Tag: Mike Tressel

Takeaways from Wisconsin football’s de-facto spring game

Takeaways from Wisconsin’s de-facto spring game:

The Wisconsin Badgers football team hosted their 13th spring practice of the year Saturday, playing primarily 11-on-11 for the duration. Luke Fickell and the Badgers no longer host a spring game between their offensive and defensive units, but Saturday came close.

Graduate transfer quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (Miami, Florida) handled the majority of the first-team reps at practice, though redshirt sophomore Braedyn Locke continued to get plenty of work as well.

Van Dyke connected for a pair of notable touchdowns to tight end Riley Nowakowski and wide receiver Tyrell Henry, while once again showing an improved understanding of Phil Longo’s offense.

With just a pair of practices remaining before spring workouts conclude, Van Dyke has proven capable of being the team’s primary option at quarterback in 2024.

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Wide receiver Trech Kekahuna has impressed throughout camp, and he made sure to show off his shiftiness on a handful of occasions while operating out of the slot wideout position on Saturday. With Will Pauling returning for another season, Wisconsin has a formidable duo in the slot.

At running back, both transfer Tawee Walker (Oklahoma) and true freshman Gideon Ituka produces scores on the ground. Familiar faces Chez Mellusi and Nate White churned out big gains.

On the defensive side, linebacker Darryl Peterson had a big day, getting to the quarterback and into the backfield on a semi-regular basis, showing his elite understanding of Mike Tressel’s defensive approach.

Transfer linebackers John Pius (William & Mary) and Leon Lowery (Syracuse) have been among the most notable additions to Wisconsin’s roster this season and they figure to make a significant impact in the pass rush in 2024.

Last but not least, safety Hunter Wohler is back for 2024, and he looks to build upon a 2023 campaign in which he led the team with 120 total tackles while also snatching a pair of interceptions. He has been just as effective this spring and was good for some show-stopping hits on the practice field Saturday.

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Wisconsin football offers former All-MAC transfer defensive tackle

Wisconsin football offers former All-MAC transfer defensive tackle

Wisconsin football extended an offer to transfer portal defensive tackle and former All-MAC selection C.J. West on Tuesday.

The now-former Kent State defensive tackle recorded 40 tackles, seven tackles for loss, two sacks and one forced fumble in a terrific senior season in 2023. He enters the portal with 36 games of experience, 19.5 total tackles for loss and seven sacks.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker

West has already received offers from LSU, Indiana, Rutgers, Miami, Kansas State, Colorado, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Wisconsin after entering the transfer portal on Tuesday,

The La Grange Park, Illinois native initially committed to the University of Minnesota in 2019 before signing with the Golden Flashes in February of 2020. 

With one year of eligibility remaining, West is clearly a coveted target for a collection of the most prestigious programs across the new ‘Power Four’ landscape. 

Wisconsin has a significant need along the defensive line. Only James Thompson Jr. and Curt Neal return with any experience, plus backup T.J. Bollers recently entered the transfer portal.

West would be a day-one starter for Mike Tressel’s defense as the program continues to transition to his new defensive system.

 

Wisconsin football makes the top five schools for a 2025 cornerback

Wisconsin football makes the top five schools for a 2025 cornerback

Class of 2025 defensive back Zay Gentry announced his top five schools via social media on Wednesday.

Wisconsin is among the Texas native’s final list, along with Missouri, Oklahoma State, SMU and Baylor.

Gentry received 30 total offers dating back to January of 2023. UW extended its offer on October 16, 2023, and he is slated to officially visit Madison on May 31 per 247Sports. 

Both Rivals and 247Sports rank the 6 ‘0’’ corner as a three-star. He lands as the No. 419 player in the class of 2025, No. 38 cornerback and No. 65 recruit from the state of Texas. The junior also recorded a 22-6 long jump and a 14.09 110-meter hurdles time during his early junior track and field season. 

This past season, he posted 41 tackles and a pair of interceptions on the gridiron, and he concluded his sophomore campaign with 35 tackles, 3 TFL, one pick and 10 pass breakups.

The lengthy defender could bolster Mike Tressel’s unit down the line and fill a void with the looming departure of star safety Hunter Wohler. 

A look at Wisconsin football’s entire coaching staff for the 2024 season

There was a surprising amount of turnover on Wisconsin’s staff this offseason — plus the hire of Alex Grinch:

The Wisconsin football program has experienced a surprising amount of coaching turnover this offseason.

It’s not as if Luke Fickell’s team was in the National Championship and had assistants getting promotions left and right. This turnover felt unique, with several assistants making lateral moves to other programs.

Wide receivers coach Mike Brown took the same position at Notre Dame, safeties coach Colin Hitschler moved laterally to Alabama and offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. was moved to an off-field role — though that appears to have been performance-related.

Related: Power ranking all 18 Big Ten football programs after the 2023 season

Brown and Hitschler are significant losses, especially on the recruiting trail. Not to raise any alarm bells. It’s just surprising to see two of the more important assistants move laterally to other jobs.

The real story here is who was hired to replace them. At safeties coach, it’s former USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch — which fans seem unhappy about.

Here is Luke Fickell’s full 2024 coaching staff as he enters a pivotal year in his tenure at Wisconsin:

Wish list to replace Texas co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate

Texas’ linebacker coach position could be highly sought after among college defensive coaches.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is now hiring for a new linebacker’s coach and potential co-defensive coordinator alongside Pete Kwiatkowski. Given the talent present on the roster and the Longhorns’ involvement in the College Football Playoff, the role should be highly sought after in the coaching profession.

Texas fans want Gary Patterson after seeing how much the Texas defense improved with Patterson as a special assistant. The likelihood is, however, that Patterson is more interested in head coaching positions than roles underneath a defensive coordinator.

Other former big name head coaches have drawn the attention of fans on social media. Names like former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops and former Texas head coach Charlie Strong have been brought up by Texas faithful. Albeit, Texas donors don’t want Stoops and understandable pride could keep Strong from taking an assistant role at Texas.

While we won’t rule out those moves, let’s look at a few more options Texas might turn to at linebacker’s coach and potential co-defensive coordinator.

Ten Potential candidates to be the next defensive coordinator of Michigan State football

10 possible candidates that can be the next defensive coordinator at Michigan State

With the hiring of Jonathan Smith as Michigan State’s next head football coach, it also means that there will be a new staff coming to East Lansing. While Smith has already gotten a huge jump on hiring his staff, click here to view who has been hired by Smith so far, he has yet to announce who will be serving as the defensive coordinator for his staff.

Smith had two defensive coordinators throughout his tenure at Oregon State, so there are several options and possibilities for Smith to explore.

Let’s take a look at some of the potential candidates that could potentially be in the mix for MSU’s defensive coordinator position:

Badgers safety ranks second in the nation in tackles

Wohler is a tackling machine

The Badgers football team is going into their bye week this week with a 3-1 record and although it’s been a bumpy ride at times, Wisconsin safety Hunter Wohler has been as consistent as it gets. He currently ranks second in the country in solo tackles and solo tackles per game.

To this point, Wohler has recorded 30 total solo tackles over the Badgers’ first four contests of the year, which is 7.5 solo tackles per game, both of which rank second in the FBS.

Wohler is in his third season with Wisconsin after a strong high school career in Muskego and he’s really come into his own in Mike Tressel’s defense. Although he’ll slide down the charts by not playing this week, it’s very possible that the safety’s 7.5 STPG remains behind UTEP’s Tyrice Wright before the Badgers play Rutgers at 11AM on Oct. 7 at Camp Randall.

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Report: Wisconsin defensive coordinator a candidate for Michigan State’s head coach opening

Wisconsin’s DC was listed as a possible candidate at MSU…

Michigan State officially fired head coach Mel Tucker earlier this week. The program went 20-14 under his watch, and just 7-7 after a fantastic 2021 season led to a record 10-year, $95 million contract extension.

The Spartans now move forward to find their next head coach. Just last season both Wisconsin and Nebraska were able to successfully land big names in the coaching world in Luke Fickell and Matt Rhule respectively. The question now is where Michigan State stands as a program, and whether the top candidates across the country consider it an attractive opening.

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy did report an initial list of candidates for the job. Included in that list is Wisconsin first-year DC Mike Tressel.

Tressel played his college football at Cornell before his coaching journey brought him to East Lansing from 2007-2014 as its linebackers coach, 2015-17 as co-defensive coordinator and 2020 as safeties coach. The Wisconsin DC then left to join Luke Fickell at Cincinnati in 2021. He isn’t far removed from being a highly successful coordinator at Michigan State.

Tressell replaced star DC Jim Leonhard at Wisconsin and is still working to install his system. The jury is still out on whether his defense can be great this season. But regardless, he isn’t the hot name in the coaching world that Michigan State fans will want.

20 potential candidates to replace Mel Tucker as Michigan State football’s coach

Who could potentially replace Mel Tucker? We came up with 20 coaches to consider.

Following an in-depth investigation by USA TODAY into the allegations made by Brenda Tracy against Mel Tucker, the university placed Mel Tucker on an unpaid suspension.

Operating under the assumption that Tucker has coached his last game as the head man of the Michigan State football program, as Lansing State Journal reporter Graham Couch speculated, the Spartans will be in the market for a new leader of their football program.

Check out some of the potential candidates Michigan State could look to bring in:

Badger Countdown: One goal for Wisconsin football in 2023

Luke Fickell wants to compete for championships

The return of Badgers football is just one day away as the Luke Fickell era in Madison gets underway Saturday at 2:30 versus Buffalo at home. Since he’s arrived at Wisconsin, the hype around the team has reached an incredible high.

Fickell has brought in offensive coordinator Phil Longo and his “Air Raid” offense from North Carolina while defensive coordinator Mike Tressel followed the head coach from Cincinnati.

As a group, they’ve worked to revitalize the culture of Badgers football in Madison as they usher in the next era. Transfer athletes like quarterback Tanner Mordecai (SMU) and wide receiver CJ Williams (USC) have joined the squad and Fickell is only focused on one thing, competing for championships.

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