Projecting Wisconsin’s 2020 Spring Special Teams Depth Chart

What will Wisconsin’s 2020 spring depth chart for specialists look like when the Badgers start spring practice?

Wisconsin’s special teams in 2020 will see a complete overhaul mostly because of graduation as the Badgers lose their top two punters in Anthony Lotti and Connor Allen, in addition to kickoff specialist Zach Hintze as all three graduated. Wisconsin also lost kickoff returner Aron Cruickshank as he transferred to Rutgers. In total Wisconsin only returns three starters from last year’s special teams unit in Collin Larsh who handled PAT’s and field goals, long snapper Adam Bay, and punt returner, Jack Dunn.

In this Badgers Wire feature, we project what the spring depth chart on special teams will look like when the Badgers open up spring practice.

Projected Spring Depth Chart Punter: 1. Conor Schlichting

Conor Schlichting who will be a redshirt junior next season has yet to register a punt in a game for Wisconsin. The Madison native will be the only punter on Wisconsin’s roster when spring practice opens up. The Badgers did sign Jack Van Dyke who could possibly challenge Schlichting at punter but Van Dyke won’t be on campus until the summer.

Projected Spring Depth Chart Place Kicker: 1. Collin Larsh 2. Joe Stoll

Larsh handled PAT’s and field goals for the majority of last season and with him going 12-for-18 on his field goal attempts he once again will be favored to handle both duties in 2020. Stoll from Wooster High School in Ohio will be a freshman as consistency will be key in whether or not Stoll can challenge Larsh for the placekicking duties.

Projected Spring Depth Chart Kickoffs: 1. Collin Larsh 2. Blake Wilcox

Since Paul Chryst has arrived at Wisconsin the Badgers have used one kicker responsible for PAT’s and field goals and another kicker for kickoffs. The Badgers may not elect to use Larsh on kickoffs as special teams coach Chris Haering may want to find a role for Blake Wilcox if he shows over spring that he’s deserving of a role. Wilcox will be a redshirt freshman next season as he was an Under Armour All-American in 2018.

Projected Spring Depth Chart Long Snapper: 1. Adam Bay 2. Peter Bowden

Adam Bay was consistent in his snaps all season and once again will be the Badgers starting long snapper for a fourth straight season. Peter Bowden was one of three true freshmen to appear in the two-deep on the depth chart last season.

Projected Spring Depth Chart Holder: 1. Conor Schlichting 2. Joe Stoll

Connor Allen handled the holder’s duties over the last four seasons. This responsibility won’t be decided in spring as it will be figured out over fall camp. But it will come down to whoever can handle Bay’s snaps and get the ball down quickly in order for Larsh to be able to get off clean and accurate kicks. Spring will be the first important step in creating consistency and chemistry in this area.

Projected Spring Depth Chart Punt Returner: 1. Jack Dunn 2. Danny Davis

Dunn statistically was able to improve as a punt returner from his sophomore season to his junior year. Dunn last year averaged 8.3 yards per return, which was up from the 5.5 yards he averaged as a redshirt sophomore. Dunn has proven to be consistent in this area and has earned the trust of the coaches. Danny Davis only returned six punts a season ago for an average of 7.5 yards per return.

Projected Spring Depth Chart Kickoff Returner: 1. Faion Hicks 2. Stephan Bracey

Wisconsin fans saw what a dynamic return man can do to help an offense as Aron Cruickshank excelled in this area a season ago. With Cruickshank transferring to Rutgers the Badgers will be tasked to find his replacement. Faion Hicks was listed as his backup a season ago but he never returned a kickoff. Haering will try a combination of players over spring and fall camp to try and find the best replacement for Cruickshank.

49ers haven’t had great luck with No. 31 overall pick

From Rashaun Woods to Reuben Foster, the 31st pick hasn’t been kind to the 49ers in the NFL draft.

History hasn’t been kind to the 49ers when they pick No. 31 overall in the draft, which is where they’re slated to pick in April.

San Francisco has taken two players ever with the 31st overall pick, and both were off the roster before the completion of their second season. In 2004 they took Oklahoma State wide receiver Rashaun Woods, and in 2017 they traded up to No. 31 to take Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster.

Woods played 14 games in his only season with the 49ers. He caught seven of his 23 targets for 160 yards and a touchdown. Woods spent his second season on Injured Reserve before getting traded to the Chargers prior to the 2006 season.

Foster’s circumstances were different than Woods’. He played and started 16 games across two seasons for San Francisco with decent success. He posted 101 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and a pair of pass breakups, but a run-in with Alabama police for marijuana possession, a gun charge in California and multiple domestic violence allegations (including one at the team hotel in Tampa Bay before a 2018 contest that led to his release) were enough for the 49ers to part ways with the former first-round pick.

There’s a good chance San Francisco doesn’t use the 31st pick though considering their lack of draft capital between Rounds 2 and 4, where they hold zero selections.

The silver lining is their recent success when trading out of the No. 31 overall slot. They sent that pick to Dallas in the 2013 draft to slide up to No. 18 and take safety Eric Reid. He made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and started 69 of 70 games across five seasons in San Francisco.

Ultimately past drafts won’t play a role in the 49ers’ 2020 selections, but this is a good chance for them to reverse the organization’s fortunes at that particular draft slot. Hitting on their first pick, or getting quality capital back in a trade, could be the difference in whether the 49ers are able to sustain their run as Super Bowl contenders.

Michigan State agrees to six-year $33 million contract with Mel Tucker

Tucker gets a six-year contract worth a reported $5.5 million per season.

Mel Tucker is getting quite the raise.

One year after making $2.4 million in his first season with Colorado, new Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker is set to more than double his yearly salary. According to Associate Press Sports Writer Larry Page, Michigan State and Tucker have agreed to a six-year contract worth $5.5 million per season.

Michigan State has yet to make an official announcement regarding Tucker’s salary, but is expected to do so in the near future.

That salary would have made Tucker the 4th-highest paid coach in the Big Ten and 12th-highest paid coach nationally according to USA Today’s database of football coaching salaries. Notable within the conference is that Purdue’s Jeff Brohm was paid $6.6 million in 2019 as part of his seven-year extension with the school. His salary figure will be much lower in 2020 and the average annual value of his contract is lower than Tucker’s. For all intents and purposes, Tucker will be the third-highest paid coach in the conference in 2020 behind only Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Penn State’s James Franklin.

The deal is a significant step up from what Mark Dantonio was making at Michigan State. Dantonio only made more than $5.5 million in one season, 2013, after getting a large retention bonus as part of a contract extension. That year he made $5.6 million. Dantonio was paid just short of $4.4 million in 2017, 2018 and, 2019. He also received a $4.3 million retention bonus three weeks before announcing his retirement on February 4.

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One play, two flops. What could be the ‘floppiest play’ in NBA history

Marcus Smart’s drive late in the third quarter sent Dennis Schroder flying and Smart airborne in one of the floppiest plays in the NBA.

Awards season just wrapped up with the Academy Awards on Sunday night, but there’s still one honor left that needs to be handed out.

The “floppiest play” in NBA history.

And it just so happens that it came during Sunday’s game between the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Maybe Marcus Smart and Dennis Schroder were angling for a last-minute invite to the Oscars.

The play in question happened late in the third quarter with the Celtics leading 82-80.

Being guarded by Schroder and after running him around a high-screen set by Enes Kanter, Smart starting driving into the lane. Schroder tried to slide underneath to draw an offensive foul, flying backward when Smart’s forearm and elbow connected with his chest.

Smart then built upon Schroder’s flop by running into Hamidou Diallo’s outstretched arm, going airborne as if Hami had just intentionally clotheslined him.

In the clip, a smattering of boos can be heard inside Chesapeake Energy Arena as Thunder rookie, Lu Dort, had been called for a similar play earlier in the game.

As for the play itself, it resulted in Schroder’s second foul. Smart would hit both ensuing free-throws.

Boston would go on to win the game 112-111 thanks to a Marcus Smart strip of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 5.8 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

But when it comes to the flop, NESN may have described it best, calling it “bad/funny/eye-roll-inducing”.

Myles Garrett is reinstated: What’s next for the Browns

What’s next on the docket for the Browns?

Myles Garrett has officially been reinstated by the NFL, per a joint release from the Cleveland Browns and the league.

Cleveland Browns General Manager Andrew Berry released a statement shortly after Garrett’s reinstatement became official.

We welcome Myles back to our organization with open arms. We know he is grateful to be reinstated, eager to put the past behind him and continue to evolve and grow as a leader. We look forward to having his strong positive presence back as a teammate, player and person in our community.

With the Browns able to move past Garrett’s reinstatement, we should all be asking the question “what’s next for the Cleveland Browns?”

NFL Scouting Combine: February 24 – March 2

While it feels like a distant memory, the 2020 Reese’s Senior Bowl saw the Cleveland Browns send an entourage of their former Vice President of Player Personnel, Alonzo Highsmith, and former Assistant General Manager, Eliot Wolf, to the Senior Bowl for scouting purposes. Since the Senior Bowl, both Highsmith and Wolf have been relieved of their duties. With this in mind, the Cleveland Browns, with their front office and coaching staff fully in place, will finally have the opportunity to have meaningful conversations with the prospects of the 2020 NFL Draft. It should also be mentioned this time last year, at the 2019 NFL Combine, when the groundwork for the Olivier Vernon and Odell Beckham trade was constructed.

For the Browns, there is only so much to be done in a week in Indianapolis, However, this is where first contact will be done with potential future Cleveland Browns players and an opportunity for Andrew Berry to build a network of trade partners.

Negotiating with unrestricted free agents: March 16 – 18

Key Browns Free Agents: Greg Robinson, OT (UFA), Rashard Higgins, WR (UFA), Damarious Randall, S (UFA), Kareem Hunt, RB (RFA), Joe Schobert, iLB (UFA)

Per Spotrac, the Cleveland Browns currently have an estimated $48.9 million in cap space available. This is a lot of money, 15th most in the NFL, but there are a lot of holes to fill on the Cleveland Browns roster. It is not realistic for the Browns to take almost $50 million in cap space and fix multiple holes along the offensive line, replace both safety spots, add an interior run stuffer, and reshuffle their linebacker room. It is just not realistic for impact players to be added at all of those positions.

Wrap Up

There are plenty of things for the Browns to move on to next. The NFL combine, free agency, further building out their coaching staff, and trade negotiations are all key offseason landmarks for us to pay attention to. As Browns fans, there we should lament in the fact we have no losses in 2020 and the franchise still has plenty of assets to keep all of these events throughout the offseason interesting.

 

Tom Izzo speaks at Mel Tucker Introductory Press Conference

Michigan State football held Mel Tuckers press conference today. MSU Basketball coach Tom Izzo spoke at this presser. Read more here.

Michigan State held an introductory press conference for new football coach Mel Tucker. This press conference featured comments from the one and only Tom Izzo. Izzo spoke to Mel Tucker’s background and welcomed him to the Spartan family.

Here are some of Izzo’s comments below:

As you may or may not know, Izzo said he would lend a helping hand to this coaching search. Now, Michigan State football has their guy. Tucker has been embraced by fans and players alike all over social media. Even Antjuan Simmons spoke at the press conference.

Mel Tucker has me super hyped for this upcoming football season. Stay with us on SpartansWire for more coverage of Mel Tucker and his new coaching staff.

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Skylar Diggins-Smith Traded to Phoenix in WNBA Blockbuster

“Players with Skylar’s skill set and ceiling don’t become available in free agency often” Mercury General Manager Jim Pittman said.

All-time Notre Dame great Skylar Diggins-Smith may not have won a national championship in her time with the Fighting Irish, but she’s easily one of the best to ever wear the blue, gold, green, white and whatever other colors that have been donned under Muffet McGraw.

Since graduating in 2013 Diggins has been starring in the WNBA where she is a two-time all WNBA first-team selection and a four-time All-Star.  She’s averaged 15.9 points and 4.9 assists for her career with Tulsa and Dallas (the team moved after the 2015 season).

Wednesday saw Diggins-Smith being traded from Dallas to the Phoenix Mercury where she will be part of their big three featuring herself, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner.

The cost for Diggins-Smith you ask?

Substansial.

Two of the first round draft picks Dallas gets back are the fifth and seventh overall in this upcoming WNBA Draft while the other is for the 2021 draft.

“Players with Skylar’s skill set and ceiling don’t become available in free agency often” Mercury General Manager Jim Pittman said.

Diggins-Smith did not play in 2019 after giving birth to her first child that April.

The Mercury begin their season on May 17 against the Seattle Storm.

Jorge Masvidal: UFC champ Kamaru Usman is ‘super-forced’ into fighting me next

Jorge Masvidal thinks UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman doesn’t have as much of a choice in his next bout as he might think.

[autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] may not have wanted to acknowledge [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag], but it appears Masvidal will be his next title defense.

UFC president Dana White teased that the championship fight will likely take place during the UFC’s annual International Fight Week in early July and that negotiations are currently ongoing.

Speaking this week to “Submission Radio,” Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 11-4 UFC) said UFC welterweight champ Usman (16-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC) didn’t exactly have a choice over who he fights next.

“He’s super-forced into this fight,” Masvidal said. “Dana said it, and what is he going to do now? So, I don’t think too much of him. So, I don’t want to talk about the guy too much.”

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After putting on a thrilling clash with Colby Covington at UFC 245 that ended with “The Nigerian Nightmare” stopping the challenger in the fifth round, Usman mentioned the likes of former victim Leon Edwards as being a more worthy challenger to his title.

“You would think any champion would want to fight the ‘Fighter of the Year’ in their weight class to extra prove something, to set themselves aside,” Masvidal continued. “This guy wants to fight a guy under me that he already beat, or if not, do fantasy matchups, the guys in Japan or other organizations.

“If that doesn’t let you know what’s going to happen, nothing will. He knows the formula. He knows about me very well. So, there’s a hundred other people he’d rather fight than me.”

Usman and Masvidal have been mouthing off at each other for a while, and even had a verbal altercation on Super Bowl Radio Row. But Masvidal says it’s unlikely that we see another “three-piece and a soda” because he doubts Usman would actually step up to him unless there’s plenty of security around.

“He never will,” Masvidal said. “He sees Ben Askren and Colby, and he runs up on them and he gets this close. He would never in 100 million years get within an arm’s distance of me. I’ve just seen him at the UFC (247), and I’m behind a barricade, and so was he, and he’s with security and he’s trying to act like we’re going to fight today.

“Like, stop, man. Everybody’s laughing at you thinking you’re a (expletive) idiot. No one’s going to fight, dude. You’ve got five security guards with you, I’ve got five security guards with me, there’s a barricade. Stop. But that’s who he is. I think he’s got to sell a lot of himself for people to engage with him, because it’s not working.”

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Report: Brandon Ingram questionable Thursday vs. Thunder

Ingram has missed the last two games with a right ankle sprain. He’s averaging a career-best 24.9 points in his first year for New Orleans.

New Orleans’ All-Star power forward, Brandon Ingram, is questionable to play in Thursday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

According to the team’s injury report, Ingram is still nursing a sprained right ankle. He also sat out the Pelicans’ last two games, wins over the Portland Trail Blazers and the Indiana Pacers, with the injury.

In his first year in the Big Easy, Ingram has had a breakout season. It’s also earned him his first All-Star nod. His numbers are up across the board including point production (24.9 points per game), rebounds (6.4 per game), and assists (4.2 per game).

He’s also improved his 3-point and free-throw percentage, hitting 40% of his shots from beyond the arc, which is up seven percent from last year, and 86.2% from the charity stripe, an increase of almost 20%.

There has been no additional word about whether or not the injury will prevent Ingram from participating in the All-Star Game on Feb. 16.

For the Thunder, rookie Darius Bazley remains out with a bone bruise in his right knee. As of this writing, everyone else is available.

Thursday night’s game between Oklahoma City and the Pelicans is the last game for both teams prior to All-Star Weekend. Tip-off inside the Smoothie King Center is at 7 p.m. CT.