Once departed from the game, a familiar face, an "old" friend has re-emerged for Wisconsin's offensive line.

One of the surprises of UW's fall camp roster came when scrolling down the list of athletes and seeing Jon Dietzen once again back with the program.

"As soon as you see him in pads, it's awesome," tight end Jake Ferguson told reporters via Zoom on Friday.

Along with his presence on the offensive line, Ferguson, of course, could not resist moving the conversation to Dietzen's long red hair, of which was once worn as a mullet.

"And then the flow, he's got the flow going," Ferguson said. "He's running through, nothing better than seeing that.

"I remember yesterday at practice, he was running and I was like, 'Jon, you're looking stiff,' and he's like, 'I know, I'm 40 years old. I can't keep doing this.' But it's awesome out there, and he's vocal and he's helping those young guys. It's almost like nothing's changed. He's still a leader. He's still out there kicking butt so it's awesome to have him out there."

Dietzen displayed his long hair when talking with reporters on Friday, though he did not sport the aforementioned mullet look. He now sits just six days away from suiting up again inside Camp Randall Stadium when Wisconsin takes on Illinois on Friday night (7 p.m. CT, BTN). That being said, he feels "pretty good, actually."

“I feel better and more healthy than I had in previous years, knock on wood," Dietzen said via Zoom. "I'm definitely the old guy out there but doesn't quite feel like it sometimes.”

Almost 22 months ago, Dietzen walked off the Yankee Stadium field after a Pinstripe Bowl victory over Miami in what temporarily became his final game as a Badger. His February 2019 announcement declared his intention to walk away from the Wisconsin football program and the game itself "due to numerous injuries."

Before that, he played in 35 games that included 32 starts at two different positions. Now a few months short of being gone from playing in a game for two years, his former platoon buddy at left tackle believes Dietzen is an "incredible warrior" and "looks great."

"I know he's feeling a lot better than he did when I played with him a couple years ago," left tackle Cole Van Lanen said via Zoom on Friday. "He’s looking strong and it's good to have another older guy in the room, a guy with experience on the line. It's been fun."

"He played more with the group with Dieter and Beau and stuff, but I think he's having a lot of fun with us with the younger guys. I mean, back then those were the younger guys, and now they're all playing. But great camaraderie with him in the room and it’s been a lot of fun."

Dietzen told reporters that he believed the thought of a return started in June of 2019. He later spoke with coaches that October and notified them that he would like to come back if they saw it as feasible. Those timelines matched what he told UWBadgers.com earlier this week.

Without football, Dietzen said he hung out with his girlfriend and watched football. He fished. He hunted. He also took on a job editing podcasts.

According to Dietzen, the more he watched the game while away, the more he missed it. He trained at Synergy Sports Performance just outside of Green Bay from July to October 2019 to gauge how his body felt, and he "noticed the day to day that things felt better just waking up and moving around." Dietzen spoke to his family, and seeing his former team started playing started motivating him.

Now back with the team, Dietzen gives the team experience not just at guard but at tackle as well. In those 32 starts between 2016-18, UW's profile of the Black Creek, Wis., native states 20 came at left guard and 12 at left tackle -- the latter all coming in his last full season with the team. He mentioned he feels "just as comfortable at both" positions "because I've probably had just as much work in both to this point."

Two weeks ago on Oct. 2, offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph praised Dietzen -- whom the assistant said worked at both guard and both tackle positions up to that point -- for setting a good example on about how to go about one's business.

Last Monday ,head Paul Chryst said that Dietzen has "been an absolute blast to be around" while calling out the lineman's maturity and appreciation, as well as how he was "moving well and bending."

When asked by a reporter on Friday if his path back to the field has been more mentally or physically taxing, Dietzen said the former.

“As far as physically, originally the first few padded practices, we were kind of looking at monitoring my reps and making sure things never got out of hand, but we quickly realized that I'm feeling pretty good through all this stuff still," Dietzen said. "I've been trying to take as many reps as I possibly can and haven't really been cutting any reps really lately.

"I’d say just the mental part of trying to improve like play after play, everything like that, it's something that starts coming back quick, but that was, like I said, the more taxing part of it.”

Just where Dietzen and others on the line wind up in the two-deep of that front five will be something to watch as the days wind down before the clash against Illinois. Rudolph's units hold a set precedent for having players who are cross-trained to play multiple positions.

Being part of previous lines that featured older teammates in Michael Deiter and Beau Benzschawel, he also realizes his place has flip-flopped a bit as one with experience in that room.

That being said, he believes there is a cohesive group of linemen.

“All the guys are always hitting each other on things that they did really well or things they could be doing better," Dietzen said. "It's a really supportive and tight knit group that I think is going to be really talented and is going to really want to play well for one another.”

In about five days, what emotions Dietzen have upon Friday night's 2020 season opener? The word he used a couple times with reporters on a Friday Zoom call was a word Chryst also used on Oct. 12:

Appreciation.

“I guess now the feelings leading up to the game have been more of an appreciation for every rep in practice, and all the tough stuff that we go through to get there. I think come game day, it'll be, again, just an appreciation for the fact that I have the opportunity to be out there.”