What do you know about Wisconsin’s defense? Safety Hunter Wohler is a beast. All the Linebackers are new. And Bucky picked up some of USC’s leftovers.
Coaching Changes
What do you mean coaching changes? Mike Tressel is still the DC, right? That is correct, but his support staff has had a pair of shake ups.
D-Line
In February the Badgers D-Line coach Greg Scruggs left Madison to join the Michigan Wolverines. The Badgers replaced him with EJ Whitlow, an up-and-comer from Air Force. Air Force had a very good defense the last couple of seasons, and Wisconsin is hoping Whitlow was the driving force.
The story doesn’t end here though. After Scruggs joined Michigan, he was arrested for an OWI in March. He is no longer with the program and is currently unemployed. Maybe Scuggs leaving wasn’t the worst thing for Mad Town.
Safeties
Wisconsin lost Safeties coach and ace recruiter Colin Hitschler to Alabama this offseason. On one hand, that is a hell of a compliment to what Colin was able to do for Wisconsin in just 1 year with the new Fickell regime. On the other hand, it sucks to lose a great coach. His replacement is someone taking a step back in their career.
Alex Grinch, former DC at USC is coming to Madison to fill the vacancy left by Hitschler. Grinch had poor defenses at USC, but hopefully that’s more on head coach Lincoln Riley than on Grinch. Basically every DC that has worked for Riley at USC or Oklahoma has underperformed. I think Grinch will do better at Wisconsin having fewer responsibilities and working at a program that values physical defense 10x more than USC does.
Quick Formation Overview
Defensive Coordinator Mike Tressel prefers to run a base 3-3-5 defense. That doesn’t mean he won’t run other packages; quite the opposite, he runs a lot of exotic formations with odd personnel groupings. But, the setup he will run the most (downs where the offense has “1st and 10” between the 20s) is a 3-3-5.
That’s 3 down linemen (DE – DT – DE), 3 linebackers (sometimes 2 EDGE rushers, and sometimes 2 guys in the middle: OLB – ILB – OLB/ILB), and 5 defensive backs (2 outside corners, a nickel corner, and 2 safeties).
Often the nickel corner will come off the field on obvious run-play downs and be replaced with a 4th LB.
With that explanation out of the way, now we can get into who’s playing what positions.
Wisconsin’s Biggest Strength – The DBs
Expected Starters:
Outside CB 1: Ricardo Hallman
Outside CB 2: Nyzier Fourqurean
Nickel CB: Austin Brown
SS: Hunter Wohler
FS: Kamo’i Latu
This is far and away Wisconsin’s best position group. Hallman and Wohler are the only Badgers ranked in CFB25’s top 100 players in the country, and they deserve that recognition.
Hallman led the B1G in INTs in 2023 with 5. He could be one of the best corners in the country this year.
Last year Wohler led the Badgers in tackles and had 2 picks plus a sack. That was good enough to earn him All-Big Ten 3rd team honors. Most of the other All-Big Ten players went off to the NFL, so this year Wohler is likely one of the top safeties in the conference. He’s almost certainly the most physical.
Nyzier Fourqurean has his position because of experience and seniority. He is good, but could be pushed for playing time by talented underclassmen Jonas Duclona and incoming Toledo transfer RJ Delancy. Wisconsin has 4 to 5 quality guys who can play outside CB, a good problem to have.
Latu is similar to Fourqurean, he has his spot due to experience and seniority. Unfortunately, Wisco isn’t as deep at Safety as they are at corner. Nickel CB Austin Brown is a converted Safety-to-Corner guy, but he’s likely Latu’s backup in any injury scenarios. Wisconsin would then need to leverage its corner depth to find a replacement NCB.
A Position of Change – The LBs
Expected Starters:
Inside LB 1: Jake Chaney
Inside LB 2: Jaheim Thomas – transfer (Arkansas)
(EDGE)
Outside LB 1: Darryl Peterson
Outside LB 2: John Pius – transfer (William & Mary)
Last year’s starters at ILB Njongmeta and Turner are both gone. Njongmeta graduated, and Turner transferred out after being passed on the depth chart by Chaney.
Chaney is ILB #1 right now, and it’s not close. He’s a Senior with 3 years of experience at Wisconsin. The next 3 guys behind him are all transfers. Thomas is a senior transfer from Arkansas, and is expected to be LB #2. For depth, we have sophomore transfers Sebastian Cheeks from North Carolina, and Tackett Curtis from USC. Curtis actually played significant snaps last year as a true freshman and he was a very highly recruited player coming out of high school. He is worth keeping an eye on.
At OLB (which Wisconsin primarily uses as pass rushers) the personnel situation is very similar to ILB. OLB #1 Peterson is a senior veteran who has a lot of experience at Wisconsin, and the 2 guys behind him are both transfers. John Pius excelled at the lower division program William & Mary which gave him multiple scholarship offers in FBS. He chose Wisconsin and has the upside to be a mid-round NFL draft pick next spring. OLB #3 is likely Leon Lowery, a transfer from Syracuse. He was a good player on a bad team and hopes to improve his draft stock by playing for a higher profile program. He will likely be in Madison for the next 2 years.
It’s difficult to figure out how good Wisconsin will be at the linebacker position in 2024. The primary starters have a lot of experience but aren’t necessarily the best the B1G has to offer. And all the depth behind them is relatively unknown because the transfer portal can be a crapshoot.
The first few weeks will tell us a lot about this position.
Bucky’s Big Concern – The DL
Expected Starters:
Defensive Tackle: Curt Neal
Defensive End 1: James Thompson Jr.
Defensive End 2: Elijah Hills – transfer (Albany)
Elijah Hills is interesting. Like Pius, he’s a transfer from a lower division school. He wasn’t as highly sought after as Pius was, but he was one of the best players on an Albany team that made the FCS semifinals last year. Hills might be great, but I think he’s here mainly because he has playing experience, and Wisconsin needed more bodies in the DL room.
If we’re being honest, it is way too early to have an “expected starters” list for this position at Wisconsin. This being the weakest position on the defense also makes it the position with the most competition. Curt Neal and James Thompson Jr. are remnants from the Paul Chryst era; they are solid players, but they were better in the old defensive scheme. Even if the guys I have above are the week 1 starters, I doubt all 3 hold on to the job until midseason. Some of the most athletic D-linemen on the team are also some of the youngest. The 3 incoming freshmen will likely push for playing time as they get acclimated and the season wears on the upperclassmen starters.
I’d be very excited to see redshirt freshman Jamel Howard, true freshman Dillan Johnson, or true freshman Ernest Willor, on the field in 2024 when they are ready. Willor was Wisconsin’s highest rated high school recruit last cycle. Those 3 guys are the future of this position and are Luke Fickell’s guys. Fickell is an ex-D-lineman himself, and I’d love to see the guys he develops from year one progress over time.
Can Wisco be Better Than 2023?
In 2023 Wisconsin gave up 20.15 points per game. If that doesn’t sound too bad, it’s because it wasn’t. Wisconsin actually had the 20th best defense in the country by that metric. It only felt bad because Wisconsin fans have gotten used to being in the top 10. I think this also makes it clear that last year’s 7-5 record was from offensive ineptitude. For the most part, the defense did its job.
Will 2024 be better? On one hand, I’d sure hope so. They’re in year 2 of a new system, and they have made some significant additions through the transfer portal. Plus, there weren’t really any key contributors from last season that left this offseason. On the other hand, I don’t know how fast the new transfers will pick up Tressel’s scheme.
Ideally, the guys coming in were brought in because Tressel and Fickell saw ways they can make the team better. In Fickell I trust. Let’s see Wisconsin get back to being a Top 10 Defense in 2024.
#BuckyByAMillion
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This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene