When the average college football fan plays a word-association game, the name "Wisconsin" immediately conjures a certain image: big, burly offensive lines, opening massive holes for powerful running backs to churn out yards on down after down. For that reason, the offensive line coach at Wisconsin is usually regarded one of the best in the business.

So it was a coup this offseason when incoming Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry was able to hire the Badgers' offensive line coach away from his alma mater. Joe Rudolph, who played guard in Madison between 1991-94, and has coached the position group the past seven years (including stretches with the top run game in the country), will now ply his craft in Blacksburg. What does it mean to hire the Wisconsin offensive line coach, though?

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“As an offensive lineman - as someone who didn’t grow up watching sports, because my parents weren't that into it - but when you’re six feet tall in fourth grade, they tend to find you," said former Badger offensive lineman Mike Van Someren. "As I got into it, the Wisconsin Badgers was the team to watch. When I was being recruited, and even in the past few years, if you’re an offensive lineman, you want to go to Wisconsin."

Van Someren's career in Madison didn't directly overlap with Rudolph's tenure as a player or a coach. He played from 2003-06 with the Badgers, and wrapped up his career at UW-River Falls the following year. But threading the needle between Rudolph's stints as a Badger doesn't mean that he missed the boat on precisely what the new Hokies offensive line coach will bring.

In fact, given that they played for the same head coach, Barry Alvarez, Van Someren has a strong understanding of the values that were instilled in Rudolph as a player, and persist to this day as he trains young players to follow in his footsteps. A member of Alvarez's first full recruiting class in Madison, Rudolph could very well be credited with his time as a player helping to turn Wisconsin into the offensive line factory that it has become.

“I think that you can tell that Joe has continued the tradition as a coach," Van Someren said. "If you just look at the number of offensive linemen that have come out of Wisconsin over the past seven years, and are now in the NFL. He's been a big part of keeping that association between 'Wisconsin football' and 'offensive lineman.'”

For the Hokies, it won't be an immediate climb back to the college football world - or the world of pumping offensive linemen into the NFL. Virginia Tech has put some blockers into The League in recent years - guard Lecitus Smith and tackle Luke Tenuta in this year's Draft class alone. But the recruiting depth and retention have not been up to the historical standard lately, and the talent that Rudolph has to work with now is largely inexperienced.

There is talent available though, and Rudolph is the right man to mold it. Going forward, he's had a range of experiences that should help him be an elite recruiter, as well.

Almost no coach in the country can go into a prospect's living room and sell himself as a developer of NFL talent like Rudolph can. More than that, the ethos of recruiting in the early stages of the Brent Pry era in Blacksburg is a perfect fit for how Rudolph worked at his previous coaching stop. Building relationships with high school coaches - and starting those relationships particularly close to home, as Virginia Tech is attempting to do around the Commonwealth and through the Mid-Atlantic region - is exactly what Rudolph learned to do, and will excel in doing for the Hokies.

"Barry Alvarez - and all his coaches, and the coaches who have followed - always had a good relationship with the in-state coaches," Van Someren explained. "My high school coach had a good relationship with them, and that's part of how I ended up there are a preferred walk-on. I was recruited [by Wisconsin] but just didn't get the scholarship."

That last factor is one of the final keys to Van Someren's take on why Rudolph is the right fit for Virginia Tech: an appreciation for the contributions that walk-ons can make. Van Someren himself rose from a player who joined without any promise of a scholarship to one stepping in for an injured Joe Thomas (a player who proved to be an NFL Hall of Famer).

Virginia Tech's history of walk-ons is a notable one: from safety Cody Grimm to linebacker Jack Tyler and running back Sam Rogers, the Hokies have historically taken under-recruited players and turned them into All-ACC performers, and guys who get a shot in the NFL. Under Rudolph, that trend should carry over to the offensive line, as well.

"I was a walk-on at Wisconsin and I got the opportunity to make the two-deep," Van Someren said. "The team gave me as many of the same resources as they could under the rules. We always needed to make sure that people have every opportunity to compete."

For Virginia Tech, it should come as no surprise just how good a hire Rudolph appears to be. Turning that promise into production will be the next phase, and there's every reason to believe that Virginia Tech has the pieces in place to take advantage.

Mike Van Someren is a former Wisconsin offensive lineman (2003-06) and lawyer in the Milwaukee area. He is a congressional candidate in Wisconsin's 5th District.

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