The girl was attractive and piqued Travian Blaylock’s interest, but she was downright rude to him. How in the world was he supposed to know she had a crush on him, too?
That dance went on for a couple track and field seasons. Long before he was a sixth-year safety on the University of Wisconsin football team, Blaylock was a high school standout in the triple jump and his coach had encouraged him to help out teammates who still were learning. Blaylock’s advice in this particular case went in one of her ears and straight out the other — or so he thought — but he shrugged it off and kept trying to help.
A breakthrough came late in their junior year at Atascocita High School near Houston. Blaylock posed for a photo with someone else and, after looking at it, couldn’t help but notice a familiar face in the background.
It was Tatiana. He sent her the picture on Snapchat and teased that maybe she did it on purpose, a photobomb to grab his attention. It was exactly the icebreaker he needed. Little Miss Rude, he’d come to find out, wasn’t so bad after all.
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“We just kind of started talking from there,” Blaylock said, “and the rest is history.”
They’ve been married for more than four years and have two children: Tristan is 4, Layla is 1. Travian got an undergraduate business degree in operations and technology management and is working on his master’s degree. Tatiana recently wrapped up an undergraduate degree in biology from Arizona State, taking online classes while working around naps and meals, sometimes on days when her husband was gone for 14 hours.
How do they balance all that? Together, of course.
The hardest part of Travian’s day is closing that door in the morning, especially if the kids are awake.
But the best part? It’s putting his key back in that door at night and hearing the pitter patter of feet running toward it.
Daddy’s home.
Travian Blaylock’s persevered through numerous injuries
Travian’s football career at Wisconsin to this point has been a series of hopeful starts and restarts, with potentially dream-dashing injuries becoming hurdles in his path.
The first came in 2018, his freshman year. He appeared in four games but took a redshirt when a frayed tendon in his hamstring held him out of practices. Travian needed offseason surgery to get back on the field, and it was during his recovery that Tristan was born. Travian was trending toward a role on the 2019 team, but his other hamstring gave him problems and he was limited to one game. He injured that hamstring during practices in California before the Rose Bowl and wasn’t able to play.
Travian played all seven games during the truncated 2020 season and all 13 as a reserve and special teams ace in 2021. Former defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard envisioned a big role for Blaylock heading into last season, and Leonhard spoke often about how Travian’s blend of speed, instincts and hitting power could be used across the defensive backfield. Leonhard believed Travian was in line to have a true breakout season, but another tough break halted Travian’s progress. He went down after tearing the ACL in his right leg during a spring practice early in April 2022.
He had great reasons to leave the game behind at that point. He had his family to help raise. He was facing another rehab that would keep him away from the team and the football field for a long stretch. He was only a few credits shy of his bachelor’s degree. But life without football didn’t seem right. At least not yet.
Travian was raised in a football family. His father, Derrick, played running back in the NFL from 2001-07; his brother Taylen is a defensive back at Lindenwood after starting his college career at Sam Houston State; another brother Tori is a four-star running back in the 2025 class with an offer from Wisconsin and dozens of other Power Five programs, including Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and Texas.
He wasn’t going to walk away just because there was another challenge in front of him.
“It’s been a longer road for me than a lot of guys on the team,” Travian said. “A lot of people call me Grandpa. A lot of people call me Old Man. But I love it. It’s just a testament to resilience. Always coming back, always fighting, always clawing.”
Travian rehabbed tirelessly while sitting out the 2022 season. There were moments of doubt as he inched his way back to the field, but he had to mute the voice in his head that considered taking it easy. No time for that, he thought. The carrot was one last year. Another chance at a healthy season he could play.
He could run again late last year and suited up for spring practices after coach Luke Fickell and his staff took over. Blaylock had to wear a yellow jersey indicating he wasn’t a full-contact participant. Limited though he was, that return to the practice field marked a milestone.
“The long nights of not being able to sleep, especially early on,” Travian said. “Just the pain from surgery and getting four hours of sleep and having to wake up and do rehab all over again for hours at a time, and being here all day. And then starting to run again and you don't feel quite right but just keep working at it. And when I'm able to be out here practicing, man, it almost brings a tear to my eye.”
Inside linebacker Maema Njongmeta is one of Travian’s closest friends on the team, and Travian hosted Njongmeta on a visit when the latter was being recruited. Njongmeta saw the struggles his pal endured while not letting them tamp his spirit.
“I think he gets a lot of respect from a ton of guys in the locker room because of the way he's carried himself,” Njongmeta said. “He's never complained. The hardest part about injuries is sometimes you get negative — you're away from the game, the thing you love. He's never been like that. He's always been a source of positivity, source of energy, light, joy to the guys. Comfort. Been a great guy to be around.”
Blaylock’s balance of fatherhood, school, football impresses teammates and coaches
For anyone wondering: No, Travian doesn’t get a lot of sleep.
He remembers the relative haze he’d be in early in his career getting a few hours of shut-eye before a long, intense Tuesday practice. Classes, workouts and meetings eliminated chances for a midday nap during that time, so he made do with what he could get.
“That's never easy, but you find ways to push through,” he said. “Looking back, I wouldn't change anything. That's just what it is — you roll with the punches, just keep it moving.”
Managing his time became as much of a sport as football, sneaking in time to study between classes or after a workout. He did everything he could to be present with his kids when he was at home while still taking advantage of the opportunities he had academically and athletically at Wisconsin. He’s been Academic All-Big Ten each of the past three seasons.
Njongmeta marvels at Travian’s ability to be a dedicated father, student and athlete.
“(In 2021) he was playing that season and he got a 4.0 (GPA),” Njongmeta said. “I didn’t get a 4.0 that season and I literally had nothing but football and school, and I wasn’t playing.
“He's a really high achiever. Like, super humble, all about his business, but also down to have a good time. And it's crazy because we'll always be the last ones in the locker room, we'll just be chopping it up. He’ll go, 'Yeah, I’m going to go home and see my kids.' I'm thinking like, 'I'm going home to do homework.' Like, when does he do his homework? So I don't know how he does it. But that's the thing about him, he’s got it in him.”
Junior Hunter Wohler spent a great deal of time with Travian as the former recovered from a foot injury last season, and the two have shared plenty of hours in the safeties meeting room since Wohler arrived. All the tips and tricks about the game pale to the example Travian set as a person.
“He's a special dude,” Wohler said. “He really is. There's not many guys I know that can do what he does and juggle the things he does and still come in every morning with a smile on his face.”
Fickell, now in his 25th season as a coach and seventh as a head coach, has had a good number of fathers on his rosters. As the father of six children, he said he likes to show his players the chaos that is fatherhood before they enter that stage of their lives. But Travian harmonizes all the notes in his daily life so well that Fickell’s able to make exceptions for him to ensure he gets the time he needs at home.
“I think sometimes you take it for granted, he’s so mature and he handles his business so well, you’ve got to remind yourself some time just to check on him and make sure everything’s good,” Fickell said. “Some of these situations where, hey, we’ve got to stay here to eat, or, hey, you can’t go home, he might be a little bit different. You’ve got some flexibility, whatever you need to do, because he can handle it.”
How Travian Blaylock embraced becoming a father
There were two instances over the course of multiple interviews with Travian that he used the phrase “blessing in disguise” to describe moments in his life that required long looks in the mirror.
The first came when Tatiana found out she was pregnant with Tristan. Travian sought the counsel of his parents, Derrick and Kristen, who’d been pounding in his head for years the importance of being responsible and looking after the people he cares about, like his five younger siblings.
Travian took a deep breath and dived head first, marrying Tatiana and next welcoming her and Tristan to Madison to live together as a family.
“You get ready. You get ready quick,” Travian said about becoming a young parent. “And that’s what both of us did, me and Tati.
“Now, looking back, there were definitely some struggles — rightfully so, just being new parents and being so young — but it kind of gave us an opportunity to grow together, learn together as a family, and I think that was awesome and really important in the way I’m living life now.”
The torn ACL in April 2022 was a heartbreaker for a player who finally felt he was ready to make a big impact with the Badgers. Watching road games from his couch made him miserable, but at least he had a support system around him.
Tatiana desperately wanted to help, to fix the problem, to make it all go away. Meanwhile, Travian came to realize that there was a silver lining to all of this time at home: He could watch his little girl — Layla was born in July — grow up. He could give Tatiana a breather once in a while. He could snuggle up alongside Tristan and play Mario Bros.
“It was good for our family,” Tatiana said, “because we were able to bond.”
A true blessing in disguise.
“As crazy as it is to say that about an injury of that extent,” Travian said, “it kind of was.”
So many people were eager for the start of the 2023 season, but good luck finding anyone as juiced as Travian. He hadn’t suited up for a game since the Las Vegas Bowl in late 2021.
Three days later, Travian’s eyes lit up when he talked about that 38-17 win over Buffalo and how no butterflies ever appeared because he was too happy and eager to get back on the Camp Randall Stadium turf.
“I was excited, and I’m still excited,” said Travian, who turned 24 on Sunday. “It’s still like that buzz of just being out there after being out so long.”
Derrick and Kristin Blaylock came from Texas to see their son play and spend some time with their grandkids. Afterward, they hung out together and Derrick played video games with his grandson.
Travian sat back and took it all in. Another work week would start soon, and he’d be walking out that door. But this was some quality family time, and he was going to soak up every last second of it.
Contact Jim Polzin at jpolzin@madison.com.