Remembrance Of Things Passed

HE'S BEST KNOWN FOR BEING PEYTON MANNING'S BACKUP ON THE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS, BUT QUARTERBACK JIM SORGI HAD A MEMORABLE CAREER ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MENDOTA. PLAYING BEHIND BROOKS BOLLINGER FROM 2000 THROUGH '02, SORGI FINISHED HIS WISCONSIN CAREER FIRST in career passing efficiency (141.2), fourth in touchdown passes (33) and fifth in passing yards (4,498). Here, he offers his reflections on playing at UW.

I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I VISITED THE UW campus. I had come from my hometown [Fraser, Mich.] for an unofficial summer visit, and things instantly felt right. The campus was beautiful, the people were friendly and it was cool hanging out. Plus, the schools in my state already had quarterbacks. Michigan had Drew Henson, and Michigan State had Ryan Van Dyke.

Basketball has come on in recent years at Wisconsin, and hockey has always been good, but we were a football school when I was there. It was amazing how recognizable you were in Madison if you were a football player. You could be walking down State Street eating an ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery or be in class, and people would come up and start talking football. I can only imagine what it was like to play against us at home. My teammates on the Colts tell me that our student section was simply unbelievable. When Jump Around starts blasting over the loudspeakers at the start of the fourth quarter, man, you can feel the whole stadium shake. Those guys tell me they've never seen anything like it. It's something that Wisconsin has that no other program in the country has.

I wish I could have started earlier in my career, but I did get to play a lot. The best Wisconsin team I was part of was my true freshman year in 1999, when we went to the Rose Bowl. That team had Ron Dayne, Chris Chambers and Lee Evans, and we beat UCLA 38-31. As a redshirt freshman the following year, I got some extensive playing time. I made my first career start against Drew Brees and Purdue and threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns. But I had to wait until I was a fifth-year senior to start full time.

Both of my favorite games involved Michigan State. The first Wisconsin game I ever played in was in East Lansing against the Spartans in 2000. Brooks Bollinger left the game at halftime with a concussion, and I came in and hit Lee Evans on a 45-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds left. We won 17-10, and it ended a three-game losing streak. It was cool because it was in Michigan and I had the whole family there. Then came a game against the Spartans in my last year. We played them at home in November, and I threw five touchdown passes, all to Lee. The final score was 56-21, and I threw for 380 yards. That was pretty awesome.

I still have a bunch of UW memorabilia at my house in Brownsburg, Ind. One of my Wisconsin helmets is hanging between a couple of my jerseys, and I have pictures of some of the games I played in. Now that I'm in the NFL, I'm always hoping I get time on Saturday to watch the Badgers. If I can't, I'll check the scores, especially when we're playing one of my teammates' schools. The best was when Wisconsin played Tennessee last year in the Outback Bowl. Peyton and I did some trash-talking. We went back and forth jabbing at each other, but in the end he got bragging rights. I don't know when we'll play again, but I'll be waiting.

How would I like for Wisconsin fans to remember me? I always wanted to go out and win for the school and make people proud. Sometimes it happened. Sometimes it didn't. But I hope people in Wisconsin remember me as a guy who came to Madison and gave it his best.