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          ESPN Wisconsin

          Picked by Packers, linebacker Vince Biegel gets to live 'every Wisconsin kid's dream'

          • Jason Wilde, ESPN.comApr 29, 2017, 07:41 PM
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            • Covered the Packers since 1996
            • On-air host at ESPN Milwaukee and ESPN Madison
            • Two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
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          GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Growing up roughly two hours away from Lambeau Field in Wisconsin Rapids, Vince Biegel was born to be a Green Bay Packers fan. When the Packers took the University of Wisconsin linebacker with the first pick of the fourth round Saturday morning, he said it meant he was realizing “every Wisconsin kid’s dream.”

          “If you looked at old pictures of me growing up, it was all green and gold. I was a Cheesehead,” Biegel said after being picked with the 108th overall pick. “I was as probably the most Wisconsin as you can be.”

          A few hours after that, Biegel produced photographic evidence of it on his Twitter page.

          Biegel, who got to play at Lambeau Field last fall in the Badgers’ early-season victory over LSU, said he had been to the historic stadium many times before that.

          “Not only did I play [a] college football [game] there, but I also went to NFL games there, too. I walked around the stands. I did the [stadium] tours when I was younger,” Biegel said. “This really comes full circle to be able to really look up to those players when I was growing up to be able to hold them in such a light.

          “I remember A.J. Hawk was a guy I looked up to a ton. I remember throwing jerseys over the gate and having them signed [at training camp]. And now to be able to live that dream, riding those bikes to practices early is something special.”

          Biegel’s father, Rocky, played college football at Brigham Young and was teammates with Ty Detmer, a former Packers backup quarterback behind Brett Favre. After Detmer left Green Bay, the Biegel family would come to any game that brought Detmer’s team to town as an opponent.

          “We would always go see Ty,” Biegel said. “I remember seeing Ty after a game, and talking with him and just kind of living the moment. At the time, you’re a kid, the stadium, the atmosphere, those things are really larger than life. So to be able to really, to live that out, I mean, listen to me, I am incredibly blessed.”

          Editor’s note: Jason Wilde covers the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Wisconsin and hosts “Wilde & Tausch” with former Packers offensive lineman Mark Tauscher weekdays on ESPN Milwaukee and ESPN Madison.