Freshman tight end Jake Ferguson's solid play in the Badgers' opener looked familiar

MADISON – Jake Ferguson provided no surprises in Wisconsin’s 2018 opener.

The redshirt freshman tight end gave his teammates and coaches the same things he showed during spring ball and preseason camp:

A receiver able to get open against linebackers or safeties and a player at least willing to get physical as a blocker. 

“He was good,” UW coach Paul Chryst said after UW’s 34-3 victory over Western Kentucky. “What you appreciate is that he was who we saw in camp.

“Because you’re talking about his first game action, and that's not always the case.”

Ferguson, a graduate of Madison Memorial High School, caught four passes for 43 yards in the opener. All four resulted in first downs, with the first two coming on third down.

“I thought Ferg was really good there,” Chryst said, “and I think he did some things with the run game that were good.”

Ferguson’s most noteworthy block of the night came on UW’s second series. 

Kyle Penniston and the 6-foot-5, 239-pound Ferguson pulled from the right side of the formation and led tailback Jonathan Taylor through a seam on the left side. 

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Penniston got a key block at the Western Kentucky 45, and Ferguson followed with a crunching block against safety Drell Greene at the 40 to help clear the path to the end zone for Taylor on a 47-yard run.

Ferguson's 10-yard reception to midfield, on third and 5, led to a 30-yard touchdown run by Taylor in the second quarter. 

Ferguson and guard Beau Benzschawel pulled from right to left. Benzschawel got a key block, but Ferguson found no available defender when he came around the edge.

He didn’t stop running and spied Greene, the last defender between Taylor and the end zone. Greene shied away form contact, so Ferguson kept running interference and Taylor scored easily.

“It's always good to be versatile,” Ferguson said when asked about his willingness to block. “Troy Fumagalli taught me that if you're going to catch some passes you might as well get some good blocks in there every once in a while. 

“I kind of took that to heart last year working on it and I've been working on my blocking all through spring ball. I still have a lot of work to do but I'm taking the right steps.”

The first step can sometimes be the most treacherous, as the game is full of players who dazzle in practice but puzzle under the lights. 

Ferguson’s steady play had to leave his coaches encouraged. 

“Our whole message this year was: ‘Shut out the noise,’ ” Ferguson said. 

The noise to which that message referred was all the talk about winning a Big Ten title and qualifying for the College Football Playoff.

The noise Ferguson wanted to silence Friday came from the stands. He tried as best he could to imagine playing the game on a field with friends. No stands. No fans. No pressure. 

“It was almost like there was no one in the stands and it was just us playing ball,” he said. “I really thought a lot about that last (Thursday) night.

“That really helped me focus up. And once you focus up it is really like that. There’s no one out there and you’re just playing a game. 

“That really helped me. Once I got that first play done I felt very comfortable.”