Madison — Aware of the date — April 1, 2014 — Zander Neuville thought he was about to become the victim of an April Fool's Day joke perpetrated by Waupaca High School football coach John Koronkiewicz.
Neuville, at the time a senior defensive end headed to Division II Minnesota State to play football because Wisconsin hadn't shown any interest, was told by Koronkiewicz to call UW's Ben Strickland.
The reason: UW had decided to offer Neuville a spot as a preferred walk-on.
"He just told me to call this number," Neuville said Friday after UW's next-to-last practice of the spring.