MADISON — The goal, amid all the uncertainty, anxiety and excitement, has been to have as ordinary a week as possible leading up to one of the biggest weekends of their lives.

And for the most part, Taylor Mehlhaff, Paul Hubbard, Luke Swan and Nick Hayden have succeeded. Sure, the NFL draft is just a few days away now, but the four former University of Wisconsin standouts have done their best not to get swept up in it.
Mehlhaff, considered by most scouts to be the top kicker in the draft, spent his Tuesday reading books to kindergarteners and the rest of the week studying for a killer accounting exam he had Thursday night.

“I’ve been studying my butt off this week,” said Mehlhaff, who’ll fly home to South Dakota this morning but be back to Madison to finish classes and graduate in agricultural business management next month. “But it’s kind of good, because it keeps my mind off football.”

Hubbard doesn’t have school to distract him — he already graduated in December with a degree in sociology and a certificate in criminal justice — so he spent his week catching passes from quarterback Tyler Donovan with his wide receiver buddy Swan and working out before flying home to Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday afternoon.

“I don’t have any expectations whatsoever. Because once you do, you find yourself being let down if your expectations aren’t met,” Hubbard said. “I’m just going in with a clear mind. Whatever happens, happens.”

That’s the approach Swan is taking, too. He’s kept busy with a bunch of speaking engagements — in addition to matching Mehlhaff’s pint-sized audience, Swan’s also visited with groups from Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action and various churches, schools and sports teams — and has just one Thursday night class to complete before getting his kinesiology degree.

“Pretty normal week,” Swan said. “People always ask me if I’m real excited or real nervous, but honestly it hasn’t been that way at all. It’s just kind of the next step. It’s not anything I’m overly nervous about or crazy about.”

Then there’s Hayden, the lone defensive player and most intense of the foursome. The defensive tackle will have 12 credits to go on his agricultural journalism degree after this semester, so he’s been going to class and distracting himself with non-football video games — Call of Duty 4, NBA basketball — with his roommates.

“I just want to get it over with — see what’s going to happen and go from there,” said Hayden, who’ll make the short drive down I-94 East to his parents’ house in Hartland this weekend. “I’m definitely anxious right now. Everyone who plays football, this is their dream. I just want to make a team and play some ball.”

The smart money says all four — along with cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu, who figures to be drafted despite a catastrophic knee injury suffered in January during a workout — will get that chance. Although none is expected to be picked on Day 1 (the NFL is only conducting the first and second rounds on Saturday), they all should hear their names called sometime Sunday.

Mehlhaff hasn’t visited any teams because of some bad travel luck with the weather (which canceled visits to St. Louis, Atlanta and Baltimore), but the New Orleans Saints came in Monday after last weekend’s spring game to work him out in Madison. Hayden hasn’t taken any visits but has gotten calls from “a bunch” of teams.

Swan held a March 31 workout for six different teams, then worked out with Hubbard for the St. Louis Rams in Madison and visited the Green Bay Packers two weeks ago.

In addition to the Rams’ workout, Hubbard, who raised his stock with a strong pro day on March 5 after a disappointing combine, visited the Cleveland Browns (he and ex-UW left tackle Joe Thomas failed to connect) and the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants (“That was pretty cool,” Hubbard said).

Mehlhaff has been projected as high as the fourth round. Hayden should go somewhere in the middle rounds, as should Hubbard, who likely would’ve gone higher if not for a knee injury that cost him five games last season. Before the injury, Ikegwuonu was projected to be the first Badger off the board, but it’s hard to guess where he’ll go now.

Swan’s odds might be the longest, largely because of a torn hamstring he suffered

Oct. 6, ending his final season with the Badgers. While both he and Hubbard have tried to avoid playing the what-if game, they admit it’s hard not to.

“To be honest, sometimes I do find myself thinking that, but I quickly tell myself that is in the past. Things happen for a reason,” Hubbard said.

“My perspective is, if you’d have asked me two years ago if I’d be in position to possibly be drafted, I’d have told you you were crazy. And six months ago, I wouldn’t have been expected to come back at all (from the injury),” said Swan, who walked on to the team along with Hubbard, who was a scholarship track athlete.

“Paul and I spent five years together, we were on scout team together. Sure, Paul and I have sat back a couple times and said, ‘What if we both would’ve stayed healthy? Maybe we would’ve been playing in a Rose Bowl.’ But we really have nothing to complain about. If you’d have told Paul and myself coming in as freshman walk-ons that we’d become starters, but then we’d get injured our senior year, and yet we’d still have a chance to get drafted, we’d have said, ‘Where to we sign up?’

“This weekend, whatever happens is a bonus. It’s not something I was expecting. I’m just really excited about the opportunity.”

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