It was evident from the first spring practice junior Chris Maragos spent on defense for the University of Wisconsin football team.

UW coach Bret Bielema was watching a tape of the practice when he picked up how Maragos, a former receiver, seemed to anticipate where a play was going.

"The thing you could see ... his body was leaning and moving in a direction where the ball was going, maybe before other keys were telling him to do that," Bielema said. "He's just got some natural instincts as a football player."

They showed up in the third spring practice, as well, when Maragos moved from strong safety to free safety, after Kim Royston's decision to leave the program. Maragos picked off two passes in his first day at the new position.

While it's still early for comparisons, Maragos' instincts and ability to be around the ball bring back memories of Joe Stellmacher, another walk-on from the state who started two years at strong safety.

"He was a phenomenal ballplayer," Maragos said. "Those are big shoes to fill, especially a guy like that. I'm not even in consideration for that. I'm just taking it a day at a time and trying to be the best I can be."

At least Maragos has the advantage of being able to pick Stellmacher's brain. Stellmacher, now an assistant coach who helps out with the defensive backs, spent most of the first three spring practices in Maragos' ear.

"He's been great," Maragos said. "He's really helped me out a lot, getting my assignments down."

These have been head-spinning times for Maragos, a scout-team receiver last year, while sitting out his transfer year.

"To be honest with you, it's just by the provisions of God, that I'm really here," Maragos said.

Coming out of Racine Horlick, Maragos walked on at Western Michigan and was good enough to start at receiver as a redshirt freshman.

"Things didn't really work out there, we had a falling out," said Maragos, who declined to get into specifics. "I didn't exactly know where I was going to go."

Maragos said his brother knew former Badgers receiver Luke Swan through Campus Crusade for Christ. Maragos had a highlight tape made and contacted Swan to see if he could help get the UW coaches to look at it.

A short time later, Maragos, who had little contact from UW coming out of high school, had a walk-on offer. His other option was Grand Valley State, a Division II school where he could have played right away and not sat out a year.

It wasn't a tough choice for Maragos, who said playing for the Badgers was "a childhood dream, for as long as I could imagine."

"I told my parents, 'If I just play special teams, that's enough,' " he said. "Just being able to be a part of the team and just a part of the tradition here. I never even thought I'd be playing in the two-deep or in contention to have some playing time. It's been a wild surprise."

The departure of Royston, the backup free safety, means Maragos could have even a bigger role.

At 6-foot, 196 pounds, Maragos has good size, though he's about 20 pounds lighter than Stellmacher.

Maragos played both ways in high school, though his focus was as a receiver.

"They kind of threw me on defense and I played safety in high school, too," he said. "You never had run fits, you never really had coverage skills on receivers, it was just be a ballplayer and run to the ball."

He's got a long way to go and a lot to learn, but given how far he's come in the last year, who knows how this will end up?

"The biggest thing for this spring, is to take it a day at a time, a rep at a time," he said. "Just to get better assignment-wise, understand the defense, just really become a complete player, that's going to be my main goal. Wherever that falls in terms of playing time and depth, it falls."