John Torchio's bet on himself paying off in a big way in his fifth year

MADISON - Senior safety John Torchio, now in his fifth season at Wisconsin, isn't lacking for confidence. Neither should he. After all, he now has as many interceptions (5) as starts (5).

Looking to stop Illinois State on a third and seven in the red zone, Torchio turned to outside linebacker Nick Herbig and called his shot.

"Hey, Herbie, about to pick this one," he said.

Sure enough, Torchio read the eyes of the quarterback and stepped in front of a Zack Annexstad throw.

"So I’m pass rushing and I turn around and sure enough, there is Torch with the ball in his hands. He’s called the jewelry thief for a reason," Herbig said.

The interception put an end to what was a 17-play, 74-yard drive for the Redbirds at a moment when the game was still knotted up at zero.

"To be honest I feel like that was the turning point in the game," Herbig noted. "We were kind of flat. Weren’t playing to what we should play to. I feel like Torch really turned the game around. Big props to that man."

Plays like that on the back end have earned Torchio the nickname of jewelry thief, a label he earned early in his career while working on special teams. Then special teams coordinator Chris Haering, who is now coaching the tight ends, came up with the moniker after he went unblocked a couple times on special teams. It stuck due in part to teammate Collin Wilder, who kept up the nickname after he made plays throughout fall camp in 2021.

"He just has such a knack for timing," defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said. "So much of being a ball hawk is understanding how to use that vision on the quarterback and showing up at the right place and the right time. He’s had that from day one and it’s really exciting."

Some of those instincts go back to his time playing quarterback in high school and watching with Leonhard during game prep. Leonhard, a former safety and walk-on at Wisconsin, has been a helpful tool for Torchio to turn to.

"Credit to Coach Leonhard, he helps with that a lot," Torchio said. "Obviously he was a master at that."

"I tell people a lot, any time he’s staring at the quarterback, it’s usually a good rep for him," Leonhard said. "He’s a guy that understands the spacing and the timing of route concepts and where he has to be and when he has to get there. It’s hard to teach. He just has that knack and you try to find ways to get him in position to play off of the quarterback."

As one of the leaders on the team, Torchio has filled the role off the field that Scott Nelson and Wilder played. During a spring where the only other healthy bodies behind Torchio and sophomore Hunter Wohler were a pair of walk-ons, he went out of his way to hold meetings with the group. The meetings went over any questions guys might have along with looking over film and the playbook.

"To me, the No. 1 thing is just in the meeting room, during walk throughs and stuff like that, he’s so much more vocal than he was," Leonhard said. "Those other guys were such strong communicators and he just was able to sit back and hit guys more on a one-on-one basis.

"He’s much more vocal day in and day out with the group making sure the energy is there, the attention to detail is there and then just seeing him work. I thought his focus - his intensity was at a different level than it’s been in the past. Not that it was bad before but you just see that urgency as guys get older and it’s fun to see him grow and become more confident."

The plays on the field are the end result of Torchio betting on himself. It's not rare for an in-state athlete to take the opportunity to walk on as opposed to a scholarship offer elsewhere. Being from California, though, Torchio took a chance on UW. Knowing the tradition Wisconsin carries with walk-ons, he opted to walk-on with the Badgers and play for Leonhard.

"I was very aware of that. I wouldn’t choose to turn down a scholarship somewhere and walk-on somewhere where they don’t treat a walk-on the way they do a scholarship player or have the history," Torchio said. "Just the culture is something I wanted to be a part of and saw myself being a part of. Coach Leonhard is a guy I wanted to be coached by."

With his father and grandfather having played for Cal and living 10 minutes away from the campus, Torchio didn't miss many home games growing up. Holding a scholarship offer from the Golden Bears, signing with Cal had been his backup plan. He also held scholarship offers from San Jose State, San Diego, Rice, Dartmouth, Columbia, Yale, Army and Air Force.

The opportunity to instead walk-on was made possible in part to a gift left behind by his grandparents. When his grandparents on his mother's side passed away, they left part of their will to help out with college.

Torchio already had familiarity with the school and campus with his older sister having played soccer at Wisconsin. During the process, he asked his sister for Jack Cichy's number, who had a successful playing career himself as a walk-on. Torchio sent over his film and explained his situation. From there, Cichy let him know who to get in contact with and a visit was set up.

"I reached out to him because I hadn’t been in contact with Wisconsin all that much," Torchio explained. "Honestly I don’t think they thought I was going to walk-on because I had some other offers, so then I reached out to Cichy. Talked to Cichy, met with Coach Leonhard. Both legends, both walk-ons here, so it was definitely something in my mind where, ‘oh wow, that could be me.’"

After playing behind Eric Burrell, Nelson, Wilder and Reggie Pearson over the years, he's now fully carved out a role for himself as a leader on the defense. Adding a sack in the opener as well, Torchio is on his way to being the next in a line of productive walk-ons at UW.

"Been on the field for a number of years. Maybe a little nervous early in 2019 when he first started getting out there but really from the first game against Northwestern, he comes in and has a big hit and you’re like, ‘OK, the moment’s not too big for him,'" Leonhard said.

"Really cool to see him grow as a leader and become more vocal. He’s had such strong leaders in front of him and now he realizes it’s his time to be that guy. Really cool to see a guy have that growth throughout his career."

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