Meet 2 Wisconsin assistants. Greg Scruggs played one year of high school football. Jack Bicknell Jr. has been in this system before.
Jeff Potrykus
MADISON – Wisconsin defensive line coach Greg Scruggs and offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. met Monday with reporters.
Scruggs, 32, played just one year of high school football and then played defensive line at Louisville (2008-2011) before playing four-plus seasons in the NFL. He worked under Luke Fickell at Cincinnati in 2018 and 2019 as director of player development before being promoted to defensive line coach.
Bicknell Jr., 60, played center at Boston College (1981-1985), began his coaching career in 1986 as a graduate assistant at Boston College and has coached in college and in the National Football League.
Here are selected comments from their interview sessions on Monday.
Q: Greg, you didn’t go out for the football team at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati until your senior year, after playing drums in the marching band for three years and basketball for two. Head coach Steve Specht convinced you to join the football team. How did it affect your life and help you arrive at where you are today?
Scruggs: He knew that I was a basketball player and I wanted to try to play basketball in college. But he (also) knew I did not want my mother to pay a dollar for my school. However that was going to happen, I planned on going into the military, fly C-130s, retire from the military and then be a Delta pilot for the rest of my life.
He said if you give me a chance, I can help you. And I didn’t want to look back on my life and wonder what would have happened if I had ever played football.…
It kind of rolled downhill from there. Scholarship and the blessings continued to roll after that.
Q: Jack, you have worked with offensive coordinator Phil Longo for a total of three seasons – last season at North Carolina and in 2017 and 2018 at Ole Miss. How would you describe your relationship?
Bicknell: I think it is very important and I also think it definitely eases the transition. I’m not coming in trying to learn a brand new offense like other places I’ve been.
Phil and I are very close friends. Our families are very close. There’s got to be a trust there. He’s got to trust that I’m going to coach my guys up well but also coach them up exactly the way he wants them coached up and run it exactly the way he wants it done.
When you think about it, when 11 guys go out there, half of them almost are linemen. And those guys have to do it precisely correct or the plays will never get off.
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Q: Greg, after working as the assistant defensive line coach with the New York Jets last season, you chose to come to Wisconsin and work again with Luke Fickell. What factors led to that decision?
Scruggs: Luke. Simple as that. Great opportunity working on Sundays. That was pretty cool. But when you have a relationship with coach Fick and the way that he does things and the way that he pushes people, the way that he challenges you as a coach, the way that he cares for the kids and always keeps our student-athletes first, I think that is what is most important.
If you want the straight-forward answer, Luke.
Q: Jack ... some coaches want to see their linemen stay at one position and master it. Others cross-train their linemen so they can be moved around in case of an emergency. What is your philosophy?
Bicknell: I try to approach it like there is no left and right and try to figure out who can play center or guard and who can play guard or tackle.