STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- It'd be nice if blue-chip high school quarterbacks were as common in the state of Wisconsin as the Friday fish fry, but the reality is something much, much different.

When former University of Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez said many times over the course of his 16 seasons leading the Badgers that the program's heart and soul would come from the state of Wisconsin but the hands and feet had to come from elsewhere, he wasn't talking specifically about the quarterback position. But he easily could have been.

Each year, a handful of state products receive scholarships play for the University of Wisconsin football team. The next beefy lineman always seems to be right around the corner. The homegrown product who has been groomed to play what most coaches believe is the most important position on offense? Well, he's not so easy to find.

By now, you've probably read or heard that Hartland native Tyler Donovan is the first player from the state to start at quarterback for the Badgers since Green Bay's Bud Keyes started the first four games of the 1987 season. The Badgers played 234 games during a span of more than 19 years between Keyes' final start and Donovan's first one last November at Iowa.

It's an eye-opening fact, to be sure. Equally stunning is the reality that Donovan has been the only primary backup quarterback from the state in that span. And in the 18 recruiting classes since Alvarez arrived in Madison in 1990, Donovan is one of only three state quarterbacks -- Scott Wille (Oconomowoc) and Mike Statz (Oregon) are the others -- to have signed with the Badgers.

"I don't know why that is," Alvarez said. "You'd certainly think we'd have some quarterbacks come through here."

Oddly enough, the best quarterbacks from the state in the last 20 years didn't end up playing for the Badgers for various reasons.

** The most famous is Burlington's Tony Romo, a late bloomer who was ignored by Division I-A programs and went on to play at Division I-AA Eastern Illinois. He had a great career there, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys and has developed into a Pro Bowl performer and megastar in the last year.

Nobody could have predicted Romo's rise to stardom.

"It wasn't just Wisconsin," recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. "The rest of the Big Ten and Notre Dame and everybody took a pass on him."

Besides, the Badgers had their hearts set on a fearless competitor and coach's kid from North Dakota in that 1998 recruiting class. Brooks Bollinger went on to become the Badgers' all-time winningest quarterback.

** The next year, Cudahy's John Navarre left the state to play at Michigan. Navarre originally committed to Northwestern but changed his mind when Wildcats coach Gary Barnett left for Colorado. Navarre called the UW to see if it was interested, but the Badgers already had commitments from Wille and Jim Sorgi.

"I told them I wouldn't recruit another quarterback," Alvarez said. "John called and wanted to come. I told him he probably had to move positions. He wanted to play quarterback."

Navarre was a three-year starter for the Wolverines and spent three seasons as a backup in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals. He still holds Michigan's career records in passes attempted, passes completed and passing yards; his career mark for touchdown passes was broken earlier this season by Chad Henne.

"I messed that one up," Alvarez said with a chuckle.

** Another state product who made it to the NFL was Chris Greisen, a Sturgeon Bay native whose younger brother, Nick, played linebacker for the Badgers from 1998-2001.

Like Romo, Chris Greisen was a late bloomer who flew below the radar of Division I-A recruiters. Greisen had an outstanding career at Northwest Missouri State, a Division II program, then was drafted by Arizona in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL draft. He played three seasons with the Cardinals and now plays in the Arena Football League.

UW went east that year to find a quarterback. Philadelphia's Mike Samuel ended up being a three-year starter for the Badgers, helping them win a Big Ten Conference title and Rose Bowl during the 1998 season.

** One player Alvarez said he wanted badly was Madison La Follette's Michael Flowers, who chose basketball instead and is about to enter his senior season with the Badgers.

"I think he would have been a great quarterback," Alvarez said.

Alvarez -- and Bret Bielema since he took over as head coach -- have turned elsewhere to find quarterbacks. Illinois has been a hot spot for the Badgers, at least in terms of quantity. UW has signed 10 quarterbacks from the Land of Lincoln since Alvarez arrived in 1990, although that crop has yielded just five total starts.

Since 1990, quarterbacks from California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Illinois, North Dakota, Michigan and Minnesota have started for the Badgers until Donovan took over.

Today, when the Badgers play Penn State, Donovan will be making his ninth career start. He's on pace to break UW's single-season marks in touchdown passes, passing yards and completions.

Watching it all unfold is Keyes, who lives in Sun Prairie and works as a manufacturing rep.

"It is somewhat surprising," said Keyes, who started 15 games from 1985-87. "For awhile, there was no chance. There were no state guys on the roster at all.

"I was always very proud of being from the state and playing at Wisconsin. I always kind of kept tabs on who they were bringing in and who the starter was. I was maybe one of the very few who was very aware that Tyler was going to potentially be the next kid from Wisconsin starting."

Most believe the main reason it has taken so long between Wisconsin-born quarterbacks is the type of offenses run at the high school level in the state. Travel around the state on a Friday night and it's likely you'll see teams running the ball in the same smashmouth style that helped Alvarez build the Badgers into a winner.

Even Donovan came from a powerhouse program at Arrowhead High School that favored the run. Donovan averaged about 12 pass attempts per game during his senior season. That's about the same amount Greisen averaged during his senior year at Sturgeon Bay in 1994.

"Whether we like it or not," Waukesha West assistant coach Jeff Trickey said, "the guys that get recruited normally are the guys with huge numbers."

Trickey, who played at Ripon College, runs intense quarterback camps from February through July throughout the nation. Each year, Trickey sees quarterbacks from California to New Jersey, so he knows as well as anybody how Wisconsin measures up in the arms race.

And Trickey has good news to report: Wisconsin is making up ground.

"I think the quarterback play in our state has certainly been upgraded," Trickey said. "I think we were possibly known years ago as primarily win with defense and a solid running game. I think coaches understand that you have to pass the ball more and thus we're not really a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust anymore."

Greisen, who serves as an assistant coach at Green Bay Southwest and runs a quarterback academy in the offseason, believes UW offensive coordinator Paul Chryst may be the key to high school programs expanding their offenses.

"Football's a copycat sport," Greisen said. "And once they see that the Badgers -- 'Wow, they're really winging it around' -- or they go to the coaching clinics and coach Chryst talks, they'll be interested. 'Oh, we can throw the ball now. I know how to do this.' It may open up some things."

Trickey agrees. He can't imagine it being another two decades before a state product starts at quarterback for the Badgers.

Neither does Donovan, who is more than happy to carry the torch for guys like Keyes and in the process set a positive example for young quarterbacks in the state.

"Obviously, it can be done," he said, "and maybe this opens up eyes a little bit that it can be done."

Wisconsin QBs -- from Bud Keyes to Tyler Donovan

Name, years started, starts, hometown

Bud Keyes (1985-87) 15, Green Bay

Tony Lowery (1987-88, 90-91) 27, Columbus, Ohio

Otis Flowers (1987) 1, Houston

Lionell Crawford (1988-89) 13, Houston

Sean Wilson (1989) 5, Norman, Okla.

Jay Macias (1991-92, 94) 8, Montebello, Calif.

Darrell Bevell (1992-95) 43, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mike Samuel (1996-98) 38, Philadelphia

Scott Kavanagh (1999) 4, Naperville, Ill.

Brooks Bollinger (1999-02) 42, Grand Forks, N.D.

Jim Sorgi (2000-03) 17, Fraser, Mich.

Matt Schabert (2003) 1, Elgin, Ill.

John Stocco (2004-06) 36, Richfield, Minn.

Tyler Donovan (2006-07) 8, Hartland, Wis.

Players brought in to play QB for the Badgers

2007 -- Maurice Moore, Fort Worth, Texas; James Stallons, Macomb, Mich.

2006 -- Scott Tolzien, Rolling Meadows, Ill.

2005 -- Dustin Sherer, Cicero, Ind.

2004 -- Sean Lewis, Oak Lawn, Ill.; Marcus Randle El, Markham, Ill.; Bryan Savage, Clifton Heights, Pa.

2003 -- Tyler Donovan, Hartland, Wis.

2002 -- John Stocco, Richfield, Minn.

2001 -- Owen Daniels, Naperville, Ill.; Devin Hollins, Los Angeles

2000 -- Matt Schabert, Elgin, Ill.

1999 -- Jim Sorgi, Fraser, Mich; Scott Wille, Oconomowoc, Wis.

1998 -- Brooks Bollinger, Grand Forks, N.D.

1997 -- Peter Lee, Chicago

1996 -- Scott Kavanagh, Naperville, Ill.

1995 -- Marcus White, Evanston, Ill.; Mark Zanders, Joliet, Ill.

1994 -- Mike Samuel, Philadelphia

1993 -- Jeff Forde, Staten Island, N.Y.

1992 -- Darrell Bevell, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Kevin Lyles, Indianapolis; Cyrill Weems, Detroit

1991 -- Jay Macias, Montebello, Calif.; Mike Statz, Oregon, Wis.

1990 -- Tom Cerasani Jr., Schaumburg, Ill.; Melvin Tucker, University Heights, Ohio; Joe Wagner, Friendship, Wis.

1989 -- Kareem Hilton, Lancaster, Calif.; Reggie Holt, Miami; Jeff Jarecki, Milwaukee

1988 -- Chris Ballard, Texas City, Texas; Lionell Crawford, Houston; Sean Wilson, Norman, Okla.

1987 -- Otis Flowers, Houston; Tony Lowery, Columbus, Ohio

Note: Several players ended up playing positions other than quarterback at UW. Current backup Allan Evridge, a native of Papillon, Neb., joined the team after transferring from Kansas State.

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