TE Clay Cundiff moving forward, hopes to be 100% by summer

MADISON, WIS. -- Clay Cundiff recently hit a milestone this month on his path back to football, all after one snap in late October ended his 2021 season in horrendous fashion.

The 6-foot-3, 236-pound tight end, who started squatting again about six weeks ago, began to run with the program's strength and conditioning staff. His time to a full return appears closer and closer.

"This past week was the first week that I ran 100%, and it felt really good," Cundiff said on Wednesday. "The plan is, with the training staff, to just be 100% by the beginning of summer.”

Allow Cundiff to recall in detail the play -- a four-yard run by tailback Braelon Allen during Wisconsin's 27-7 win on Oct. 30 -- that led to him leaving Camp Randall Stadium in an ambulance.

“It was the last play of the third quarter, and we were running inside zone, and I was on the backside," Cundiff said. "And I was blocking the outside 'backer, and he started to run over the top so I was running with him.

"Braelon found a hole up the middle, and then just trucked this dude, and they both landed on the back of my right leg."

Cundiff confirmed what injuries cost him the rest of the season and these ongoing 2022 spring practices: a dislocated ankle, a broken fibula and deltoid ligament reconstruction in his foot.

The end of the third quarter during Wisconsin home games normally is reserved for the raucous student section race on the Camp Randall Stadium scoreboard followed by the vaunted Jump Around tradition. With Cundiff on the ground with trainers surrounding him, the atmosphere dropped as teammates looked on. Several later approached the tight end in a show of support right before being lifted into the ambulance.

The rising fourth-year junior, who caught three passes for 86 yards and a touchdown in 2021, admitted that there were some initial, difficult thoughts going through his mind as he was being taken away.

“If I was ever going to be myself again, if I was ever going to run again. Those definitely crossed my mind," Cundiff said. "But after a few days, I started looking it up about the injury and stuff, and I saw that it was about five to six month people have come back from it. That kind of cheered me up, just to know that my future's still in good hands with this training staff and the surgery and the process.”

Now, Cundiff -- like a few of his fellow Wisconsin tight ends -- continues to make strides on his road to recovery. The Kansas native complimented UW's athletic trainers for their diligence during his rehab.

"They're really great people, and even when I feel like I don't want to do something and just want to take the day off, they'll get me in there and they’ll do all the rehab and stuff," Cundiff said. “I've been really grateful for that because I've been doing that almost every day for the past five months, and I think it's really paying off.”

Cundiff can be seen watching spring practices alongside fifth-year senior Jack Eschenbach and third-year sophomore Cam Large as the trio continue to work back from their respective injuries.

Last year, Eschenbach pushed through a dislocated shoulder initially suffered during the loss to Michigan on Oct. 2. He himself underwent surgery and hopes to be "be back to full" by the summer like Cundiff.

Eschenbach -- who also told reporters that he ripped his quad during a practice last season which required him to take an ambulance to a hospital amidst fears of compartment syndrome -- believes both he and Cundiff have grown mentally stronger.

"We've kind of been together throughout this whole thing," Eschenbach said. "So we kind of just have that chip on our shoulder. Always the last ones to leave the locker room. We've been through it, and we're just ready to go. We're itching to get back, so I wouldn't say anything bad has changed. I think he's a better player for it."

The return of both Eschenbach and Cundiff will help new tight ends coach Chris Haering find new candidates to replace the production of the outgoing Jake Ferguson. Ferguson reeled in 145 receptions for 1,618 yards and 13 touchdowns between 2018-21, and he caught at least one pass in all 47 games played in cardinal and white.

Last season alone, Ferguson recorded 46 receptions. The rest of the tight ends registered only six, with Eschenbach and Cundiff holding three catches each to their name.

Haering told reporters on Wednesday that Cundiff "made a lot of progress last year." The former special teams-turned-position coach also believes the fourth-year Badger can be an every down tight end for the offense, one that is undergoing updates under head coach Paul Chryst and new offensive coordinator Bobby Engram.

“We're hoping that Clay, first of all, gets a full summer of training," Haering said. "If he can do that, really feel good about him in the position. I think he can add a lot of value to the room being that he's going to be healthy.”

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