College football, much like the weather, moves in seasons.
There’s the four-month season from September to January, the long period of offseason conditioning, spring ball, summer ball and then we start at September all over again.
Even though it was still below 40 degrees in Madison, Wisconsin yesterday, we are back to what college football fans know as spring.
Why do I say all of this? Because Wisconsin football took the field for spring practice on Tuesday for the first time since 2019.
The program wasn’t able to hold a spring session last year, as noted above, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of a full offseason, then, ended up showing during the team’s 4-3 campaign.
Head Coach Paul Chryst discussed what the spring session means to the program in a press conference Monday, citing how many players on the roster have yet to go through a normal offseason.
“It’s really exciting to get going with spring ball,” Chryst said. “I was just going through it, we have 44 players on our roster that have never gone through spring practice. Spring is a great time to develop, play a lot of football and through that playing, grow and get better. We’re looking forward to the opportunity.”
Now with a full offseason to prepare for September’s opener against Penn State, Wisconsin underclassmen, upperclassmen and coaches alike have the opportunity to grow as a team, grow as individuals and put themselves in position to rise back to the top of the Big Ten West.
“I’m excited for our staff and really excited for our players,” Chryst said. “I think that’s where this spring will be nice too, for them to be able to get the opportunity. Even for Alvis [Whitted], this will be his first spring with the guys. There is a different approach you can take in spring ball. It’s got a little different pace to it.”
Related: A former Badger center was behind Wisconsin hiring Gary Brown as running backs coach
For me at least, the start of spring practice and the release of the spring roster marks the real start of a football season.
So with that, here is my official Wisconsin Football Spring Primer with…3 Position Battles, 3 All-Americans, 3 From Good to Great, 3 From a Guy to ‘The Guy,’ 3 Who Must Take a Step Forward, 3 Fresh Faces, 3 Priorities, 3 Players You Should Know and 3 Weight Differences We Should Care About.
Let’s go.
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