In a zoom call with reporters yesterday Wisconsin left tackle Cole Van Lanen did not mince words surrounding his thoughts about the Big Ten’s decision to cancel the 2020 football season.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin native would have played his senior season this fall, one which by all accounts would have helped his NFL Draft stock tremendously after choosing to return to school after an up-and-down 2019 season.
TheDraftNetwork currently has the tackle as the No. 189 prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft though an all-Big Ten season could have vaulted him into the third, second or even first round.
Here’s a clip from his media availability:
Don’t let the Badgers LT Cole Van Lanen’s words sneak by you on a Friday news dump. pic.twitter.com/C7p1cCGdrH
— ebo (@ebosays) August 14, 2020
“I’ve never seen our president,” Van Lanen said. “So for her to make a decision on our behalf that has no idea what’s going on with us. To not have the AD, coach or us have any say on our season when we’re the ones putting in the time and we’re the ones that are giving up everything to make sure this happens.”
He continued to note how careful he and the team had been and express how he doesn’t understand why the decision was made.
“The only place I would go is the grocery store for 15 minutes with a mask on. I don’t see anybody, I don’t do anything besides go to the stadium with my teammates…We haven’t had a positive in weeks if not months…I think all of us players feel that same way. We just don’t know why it had to get cancelled.”
The left tackle was later asked about whether he thought he had put enough on tape in order to get drafted. Here was his response:
“I think I need more. I knew that from after last season,” Van Lanen said. “I put on some really good 2018 tape. Last year, I was playing through injury and stuff. I could barely lift. I just wasn’t the same player as I normally am, and I knew that was gonna hurt me even playing last year. I was really hoping to have a season to show a healthy me and the best shape me can do. I know that would have really helped me.
Do I think I still could get drafted? Yeah, I think so, but adding tape could get me drafted in a better spot than I really want to, so a spring season would really help me. There isn’t probably going to be senior bowls so the only tape I could have a chance now is next spring. Yeah, I would like to do that. I think that would help me in my position drastically.”
Since the decision was made by the Big Ten to push the season to the spring there have been countless players, parents and even coaches from all around the conference that came out and expressed their unhappiness with the decision.
Will this be the moment that changes the structure of the Big Ten and of college football as a whole? Who knows. But in the coming weeks and months the path forward will become clear.
All that can be said now is that you have to feel for the kids who may lose their final season of college football and for some–see Joe Burrow last season–their shot at playing in the NFL.