Tag: Darryl Peterson

BREAKING: Wisconsin starting pass rusher announces return for 2025 season

BREAKING: Wisconsin starting edge-rusher announces return for 2025 season

Wisconsin starting outside linebacker Darryl Peterson announced on Monday his intention to return to the Badgers for the 2025 season.

The news comes as the NCAA transfer portal officially opened on Dec. 9. Peterson, center Jake Renfro and right tackle Riley Mahlman are now three key veterans to have announced their decision to stay for a final year.

Related: Major takeaways from Wisconsin hiring Kansas’ Jeff Grimes as its new offensive coordinator

Peterson initially joined the program as a four-star recruit in the class of 2021. He’s played in 41 total games over four seasons with the program, including in every game in 2022, 2023 and 2024. His career tallies include 104 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, four pass deflections and one fumble recovery.

His return is big news for a Wisconsin defensive line that is facing massive turnover entering 2025. Top contributors Elijah Hills (eligibility), Curt Neal (transfer portal) and James Thompson Jr. (transfer portal) are departing from the defensive tackle room, in addition to several from the pass-rushing group.

Wisconsin will need a statement final season from the veteran defensive end. The program struggled to pressure the quarterback through all of 2024, finishing with just 17 total sacks (No. 118 in the nation). Peterson accounted for just one of those sacks.

The Badgers are reportedly in the transfer market for experience and production at the position. Still, getting an establish veteran back is good news for a defense in need of a significant boost.

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Multiple Wisconsin Badgers make PFF’s returning Big Ten edge rusher ranking

Multiple Wisconsin Badgers make PFF’s Big Ten edge-rusher ranking

Wisconsin linebackers/edge-rushers John Pius and Darryl Peterson received top-five rankings in ProFootballFocus’ recent list of the highest-graded returning Big Ten edge rushers.

Pius was No. 2 overall with a PFF grade of 85.1 last season at William & Mary. Peterson, meanwhile, was No. 5 with a grade of 80.7 with the Badgers Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer, Michigan’s Josiah Stewart and Maryland’s Donnell Brown were ranked No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

Pius was a significant piece of Wisconsin’s 2024 transfer portal class. The 6-foot-4, 244-pound edge departed William & Mary ranked second in program history in career tackles for loss (40.5) and fifth in career sacks (24.5).

The Arlington, Virginia native was also the only FCS player on the Butkus Award Watch List, earned an All-America First Team bid and wound up on the Senior Bowl Watch List. 247Sports had Pius as a four-star transfer recruit and the No. 16 edge rusher in the portal this winter.

Peterson, on the other hand, has suited up for UW from 2021-2023. Over the past two seasons, the Akron, Ohio product logged 13 starts in 26 overall appearances at OLB.

 

The 2023 Academic All-Big Ten team member led the Badgers with 4.5 sacks and posted a career-best 47 tackles for UW as a redshirt junior.

Wisconsin’s defensive unit enters 2024 with a preseason SP+ Rating of 13.8, the seventh-highest in the nation. With four new squads slated to join the conference this fall, UW’s defensive front will need to perform at a high clip.

Know your foe, Wisconsin: Which Badgers could give Ohio State problems

Which Badgers are you concerned about? #GoBucks

When everyone looked at this season’s schedule, many believed this weekend’s contest between [autotag]Ohio State football[/autotag] and Wisconsin would have been a top-25 matchup.

That isn’t the case. The Badgers have been tripped up twice already, but it still is a very intriguing game. Former Buckeye [autotag]Luke Fickell[/autotag] inherited a Wisconsin program that didn’t quite fit his style of play, and it has shown during his first season.

Their air raid offense just does not have the personnel to run it at the moment, but that doesn’t mean Wisconsin isn’t a dangerous team. Find out below which Badgers could give Ohio State some problems on Saturday evening.

WATCH: Badger linebacker outlines a day at camp

Behind the scenes at Badger football camp

Luke Fickell and his Badgers just wrapped up their time at Platteville for their camp ahead of the 2023 season, but linebacker T.J Bollers outlined a day in the life of a Wisconsin football athlete at camp.

Bollers is entering his third season with the Badgers, second active, and he could be set for an increased role on defense. He appeared in 11 games last year, but he only recorded two tackles.

With Nick Herbig moving on to the NFL, Bollers along with fellow redshirt sophomore Darryl Peterson appear likely to operate as the top left outside linebacker options in Madison.

Mike Tressel will be in control of the defense in 2023 and the team will look to maintain their reputation as one of the best in the nation.

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Badgers PFF grades: Top 5 defensive players from Week 5 loss to Illinois

Here’s a look at the top 5 highest graded defensive players from Wisconsin’s home loss to Illinois, according to Pro Football Focus:

Madison, Wis. – Head coach Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badgers (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten), who needed a bounce-back performance, lost their second straight contest embarrassingly on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. 

Wisconsin’s defense allowed an efficient 307 yards of offense to the Illini (167 passing, 137 rushing), failing to make life difficult for Tommy Devito and the nations leading rusher, Chase Brown. 

Jim Leonhard’s young defense is a far cry from UW’s defenses of recent years. They’ve continued to make the same mistakes we’ve seen up to all season: poor tackling, getting pushed around in the trenches, and failure to create pressure of any kind.

The defense registered only four pressures all day long, all of which came from Nick Herbig and Keeanu Benton, who had two apiece. 

It’s hard to take away many positives from this one.

Here’s a look at the five highest-graded defensive players from Wisconsin’s loss to Illinois, according to Pro Football Focus.

Predicting Wisconsin football’s superlatives for the 2022 season

BadgersWire forecasts our expected superlatives for Wisconsin during the 2022 college football season:

Madison, Wis. – An underwhelming 9-4 season where Wisconsin football failed to win the Big Ten West for the second straight year led to wholesale changes along the coaching staff this offseason. 

With fall camp in full swing and Wisconsin’s season opener against the Illinois State Redbirds just around the corner, the Badgers, who are the Big Ten West favorites in 2022, will have a much different look this fall. 

UW hired new offensive coordinator Bobby Engram, who joins the program after eight seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He’ll attempt to reinvigorate a sputtering Wisconsin offense and is working to make opponents defend the entire field in 2022. 

On defense, Jim Leonhard lost eight preferred starters from last season’s top-ranked defense. However, the cupboards in Madison are far from bare, and a new batch of players is hungry to uphold the program’s standard of excellence. 

With the season opener just around the corner, I decided to follow in the footsteps of former BadgersWire great Ben Kenney and explore my expected superlatives for Wisconsin during the 2022 college football season.

Three players from the 2021 recruiting class ready to make an impact

These three Badgers from the 2021 recruiting class are ready to step into significant roles this season:

Wisconsin football fell short of expectations last season, finishing with a 9-4 record, and a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Arizona State.

More importantly, Wisconsin failed to win the Big Ten West for the second consecutive year, forcing UW to make some significant changes this offseason.

Coach Chyrst brought in a new offensive coordinator, running backs coach, and shifted Bob Bostad and Chris Haering into new roles as the offensive line and tight ends coach respectively.

In addition to the changes on the coaching staff, UW will be tasked with replacing six offensive starters, and eight from the nation’s top rated defense.

For the Badgers to reclaim a Big Ten West title, it’ll need several young players to step up and make a meaningful impact this upcoming season.

Here are, in no particular order, three players from the 2021 recruiting class that are ready to make a splash in 2022-23:

Five Badgers that boosted their stock during spring football practice

Five players that boosted their stock during spring football practice:

Spring football has officially come to a close for the Wisconsin Badgers, who wrapped up their spring evaluation period last Friday night.

Head coach Paul Chryst made a significant amount of changes along the coaching staff this offseason, so this initial installation period allowed those coaches their first real look at their respective position groups.

UW essentially has players competing for meaningful snaps at every position heading into fall camp. The offense lost six preferred starters from last season, while the nation’s top defensive unit needs to replace eight starters of their own in 2022.

Spring football is about trying new things, generating competition, and forcing players out of their comfort zones.

So, it’s important that fans understand no starting positions are going to be won in the spring. However, it can lead to additional opportunities once camp opens in the fall.

Today, we’re going to examine five players that boosted their stock during the Badgers 15 spring practices:

Two future Badgers named to the 2020 preseason All-USA high school football second team

Along with one future Badger and one key Badger target made the 2020 preseason All-USA high school football first team, two future…

Along with one future Badger and one key Badger target made the 2020 preseason All-USA high school football first team, two future members of the program were named to the second team.

They are three-star outside linebacker Darryl Peterson and four-star offensive tackle Riley Mahlman.

The two players are key pieces of the program’s loaded class of 2021 and figure to be centerpieces of Paul Chryst’s gameplan for years to come.

Peterson, first, is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 512 player in the class of 2021, the No. 33 outside linebacker and the No. 19 player from the state of Ohio.

Mahlman lands at No. 136 nationally, No. 18 at his position and No. 1 from the state of Minnesota.

Both players are set to join the program next season as the Badgers look to finally get over the hump and win their first Big Ten title since 2012.

Two members of the Badgers’ class of 2021 will be playing high school football this fall

Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine announced yesterday that he will sign an Ohio Department of Health order permitting contact sports including…

Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine announced yesterday that he will sign an Ohio Department of Health order permitting contact sports including football, soccer and field hockey to move forward towards playing this fall.

The news doesn’t have much of a direct effect on the Wisconsin football program as their recruiting reach in Ohio isn’t as great as schools including Ohio State, Alabama and Texas.

It does, however, affect two players in the Badgers’ class of 2021, allowing them to play their final season of high school football; four-star tight end Jack Pugh and three-star outside linebacker Darryl Peterson.

This announcement followed the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association maintaining its plan for the fall athletic season.

There are countless unknowns about college and high school football this year and how NCAA eligibility will be affected by some conferences and states not playing fall seasons.

In Ohio, at least, there is now clarity as two future Badgers will be taking the field for their final high school season.