MADISON, Wis. — Aaron Witt pressed his way through the double doors leading from Wisconsin’s football facility into the cool air late Friday night, eye black smeared across his face while still wearing his red Badgers jersey. He unfolded himself into an emotional embrace with family members.

He had done his best all day to focus solely on the game, the field serving as a refuge from reality outside the lines. But in this moment — after Witt had helped secure a 28-14 season-opening victory against Western Michigan with a late fourth-and-1 defensive stop — the memories came flooding back.

Witt wrapped his 6-foot-6 frame around his dad, Mark; his older sister, Allison; and his uncle, Mike. He couldn’t help but think of all those car rides home with his mom after his youth football league games in Winona, Minn., and the conversations that ensued. He couldn’t help but feel grief about the conversations he could no longer have.

“I told him that Mom was watching down over him and she had the best seat in the house,” Mark said.

Witt’s mom, Jodi, died five days earlier after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 55. Witt learned of the news when his dad called him that Sunday night at his apartment after practice.

Mark said Jodi initially received her diagnosis in April 2022 and was told she might live for one more year. She made it two years and four months. Long enough to watch her son return to the field after a three-year injury absence for a game at Minnesota last November. Long enough to see him this preseason during a Wisconsin practice at UW-Platteville. And nearly long enough to witness Witt walk off the team bus Friday evening and through the Camp Randall Arch — something she had not done but that had been a quietly kept though increasingly fleeting goal within the family.

“Kind of like Aaron, she just didn’t give up,” Mark said.

Witt’s story of perseverance is one that Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said serves as an inspiration to his teammates. Witt went an astonishing 1,060 days between appearing in games due to injury setbacks that included four surgeries for three stress fractures in his right foot and ankle.

He demonstrated great promise as a freshman during the 2020 Duke’s Mayo Bowl when he recorded two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. Then came a broken right foot during spring practice in 2021 that required surgery. Witt broke the foot again and sustained damage to the ankle during preseason camp, which forced him to miss the entire season. The ankle didn’t fully recover, and he underwent another surgery in the spring of 2022.

His return that summer resulted in yet another break in the foot and two more subsequent surgeries. Witt spent the better part of two seasons with his right leg wrapped in a cast while moving around at practices on a scooter.

Witt said he tried to shield his mom from his struggles over the past few years because he didn’t want to add stress to her life. He felt a responsibility to take care of himself. But his mom, being the person she was, wouldn’t have it.

“She was always family first,” Witt said. “She put everything into the family. She was just happy to live, happy to be a provider for me and my sister. No matter what was going on, she was just always so happy to be a mother.

“When I went home and I had my past ankle surgery, she was taking care of me. And she had, like, stage 4 cancer. I felt guilty, but that’s what she wanted to do.”

Mark and Jodi were married for 28 years. Mark said they met when his cousin worked at the same hair salon as Jodi in Rochester, Minn. His cousin called one day because some staffers were set to go on a canoeing trip and her co-worker needed a date. Mark agreed and spent four hours on a canoe with Jodi down the Zumbro River. They were inseparable ever since and had two children: Allison (25) and Aaron (22).

Jodi’s love for her family and football was evident. She helped to lead fundraising efforts for the Winona football program as part of the Touchdown Club. Friday night marked the first game Witt ever played that she either didn’t attend or watch on television. In recent weeks, as her health deteriorated, she made Mark promise not to hold a celebration of her life until after the football season.

“And she was adamant about it,” Mark said. “She was like, ‘I will come back to haunt you if you don’t listen to me.’ She was a rock. She was an incredible woman, incredible mother, incredible wife. Obviously, even in death, she’s still putting herself behind everybody. That is her in a nutshell right there. That’s just how she was. It was never about her.”

Witt spoke to Fickell and outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell and went home for a few days this preseason to be with his mom one last time. She was still conscious, but Witt said “she wasn’t herself” because of the pain medication. Mark told his son there was nothing else he could do and that it was important for him to be surrounded by his teammates so they could provide him with support. Witt returned to Madison on a Saturday. Jodi died eight days later.

Witt credited his parents for providing him with “the blueprint to get through tough stuff.”

“Just growing up, no matter what you’re going through, you just get up and do the right thing,” Witt said. “Be a good person. Don’t make an excuse to not be a good person and not do the right thing.”

Witt carries himself with a selflessness that Mark said he learned from his mom. That was reflected in an answer Witt offered about the best thing that had happened to him during his time at Wisconsin. He didn’t identify an individual moment of glory but instead took a bigger-picture view of the time others devoted to him and the relationships he had formed.

He cited former outside linebackers coach Bobby April for coaching him “harder than anybody else” in 2021 when Witt was sidelined for the season. He praised Wisconsin alums such as Chris Orr, Mike Caputo, Alec James and Jack Cichy for taking him under their wing as he struggled. He also cited Mitchell and strength coach Austin Sharkey for their support.

“So many people that just poured so much energy into me,” Witt said. “And when they didn’t have to, when they didn’t really see their ROI. The return on investment didn’t really seem very high for them to invest in me, but they still did.”

Witt acknowledged the mental toll all those injuries and the time away took on him. But he kept showing up, kept rehabbing, kept listening to coaches and offering input to teammates at practices. He did so because he didn’t want to give up on football, which had always served as his escape. He didn’t want to give up on his teammates or coaches.

So when he recorded that critical fourth-down stop off the edge Friday night, that’s immediately where his mind went. He thought of what he couldn’t do to help the previous coaching staff, which turned over during the 2022 season. He had battled through a shoulder injury in the spring and a hamstring injury only weeks earlier just to reach the opener healthy. He was simply happy, as he put it, “to contribute to something that’s greater than yourself.” That mindset is part of why Wisconsin cornerback Ricardo Hallman said Witt “embodies everything we want to be as a Badger football team.”

“The guys that are older on this team understand all the different things that he’s been through,” Fickell said. “The younger guys don’t. But I don’t think you have to understand him to recognize his passion and love, not just for the game but for this place and this program and this team. He provides so much to so many different people, to be honest with you. … He means a lot more than what you just see on the football field.”

There have been so many occasions along the way when Witt could have quit. He has even more reason now to keep going.

“Now that I’m here, I get to look back on everything that happened. And I’m, like, not thankful for it but somewhat thankful and grateful for the lessons that everything’s taught me and the person it’s made me become today,” Witt said. “I’m definitely more grateful for this opportunity. I definitely have a lot better perspective. And I’m a lot more empathetic, too, I guess, to other people’s struggles and what other people are going through because you never really know what’s going on in their lives.”

(Top photo: John Fisher / Getty Images)