Jack Coan didn't expect to be preparing for his senior season with the rest of his Wisconsin teammates this week.

At least not this early, considering the Big Ten canceled fall sports on Aug. 11.

“At first once the season was canceled, I didn’t really have any hope for it to come back this fall,” Coan told reporters Friday. “I thought if anything it might be in the winter or in the spring.

“I always had hope. Me being a senior, I’m like, ‘I can’t move forward without this.’ Just coming off a decent season last year, I was just hoping they’d give us an opportunity.”

Fellow senior Eric Burrell had a difficult time watching other conferences play last weekend. The Maryland native even reached out to friends on other rosters to gather their perspective.

“I watched a little bit of (college football). It was very frustrating, you know?“ Burrell said. “Especially when you see a decent amount of fans in the stadium and it’s just like, ‘aww man, there’s no way we can get any games in without fans?' All my friends that I grew up with are playing and I’m communicating with them like, 'man, what protocol y’all doing?' "

Earlier this week, though, Coan, Burrell and the rest of the conference received good news. The Big Ten announced it would return the weekend of Oct. 23 with an eight-game regular-season schedule.

“When we got the official word was right after a workout, so a lot of the team was together," Coan said. "It was really cool to see everyone fired up."

The idea of a postponed season didn’t sit well with Isaiahh Loudermilk, who is entering his fifth year with the program. Following the constant rumors that followed was equally as difficult.

“I don’t believe anything that is posted on (Twitter). I see something and it goes right by,” Loudermilk said. “We just never really knew. I know everyone was hopeful that we’d have a season.”

Players will have to be hyper-aware and safe amid an outbreak of COVID-19 on UW's campus that prompted classes to go online for two weeks. A number of students are currently quarantining on campus.

“We have to create our own bubble to isolate ourselves if we are planning on being safe and making it through the whole season,” Loudermilk said. “I think one of the big things is to stay as safe as we can and really do everything we can to keep everyone around us safe.”

Now with an October start, the Badgers will look to maximize each opportunity this fall.

“We’re given this opportunity," Loudermilk said. "Eight games, possibly nine to go out there and show what kind of team we can be. I 100 percent think we can be a special team."