Wisconsin spring football was officially supposed to start on March 10th but it was announced on Monday that Paul Chryst has elected to push back the start of spring football.
Wisconsin will be on spring break next week and with winter conditioning recently wrapped up Chryst wanted to give his team two weeks to recover in order to maximize the 15 spring practices. The new tentative start date for spring football is March 22nd.
It was also learned on Monday that the Badgers will be without eight players for the entire spring due to injuries. They are nose tackle Keeanu Benton (core), long snapper Josh Bernhagen (left leg), safety Eric Burrell (left arm), wide receiver Jack Dunn (left leg), offensive lineman Kayden Lyles (right and left leg), safety Scott Nelson (left leg), running back Brady Schipper (right and left arm), and nose tackle Bryson Williams (left leg).
It shouldn’t be surprising that Nelson and Williams aren’t available this spring considering both were lost at some point during last season because of an injury. Nelson only played in one game last year and Williams appeared in six games.
Not having Lyles available during spring football will hurt as he was expected to fight for a starting spot on the interior of the offensive line. Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Joe Rudolph wasn’t going to name a starting five by the end of spring football but Lyles needed the reps in order to set himself up to have a productive fall camp and to allow Rudolph his first chance of trying out different offensive line combinations.
Wisconsin will officially open the season against Indiana on Friday, September 4th at Camp Randall Stadium.