departed senior Aaron Henry.
Not bad for a self-proclaimed basketball player who was once afraid of football because of the contact associated with the sport.
"I was a basketball player my whole life," Southward said. "I saw myself going to the NBA some day. In basketball, I was a real aggressive player. All the football coaches would beg me to come out."
Southward said he was encouraged to join the high school football team by his stepfather, Eli Rasheed, who played football at Indiana and is currently the defensive line coach at Toledo. When Southward received only modest interest from smaller Division I programs in basketball, he finally decided to give football a try.
The circumstances surrounding Southward's ascension to starting free safety at Wisconsin are unique, but it likely would have been impossible had he not attended powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. During his senior season at Aquinas, he started on a team that finished 15-0 and won its first-ever mythical national championship as the best high school team in the country.
"It was great on two different levels," Southward said. "One, they're kind of a mini college. The way they run practice, their coaches teach you almost like a college coach would. Even though I only played one year, it prepared me for a lot of the things that I would see here.
"And two, there were 15 guys getting (college scholarship) offers from my school. So basically 30, 40 coaches could be at a practice. They'd see me and be like, 'Who's that guy?' Whereas if I was at any other school, I wouldn't get looks like that."
Southward credited Wisconsin teammate Conor O'Neill for putting him on the Badgers' radar. O'Neill also attended St. Thomas Aquinas with Southward and was a heavily recruited defensive back. Once O'Neill committed to Wisconsin, he informed the Badgers' coaching staff about Southward, and it took little time for coaches to be awed by his athleticism.
Since arriving on Wisconsin's campus in 2009, the learning curve has been steep for the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Southward. He took a redshirt season that year while attempting to understand Wisconsin's complex defensive schemes.
"He was not a very good football player," Badgers defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Chris Ash said. "He didn't understand how to play football. Right now, he's still learning, but he understands concepts now, understands fundamentals, understands offensive formations and plays. Those things were just completely foreign to him. So it's allowing him to be in the right spots now."
During his redshirt freshman campaign in 2010, Southward improved enough to play in all 13 games as a reserve. Last year, he shared the strong safety position with Shelton Johnson and played in all 14 games with three starts, recording 35 total tackles and two fumble recoveries. He made his first career start during Wisconsin's nationally televised victory against Nebraska on Oct. 1 and registered a career-high seven tackles, though his impact fluctuated throughout the season.
Given Henry's departure, both Johnson and Southward should be on the field together making significant contributions as Wisconsin's two safeties in 2012.
Johnson isn't surprised by Southward's development in the program.
"I remember when Dez first came in, he was Mr. Potential out there," Johnson said. "We're definitely starting to see that potential coming to fruition. He's looking a lot like a football player and not just an athletic guy."
Although Southward is moving from strong safety to free safety, he described the transition as relatively easy. Southward said free safety involves less thinking, while strong safety requires making more defensive calls to teammates.
During Southward's one season of high school ball, coaches stuck him at free safety because of his ability to make plays with his natural instincts and athleticism. As Wisconsin enters its second week of spring football practices, Southward continues to use his instincts, but now he possesses the knowledge necessary to make proper reads on the quarterback.
It is all part of the learning process for a player who just a few seasons ago didn't even know how to correctly wear football pads.
"I've grown immensely," Southward said. "I can remember coming to Wisconsin and being late to everything, to missing a lot of meetings, to not taking notes in the meeting room, to not taking those notes to the field and showing what I've learned in the film room. I think I've come full circle and learned how to use all of those tools to my advantage. I really want to show that this year."
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