Ron Dayne’s journey to winning the 1999 Heisman at Wisconsin started with Barry Alvarez.

Alvarez recruited Dayne as a high schooler in New Jersey. Dayne had 1,834 yards rushing 19 touchdowns from his Heisman winning season. Dayne spoke with Jim Rome on Friday ahead of the Ohio State game.

Alvarez met the future Wisconsin running back at his house. Dayne was at a friend’s house and had to walk all the way home where he was greeted with a big hug by the Wisconsin head coach.

“It’s a crazy story, but it’s not really crazy,” said Dayne. “We didn’t have cell phones back and I was at some of my friend’s house and my aunt had called me and was like, ‘There’s some coach at the house that wants to meet you and talk to you.’ So I had to walk home and as soon as I open the door Coach Alvarez gave me a big hug. I’m like I don’t even know you and he gave me such a big hug. I was like alright.”

All Dayne wanted to know from Alvarez was about playing running back. Dayne stated that he was 285 pounds and wanted to know if he could play the position. Alvarez said that the young prospect could run the ball as much as he wanted to at Wisconsin and the rest is history.

“He was like, ‘You got any questions for me?’,” said Dayne. “I was like I’m 285 pounds, can you let me run the football as a running back? He said, ‘Yes as much as you want to run the football.’ That’s history now.”

The 1999 Heisman finalists were Dayne, Joe Hamilton, Michael Vick, and Drew Brees. What a stacked class.

It sounds like Dayne made a good decision.