Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell met with the media on Monday in advance of the Badgers’ season-opening contest against Western Michigan.
One focus was the team’s newly-released two-deep depth chart, which included one of the team’s rising stars according to Fickell: redshirt senior nickel cornerback Max Lofy.
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Lofy won the starting nickel cornerback job in a crowded room. He primarily beat out Owen Arnett, who will enter the year as his backup at the position.
The redshirt senior missed all of 2023 due to injury and only has 20 overall appearances in his four-year career. His best season came in 2022 when he recorded 15 tackles and one interception in 12 games of action.
Now, the once-forgotten member of Wisconsin’s secondary is in line to play a significant role for the team in 2024.
That is a result of a significant progression over the last few years. Enough of a progression that Fickell praised Lofy as the most improved player in the program since he arrived at the end of the 2022 season.
“It’s hard to say exactly where he was before [2023], because I didn’t know,” Fickell said. “Last year I think I said Nyzier [Fourqurean] was the guy that had made the biggest leap in my mind throughout winter and spring, and even into fall camp. Now I would say Max Lofy in my mind has made the biggest leap…As he came back in the start of spring to where he is now, I don’t think there’s another guy in our program that I have as much respect for.”
Lofy is one of Wisconsin’s starting cornerbacks entering Friday’s opener along with Fourqurean and star Ricardo Hallman. His emergence this offseason came as a surprise, especially give the program’s recent transfer additions at the position.
But Fickell’s words are high praise for a player who appears to be in line for a breakout season.
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