WATCH: QB Graham Mertz airs it out at practice on Tueday. #Badgers
As spring practice continues winding down, Badger fans have been fortunate enough for the program to allow them the occasional inside look at what spring ball in the McClain center really looks like.
On Tuesday, we saw Badgers starting quarterback Graham Mertz spreading the ball around to his new look wide receiver room – most notably connecting on two long passes with the teams top wideout Chimere Dike.
As a redshirt-sophomore Mertz fell short of expectations, completing just 59.5% of his passes for 1,958 yards with 10 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Now, with new offensive coordinator Bobby Engram in the fold, Wisconsin’s offense is counting on their QB1 to take a noticeable step in 2022 to take their offense to new heights.
Check out Mertz aerial attack courtesy of UW Athletics on Twitter:
Wisconsin will need to replace a significant amount of production in their wide receiver room next season. Chimere Dike would seem to be the logical choice to take over as the teams top pass-catcher in 2022.
Right now, the Wisconsin Badgers sole focus is on their Las Vegas Bowl match-up against Arizona State on December 30th. However, bowl prep season is a delicate balance of preparing for your programs final game of the year, and giving younger players additional opportunity to better evaluate them for the future.
For Wisconsin, they’re set to lose their three most targeted players: Jake Ferguson, Danny Davis, and Kendric Pryor. Not to mention, walk-on Jack Dunn who has logged plenty of snaps in his own right.
That leaves a dearth of opportunity for a young, unproven wide receivers room next season, and plenty of snaps up for grabs.
Nov 21, 2020; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Northwestern Wildcats defensive back Greg Newsome II (2) breaks up a pass to Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Chimere Dike (13) during the second half at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
The logical choice to step into the WR1 spot is Waukesha, Wisconsin native – Chimere Dike. In his Wisconsin career, Dike has caught 30 passes for 431 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s also received 31 targets this season, ranking fourth on the team.
Dike is a player that runs good routes, excels playing in the slot and isn’t afraid to come across the middle of the field and still secure the ball.
Anyone who has watched Dike knows the stats are in no way indicative of the talent he truly possesses. He has undoubtedly taken a big step in year two, all you need to do is turn on the film.
Dike is a dynamic play-maker capable of taking on the extra workload and becoming a reliable weapon in Wisconsin’s offense.
Chimere Dike has been patiently waiting for his turn to become the WR1 of the Wisconsin Badgers – and it looks like he’ll get his chance in 2022.
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Wisconsin wide receiver’s coach Alvis Whitted had some high praise for Chimere Dike and his ability to take over as the teams top pass-catcher in 2022.
Right now, the Wisconsin Badgers sole focus is on their Las Vegas Bowl match-up against Arizona State on December 30th. However, bowl prep season is a delicate balance of preparing for your programs final game of the year, and giving younger players additional opportunity to better evaluate them for the future.
For Wisconsin, they’re set to lose their three most targeted players: Jake Ferguson, Danny Davis, and Kendric Pryor. Not to mention, walk-on Jack Dunn who has logged plenty of snaps in his own right.
That leaves a dearth of opportunity for a young, unproven wide receivers room next season, and plenty of snaps up for grabs.
Nov 21, 2020; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Northwestern Wildcats defensive back Greg Newsome II (2) breaks up a pass to Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Chimere Dike (13) during the second half at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
The logical choice to step into the WR1 spot is Waukesha, Wisconsin native – Chimere Dike. In his Wisconsin career, Dike has caught 30 passes for 431 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Dike is a player that runs good routes, excels playing in the slot and isn’t afraid to come across the middle of the field and still secure the ball.
Anyone who has watched Dike knows the stats are in no way indicative of the talent he possesses. He has undoubtedly taken a big step in year two, all you need to do is turn on the film.
One person who seems to agree with that statement is Wisconsin Badgers wide receivers coach – Alvis Whitted. Here’s what coach Whitted had to say about Dike becoming the WR1 in 2022:
“He’s been ready since his freshman year. I have no doubt about his ability to lead and the things he can do on the field. How he goes about his daily routine, how he prepares and how he studies. I think those guys will have no better person to learn from, once we get back to camp. I love that kid like he’s my son.
“He’s the standard right now.”
That’s high praise coming from his position coach, and it’s hard to argue with his assessment. With less proven mouths to feed in 2022, it’s easy to see a path for Chimere Dike to breakout in Wisconsin’s offense as the go to pass-catcher.
Contact/Follow us @TheBadgersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin news, notes, opinion and analysis.
Both wide receiver Chimere Dike and cornerback Faion Hicks returned kicks for the Badgers on Saturday. Dike took two kicks back for 34 total yards and a 17-yard average, while Hicks’ only return was a fair catch.
Wisconsin football: Snap count breakdowns that need to change on Saturday
The Wisconsin offense has struggled mightily through the team’s first three games this season. The unit put up 10 points against Penn State thanks to historic red zone woes and scored only 13 against Notre Dame while the Fighting Irish defense returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
Production just hasn’t been there across the board. Graham Mertz has struggled to find open receivers and take care of the football, the offensive line is yet to find an effective five-man group and the running game still leaves a bit to be desired.
So entering this weekend’s crucial matchup with No. 14 Michigan, what will Paul Chryst and his staff need to change about their attack? Let’s start with the snap count breakdown from last weekend’s game because there were some real head-scratchers.
It’s a group that struggled last season, mostly due to injuries to top options Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor.
But the whole group returns for the 2021 campaign. With a full spring and summer session set to help Graham Mertz’s connection with the group immensely, we should expect a bounce-back season from the pass-catchers.
But in the end, if there’s one word to describe the team it’s resilient. The Badgers could’ve shipped it in after a loss at Iowa capped a three-game losing streak and especially when the program experienced a COVID-19 outbreak and didn’t play for two weeks.
But the Badgers didn’t, and they finished the year two victories. That captures the resilience of the team and the football program as a whole.
So as we look back upon the 2020 season, we do so while giving credit to everybody that worked hard to make this season happen, as well as to everybody in the locker room and on the coaching staff for battling through hardship and sacrificing a lot to successfully finish the year.
With that, here are studs and duds from the Badgers’ 2020 football season:
Much has also gone wrong, though, with the program experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak and having to cancel two games, losing 17-7 to Northwestern and the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe being canceled due to COVID-19 cases in the Minnesota football program.
Nevertheless, the program is set up well for success both through the end of this year and for the future. So, here are 10 people Wisconsin football has to be thankful for this season and beyond:
The Wisconsin Badgers entered Evanston, Illinois yesterday with the chance to knock off the 4-0 Northwestern Wildcats and take control…
The Wisconsin Badgers entered Evanston, Illinois yesterday with the chance to knock off the 4-0 Northwestern Wildcats and take control of the Big Ten West division.
If you’ve followed Badger football over the years you know Northwestern is always a tough place to play and makes for a perfect trap game scenario. Well, that was the case yesterday as Paul Chryst and his team fell 17-7.
There is a lot to take away from the game, including young players continuing to break out, an impressive performance on one side of the football, a key player practically losing the game for the Badgers and more.
Here are five main takeaways from the Badgers’ loss yesterday to Northwestern:
