Green Bay — Not long after Cole Van Lanen completed his sophomore season at Bay Port High School, he and his parents met with head coach Gary Westerman.
"We sat and talked for about an hour and a half," Westerman recalled. "The first thing I said was: 'OK, you know you're not going to have to pay for Cole's college education, right?'"
That question caught Van Lanen, an athletic offensive lineman, and his parents, off-guard. Van Lanen had no idea he was good enough that he would soon have scholarship offers from Wisconsin and six other Big Ten schools.