By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa running back Toren Young didn’t receive a scholarship offer from Wisconsin despite living about 10 minutes from the UW campus in Madison, Wis.

In fact, Iowa was the only school that felt Young deserved a scholarship.

Young has used that as motivation to prove his doubters wrong.

“I look at it like I only had one offer,” Young said said Tuesday. “I wasn’t a highly recruited kid so I look at it every week I go out as Iowa was one of the only teams that believed in me so as a whole, it’s not just Wisconsin. There weren’t a lot of teams that wanted me and Iowa took a chance on me. I just want to embrace this opportunity and make the best out of it.”

Young might have a chance to do just that when Iowa faces No. 6 Wisconsin on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, a place very familiar to Young.

“It’ll definitely be different wearing the black and gold,” Young said.

Young will have numerous family members in the stands on Saturday, but they won't be cheering for his team, only for him. 

“All my family is coming,” Young said. “I couldn’t give you a number but I’ve gotten messages from teachers, old coaches, youth coaches, so I’ve got a lot of people coming.

“A lot of them joke and say they hope I play well but the Badgers win. They joke about that but I’ve got a lot of support from family and people back home. I think I’ll be able to convert a couple of those fans.”

Young is one of eight Wisconsin natives on the 2017 Iowa roster, along with sophomore quarterback Nate Stanley, who is from Menomonie.

Stanley was the first player to commit to Iowa's 2016 recruiting class as a high school junior. 

The home-state Badgers eventually offered Stanley a scholarship after Paul Chryst replaced Gary Andersen as head coach, but by then, it was too late with Stanley already committed to Iowa.

"In the grand scheme of things it's really just another game," Stanley said. "Obviously, I'll have a lot of friends and family there. So obviously you want to play the best you can and make them proud.

"But with it being a trophy game, too, you want to do that for your teammates as well. So that's really the thing that is really rewarding is just being able to celebrate with teammates after the game."

The Iowa coaches, particularly Seth Wallace, identified Stanley early in the recruiting process and the two sides hit it off immediately.

"That's what anybody is looking for, that feeling that they truly want you here and that you have value to them," Stanley said.

As for Young's situation, it is one that Iowa senior running back Akrum Wadley can relate to from a recruiting standpoint..

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Wadley came to Iowa from Newark, N.J.,as a two-star running back with only one other scholarship offer from Temple.

Wadley has since developed into a star at Iowa and sees the same potential in the 5-11, 220-pound Young.

“I think only one school wanted me too,” Wadley said. “Two schools actually. But I bet if they were looking at him now I bet he’d get offers from a lot of other schools. He runs really hard. He’s physical.

“Toren’s going to put up a lot of yards.”

Young already has become a contributor for Iowa as a redshirt freshman.

He assumed the backup role behind Wadley when senior running back James Butler missed four games due to an elbow injury.

Young is third on the team in rushing with 161 yards on 34 carries and he scored his first career touchdown during Iowa’s 55-24 drubbing of Ohio State on a 6-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

An offer from his hometown team would've been nice, but Young knows that he has found the right place for him at Iowa.

“I lived like 10 or 15 minutes from the stadium,” Young said of Camp Randall Stadium. “But it’s all about the perfect fit for me, and them, they need to find their perfect fit. Maybe I wasn’t that fit for them and that’s okay. I found the spot, I love it here. I fell in love with it when I came and visited and I feel like this is the best spot for me.”

Seven of the Wisconsin natives on the Iowa roster were part of the last two recruiting classes. Senior tight end Peter Pekar is the only Wisconsin native on the roster who wasn't a part of either class.

Iowa also has three Wisconsin natives committed to its 2018 recruiting class. They are running back Henry Geil from Green Bay and offensive linemen Jack Plumb and Cody Ince, who are from Green Bay and Balsam Lake, respectively.

"We've always gone up there and seen what we could find," said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. "But for whatever reason, we've been able to get a couple players that have fit well with us, and just the match was good. They were guys we thought were good players, and they liked what they found here, so it's worked out well, and a couple of those guys have made it to the field now."

Kulick called it: Senior fullback Drake Kulick scored his first career touchdown against Ohio State.

The 6-foot-1, 240-pounder said that he discussed the play with Stanley the day before the game and knew that he would be open.

Kulick only has three catches in his career, but this one will always stand out.

“I was pretty confident Nate was going to throw me the ball,” Kulick said. “I actually talked to him on Friday and said ‘Dude, if (offensive coordinator) Brian (Ferentz) calls this play throw me the ball. I don’t care if I’m open or not, because I’ve only got one shot at this.’”

“That’ll be one that I remember for a while.”

Kulick has had a hard road back to the starting lineup since suffering a broken leg against Nebraska last season.

Ferentz saw first-hand what Kulick went through to get to that triumphant moment against the third-ranked team in the nation.

"Anytime a fullback gets to touch the ball, forget about a touchdown, if they get to touch the ball, it's a big moment, so that's good," Ferentz said. "But yeah, then you factor in Drake's story, and it wasn't that long ago when he was out there in a lot of pain. You think about the rehab and all, and he's been in pain — I think he's doing pretty good right now, but early in the season it was hard for him.

"And again, I think that's part of the story a lot of people miss sometimes. I don't want to talk about injuries, but most of our players have to endure an injury at some point in their career. It's a lonely feeling. It's a hard feeling. 

"It's nice any time fullbacks get a little reward."

Close series: Saturday's game will be the 91st meeting between Iowa and Wisconsin. The visiting team has won the last six meetings. Wisconsin leads the series 45-43-2. Iowa is 19-26-1 all-time in games played in Madison. The Hawkeyes won the last meeting at Wisconsin, 10-6, in 2015.

Since 2004, Iowa and Wisconsin have played for the Heartland Trophy.

Kulick said Iowa won’t be satisfied unless it leaves Madison with a little extra baggage.

“We’re focused, we’re going to have a great week of preparation and we’re going to go in there hungry,” Kulick said. “They have our trophy and we don’t plan on leaving there without it. We’re definitely going to go in and give them a 60-minute fight. The best man is going to win. It’ll be a heavyweight fight.”