Football family members join Hall of Fame

With three members of our Blue Devil football family entering into the Hall of Fame this week, the win was very special for our program. Michael Wilson(’90) and his family were in town in time for Mike to address the team on Friday, and then again for our pre-game prayer on Saturday. As one of the first football players I coached to enter into the Hall of Fame since my beginnings in 1990 at UW-Stout, this game had special feelings for me as well. Mike provided some valuable insight to the team on what it means to be a winner, to be a Blue Devil and to represent UW-Stout forever.

Also joining Mike in the Hall of Fame ceremonies were former player Jack Voigt, and former coach Bob Bostwick. Other inductees included Mike Kundinger, Lisa (Schultz) Dormady and Greg Osterhaus. Larry Kuester received the Distinguished Service Award. Many friends, family and former players and teammates were in town to celebrate this great honor with the inductees of the class of 2007.

Blue Devils defeat Platteville

UW-Stout's offense didn't score a touchdown until the waning seconds of the game, but the way the Blue Devils' defense and special teams played, they didn't need to as UW-Stout defeated UW-Platteville, 28-7, Saturday at Don & Nona Williams Stadium in the annual Hall of Fame game. The Blue Devil defense intercepted four passes and returned two for touchdowns. Our defense is starting to come into their own, they are starting to understand Coach (Clayt) Birmingham's defense and are becoming confident in it and it shows in their aggressive play. Offensively, we are moving the football when we need to and not making big mistakes. The points will come as long as we continue to work hard and believe. Special teams have been doing very well, with Coach Bird and Coach Thomas continuing to lead the team in this area. Field position has been a big factor in what we do, and this past week is no exception. Field position and return yards played a huge role in the win.

A busy couple of weeks to open season

The past two weeks have been busy for our program. We have played two games, winning the first one at home 24-19 over Menlo College, and losing on the road last week 28-10 vs Missouri-Rolla. The trip to Rolla was a long one, 11 hours on a bus. The team played well after spotting them a 21 point lead, which is too much when playing a good team on the road. Missouri-Rolla has somewhere around 35 full ride scholarships, but we played them very competitively and look forward to the rematch next fall at home.

This week has found our team working hard on fundamentals in practice, and enjoying the bye week, as we have this week off. Team pictures today, practice at 6am Friday morning, then the team has off on Saturday and Sunday, back to work on Monday.

We are looking forward to our trip to Spokane, Wash, next weekend to play Whitworth College, a team that was ranked 16th in the country going into last weekend.

Thank you for your support. We hope to see you at our next home game on Sept. 29th, vs UW-Platteville, which is our Hall of Fame game, at 1:00pm. Former football player Mike Wilson will be a member of our Blue Devil Football family going into the Hall this year.

Blue Devils Open Camp

On Sunday, August 12th we open camp. We are very excited to get on the field and begin forming and shaping our 2007 edition of the Blue Devil Football Squad. Our staff has been busy getting organized and ready to begin working with the fine young men we have coming to camp. We will have some new and exciting players and some different looks to our Offense and Defense. This should make for an exciting year. We are excited about what the future holds, and look forward to representing our university, our alumni, and our community on the field this fall.

Touchdown Club Information

Our 2007 Touchdown Club Fundraiser is just beginning. The mailings will go out this week. Remember, we want you to become more involved in UW-Stout football. Support is not necessarily measured just in dollars. We are not concerned with that right now. We want you in the stands, we want you to listen to the games via the internet, or on the radio. We want you to check out our website, and to receive our Blue Devil E-Mail Updates. We want you to stop down on the field at practices, and after games. We want you to be a part of us and to be proud of Blue Devil football. For those looking to become more of a part of what we do, Touchdown Club info is available on our website http://www.uwstout.edu/athletics/football/td.htm

Golf Outing a Success

It was a great time, hosted by the wonderful staff at Whitetail Golf Course and was a day full of lots of fun, golf & prizes. We had six alumni teams between football and hockey, and enjoyed the opportunity to catch up. Alumni in attendance were Bill Uhlmann, John Selenske, Chris Palmer, Chris Lindner, Jason Berzinksi, Andy Caflisch, Ken Baratta, Mike Feller, Glen Harke, Bill Hiedeman, Bill Doyle, and Del Gunderson. Thanks to all of you for coming. Alumni interested in joining us next year, the tournament will be held on Aug. 2nd, 2008.

Blue Devil Golf Outing held at Whitetail Golf Course, Sat. August 4th, 2007

Come out and help support Blue Devil Football and Hockey. We are looking for more alumni teams. This past year, we had 36 teams of five. It is a great time, hosted by the wonderful staff at Whitetail Golf Course and is a day of lots of fun, golf & prizes. Interested alumni, round up some friends, bring your family and get entered, you won’t regret it. Currently we only have one alumni team, with John Selenske, Bill Uhlmann, Chris Palmer stepping up and challenging all other former Blue Devils to round up a team as well. Other alumni working on rounding up teams are Clint Greenbaum, John Hendricks, Matt Schaeuble, Chris Lindner, Jason Lehman and Doug Dieckman.