Madison — When the Badgers landed junior corner Nyzier Fourqurean, an ex-Division II player at Grand Valley State and former Vanderbilt commit, he was brought in to bridge the gap between the true freshman and super seniors that made up most of Wisconsin’s cornerback rotation at the time.

By the end of fall camp, though, Fourqurean had worked his way into a sizable role, making the opening day two-deep as an outside cornerback. His hard work over the summer paid instant dividends, as he logged 33 snaps in Week 1 against Buffalo.

His first game in big-time college football, in front of 75,000 fans, could've left the cornerback star-struck. Fourqurean, though, had one thing on his mind.

“I ain’t gonna lie, I was like head down, time to get to work,” he said. “I’ve got something to prove here.”

Coming into the game, Fourqurean knew he was going to play. That’s about all he knew. But he stayed ready and made the most of his playing time.

“I didn't really know what the rep count would look like, but I did know they planned to rotate me,” he said. “So really just wherever my opportunity was I was gonna take advantage of it. So I didn't know exactly what the reps were gonna look like, but I knew I was gonna be playing.”

"After the game, I was like, ‘okay, I’m here now.’”

Against Buffalo, the Badgers had rotation in some spots on their defense, and not much in others. The cornerback rotation, however, was very particular. Ricardo Hallman played every snap, all of which came on the field side. On the boundary side, reps were split rather evenly between Fourqurean and Alexander Smith.

Standing at 6-foot-1, Fourqurean is the biggest and longest cornerback Wisconsin can deploy besides the 6-foot-4 true freshman Amare Snowden. With his size and press cover instincts, Luke Fickell and his staff like him lining up to the boundary side of the field where he can get up in the opposing receiver’s grill.

“He stepped in there and did a great job. We had a plan to be able to play both those guys more, in particular in the boundary,” Fickell said. “I knew going in there we wanted to be able to roll both those guys…But that’s what we’ve seen throughout all fall camp; we’ve got the ability to play for sure with those three guys.”

“I do feel like that’s one of the strong suits of my game,” Fourqurean confirmed. “Obviously I have a longer frame and everything, I like to be up pressed, get my hands on a receiver and slow him down. That is where I think they see me mostly, that’s what they brought me in for I’m pretty sure.”

After Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter took the nation by storm in Week 1 by carrying Colorado to an upset win over TCU in their first big-time college football game, there’s a lot of discourse surrounding players’ ability to move up a level in the sport and maintain their dominance. For Fourqurean, after being selected as a Division II All-American, he was destined to play Power Five football.

“I was watching the interview with Sanders after the game. Like he said, football is football. Players are players,” he said. “I would say the biggest difference I noticed was the physicality…The receivers were blocking a little bit better, the running backs were running a little harder, but for the most part it was the same.”

Fourqurean played like it was the same, too. He held his ground on the outside and nearly intercepted a pass that both he and safety Kamo’i Latu went for at the same time. But just because the corner can maintain his level of play doesn’t mean the transition to Wisconsin was light work.

“It was really challenging at first. Getting to know everybody, getting to know the defense. At first I wasn’t really picking it up as well, not the extent I wanted to. Not fully playing confidently, not full speed,” he said.

“It has been hard being a transfer, to be honest,” he continued. “Just new playbook, new calls, new people, things like that…You have to really dedicate your time to the game.”

For Fourqurean, it wasn’t so much the jump in competition level as it was the adjustment to a new setting, a new system.

“When you’re somewhere for three years, like I was at Grand Valley, you just know how everything is run,” he said. “How the coaches work, how the players are, so having to meet new people, learn how the coaches teach was a little bit difficult. But it’s going really well and everybody is being really helpful.”

The differences in scheme and coaching from football team to football team are one thing. The difference between a Division II campus in Allendale, Michigan and the renowned college town of Madison, Wisconsin is another thing entirely.

“Allendale is kind of more like a country area,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s been real fun, to be honest. This is exactly what I wanted out of my college experience, (including) off the field…How it’s a football town. How it’s kind of football centered. Everybody is really welcoming and everything.”

Now, Fourqurean is living his dream as a big-time college athlete in one of the most recognized college towns in America. He’s pleased with his performance in his first game as a Badger, and believes this is only the beginning. He “expects to see the field,” in his own words, as the season continues.

“Anybody as a kid dreams of that,” he said. “That’s been my dream since I was a kid, playing in front of that many people, those fans…I went up to coach (Matt) Mitchell after the game and I thanked him for believing in me. I thanked him so much, that was just the most fun I had playing college football.”

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