A way-too-early look at the 2022 Wisconsin Badger defense

Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badger coaching staff have been making waves on the recruiting trail during the last few months, landing…

Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badger coaching staff have been making waves on the recruiting trail during the last few months, landing big defensive names including Braelon Allen, T.J. Bollers, Hunter Wohler and Darryl Peterson.

Their 2021 class currently stands at No. 14 in the nation and No. 3 in the conference, both marks placing the class as the best the program’s had since the online ranking era began.

Every college football fan knows that the Badgers pride themselves on their defense and they–no matter who is out there on the field–always seem to have one of the conference’s best defensive units.

With all of the question marks surrounding the upcoming 2020 football season I’m looking into the future at the 2022 defensive unit, one which at this point is lining up to be an absolute sight to see.

Defensive Line

Syndication: Milwaukee — Badgers nose tackle Keeanu Benton (95) and linebacker Jack Sanborn celebrate a fumble recovery by UW’s defense deep in its own territory during the first quarter against Michigan. Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-Imagn Content Services, LLC

Defensive end: T.J. Bollers, Ayo Adebogun, Mike Jarvis, Cade McDonald

Nose tackle: Keeanu Benton, Rodas Johnson

Keeanu Benton showed crazy potential last season as a true freshman. He will be a senior at this point and the leader of a talented defensive front.

Bollers is a four-star recruit and will be coming to Madison in 2021 as one of the highest-rated recruits in the 2021 class.

This unit will have the skills needed to control the opponents’ ground game but even more significantly they will be an absolute force rushing the quarterback.

Next…the linebackers

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Breaking Down Wisconsin’s 2020 Signing Class

Taking a closer look at how Wisconsin’s 2020 recruiting class breaks down by position and by state.

MADISON, Wis. – After signing 19 scholarship players and two walk-ons during the early signing period in December the Badgers saw their scholarship class officially grow to 20 players while adding four more preferred walk-ons to the program during national signing day on Wednesday. The Badgers class ranks 25th by 247 Sports, 26th by ESPN, and 27th nationally by Rivals.

Here’s an overview of the class. Click the player’s name for a more in-depth breakdowns on that specific player.

Scholarship Commits by State

Arizona (1): Malik Reed

Colorado (1): Max Lofy

Hawaii (1): Nick Herbig

Illinois (1): Dylan Barrett

Massachusetts (1): Cam Large

Michigan (1): Jordan Turner

Minnesota (2): Kaden Johnson, Aaron Witt

New Jersey (1): Jalen Berger

North Carolina (1): Devin Chandler

Ohio (1): James Thompson

Pennsylvania (1): Preston Zachman

Tennessee (1): Isaac Smith

Wisconsin (7): Ben Barten, Tanor Bortolini, Cole Dakovich, Chimere Dike, Cade McDonald, Jack Nelson, Trey Wedig

Commits By Projected Position

QB: None

RB: Jalen Berger

WR: Devin Chandler, Chimere Dike, Isaac Smith

TE: Cole Dakovich, Cam Large

OL: Dylan Barrett, Ben Barten, Tanor Bortolini, Jack Nelson, Trey Wedig

DL: Cade McDonald, James Thompson Jr.

ILB: Malik Reed, Jordan Turner, Preston Zachman

OLB: Nick Herbig, Kaden Johnson, Aaron Witt

DB: Max Lofy

Specialists: None

UW walk-ons: Inside Linebacker Ross Gengler, Offensive Lineman Kerry Kodanko, Long Snapper Duncan McKinley, Outside Linebacker Riley Nowakowski, Offensive Lineman Sean Timmis, Kicker Jack Van Dyke

Wisconsin Football Season Review: Outside Linebackers

How well did Wisconsin’s outside linebackers play during the 2019 season?

Wisconsin finished its fifth season under head coach Paul Chryst as Chryst improved his overall record to 52-16 and has a posted a 34-10 record in conference games. After not winning the Big Ten West Division title in 2018 the Badgers were back in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship game as the West representative for the fourth time in the last six years since the Big Ten went to its current format.

In this Badgers Wire feature we will examine the play of Wisconsin’s outside linebacker from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:

Zack Baun was simply terrific for Wisconsin’s defense in 2019. If the Badgers were going to be improved as a defense the Badgers were going to need Baun to deliver.

Baun certainly did and then some as he finished his season leading the team in both tackles for loss (19.5), sacks (12.5), and quarterback hurries (10) as his 76 tackles ranked third on the team.

With Baun having such a strong season he was able to earn First team All-Big Ten and earned All-American honors as well.

Most importantly with Baun being dominant at times the Badgers were going to need someone opposite of him at the other outside linebacker position to take some pressure off of him.

Initially, that responsibility appeared that it was going to go to redshirt sophomore Izayah Green-May as he won the other starting outside linebacker position out of fall camp. However, Green-May suffered an injury early on in the season causing him to miss the game against Central Michigan.

With Green-May out with a right arm, injury opened the door for Noah Burks. Burks took his starting opportunity and ran with it as he finished out the season as the starter along with Baun.

Burks finished the year with 36 tackles, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, three pass breakups, and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown.

Green-May only ended up playing in 10 games finishing the season with five tackles and a sack. Wisconsin also relied on at times at the outside linebacker position in Christian Bell and Tyler Johnson the two combined for 11 tackles and each had a sack.

With Baun consistently getting in opponents, backfields was one of the reasons why the Badgers were able to average 3.3 sacks over conference play, which ranked second. Creating that pressure on the outside also led to forcing quarterbacks to hurry up their decision making process in the pocket. As Big Ten quarterbacks completed an average of 50.3 percent (145-for-288 of their passes as that percentage was the second-lowest over Big Ten play.

Losing Baun to graduation hurts but Burks was able to make some nice strides between his redshirt sophomore season and redshirt junior season. Burks will need to continue to develop and take that next step in order to continue to find ways of getting in opponents backfields. Although it wasn’t the season Green-May was anticipating after he won the starting outside linebacker job out of fall camp he’ll need to continue to add weight and strength in order to hold up over Big Ten play. The Badgers will also need to see the continued development out of redshirt sophomore Jaylan Franklin and redshirt freshman Spencer Lytle as both will be counted on to take on a bigger role in Wisconsin’s defense. True freshman Nick Herbig enrolled early at Wisconsin, which will allow for outside linebackers coach Bobby April the chance to start working with one of Wisconsin’s prized recruits on the defensive side of the football.

Breaking Down Wisconsin’s 2020 Signing Class

Taking a closer look at how the 2020 recruiting class came together and where each player projects to play.

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin football officially announced 19 scholarship players and two preferred walk-ons in its 2020 signing class during the early signing period on Wednesday. The Badgers class ranks 26th nationally by both ESPN and 247 Sports and 32nd by Rivals.

Here’s an overview of the class. Click the player’s name for a more in-depth breakdowns on that specific player.

Scholarship Commits by State

Arizona (1): Malik Reed

Colorado (1): Max Lofy

Hawaii (1): Nick Herbig

Illinois (1): Dylan Barrett

Massachusetts (1): Cam Large

Michigan (1): Jordan Turner

Minnesota (2): Kaden Johnson, Aaron Witt

North Carolina (1): Devin Chandler

Ohio (1): James Thompson Jr.

Pennsylvania (1): Preston Zachman

Tennessee (1): Isaac Smith

Wisconsin (7): Ben Barten, Tanor Bortolini, Cole Dakovich, Chimere Dike, Cade McDonald, Jack Nelson, Trey Wedig

Commits By Projected Position

QB: None

RB: None

WR: Devin Chandler, Chimere Dike, Isaac Smith

TE: Cole Dakovich, Cam Large

OL: Dylan Barrett, Ben Barten, Tanor Bortolini, Jack Nelson, Trey Wedig

DL: Cade McDonald, James Thompson Jr.

ILB: Malik Reed, Jordan Turner, Preston Zachman

OLB: Nick Herbig, Kaden Johnson, Aaron Witt

DB: Max Lofy

Specialists: None

UW walk-ons: Long Snapper Duncan McKinley, Offensive Lineman Sean Timmis

Wisconsin Signing Class Preview – Kaden Johnson

Wisconsin received Kaden Johnson’s national letter of intent as part of the early signing period on Wednesday.

With the early signing period for high school football players beginning on December 18, Badgers Insider takes a closer look at the recruits that signed with the Wisconsin football program.

In this edition, we examine Minnehaha Academy (MN) outside linebacker Kaden Johnson.

Note: All notes and stats provided by uwbadgers.com

Johnson chose Wisconsin over other offers from: California, Iowa, Iowa State, LSU, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon State, Purdue, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Virginia

Johnson’s High School Accolades: Four–star recruit by 247 Sports, ESPN and Rivals…No. 1–ranked recruit in Minnesota…First–team All–Metro by Minneapolis Star Tribune…Helped Minnehaha to consecutive Class 2A state titles in basketball

Johnson’s Impact as a Badger: Wisconsin has been on Johnson for a while as the relationship they developed with him early on paid off on Wednesday as he announced he was signing his national letter of intent with Wisconsin.

With the addition of Johnson at linebacker, it continues to add what is already an impressive haul for the Badgers during the 2020 recruiting cycle.

Johnson a consensus four-star prospect joins a linebacker class that already includes projected outside linebackers in consensus four-star Nick Herbig and three-star Aaron Witt and a trio of inside linebackers in Jordan Turner, Malik Reed, and Preston Zachman as all three are rated as consensus three-star prospects.

Like many of the other commits in the 2020 recruiting class, Johnson is a multi-sport athlete as he also is a member of the Minnehaha Academy basketball team. Due to Johnson playing both sports he has demonstrated good footwork in addition to having good foot speed.

Johnson’s quickness allows him to be able to generate pressure in the backfield. Johnson is well put together as he’s listed at 6’4″ and 200 pounds allowing him to bull rush his way in order to create pressure in the backfield.

Johnson does well with his hand placement, which allows him to create the pressure. Although Johnson has done well in creating pressure in the backfield in high school he simply won’t be able to consistently bull rush people at times in order to have success from the outside linebacker position.

Making it important that outside linebackers coach Bobby April is able to provide him with additional tools to help support his pass rushing skills. Considering the more tools Johnson has at his disposal will only make him more dangerous.

Johnson like Herbig is capable of playing as a true freshman. The Badgers lose Zack Baun due to graduation but the success of the Badgers defense relies on creating pressure on the outside by the linebackers. As great as Baun has been this year the Badgers are going to need someone to replace his production in creating pressure in the backfield.

With that being said Johnson will be given his chance of showing he’s capable of creating pressure in the backfield. If he’s able to consistently string together strong practices he’ll give himself a chance of carving out a role for himself.

Wisconsin Signing Class Preview – Nick Herbig

Wisconsin received Nick Herbig’s national letter of intent as part of the early signing period on Wednesday.

With the early signing period for high school football players beginning on December 18, Badgers Insider takes a closer look at the recruits that signed with the Wisconsin football program.

In this edition, we examine St. Louis (Honolulu, HI) High School linebacker, Nick Herbig.

Note: All notes and stats provided by uwbadgers.com

Herbig chose Wisconsin over other Offers from: Boise State, California, Hawaii, Kansas State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Utah, Vanderbilt, and Washington

Herbig’s High School Accolades: Four–star recruit by 247 Sports, ESPN and Rivals…All–Hawaii Open Division Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2019…Helped led Saint Louis School to fourth consecutive Open Division state championship…Earned invitation to 2020 Polynesian Bowl

Herbig’s Impact as a Badger: Herbig was a big get for Wisconsin as the Badgers were able to land Herbig’s commitment from a place they don’t traditionally recruit, which is Hawaii. Herbig becomes the first player from Hawaii to sign with Wisconsin since 2014 when former offensive lineman Micah Kapoi signed with the Badgers.

Herbig was attracted to Wisconsin due to the Badgers recent success in placing linebackers into the NFL. Considering Wisconsin has had eight linebackers drafted dating back to the 2014 NFL Draft.

Due to Wisconsin’s 3-4 defense, it allows for Wisconsin’s linebackers to make plays and be able to create pressure in opponents backfields. Herbig should fit right in as his biggest strength is being able to create pressure in the opponents backfield.

Herbig has the ceiling to excel like his predecessors at the outside linebacker position in Wisconsin’s defense but before he does he’ll need to continue to develop new pass rushing moves if he wants to see the field early at Wisconsin.

Herbig is the second-highest rated player in the state of Hawaii behind Notre Dame linebacker commit Jordan Botelho as Herbig will enroll early at Wisconsin, which will give himself a good chance of potentially seeing early playing time. Spring football will allow him to continue to gain strength, gain familiarity with Wisconsin’s defense, and allow him to continue to develop as a player.

Herbig should be able to continue to add strength without losing any of his speed, which will be key. As Herbig is able to utilize his speed to cover from sideline-to-sideline allowing himself to track down the ball carrier. He’ll need to continue to gain comfort in pass sets but because of his athleticism and him taking good angles should allow him to hold up on passing downs too.

Herbig has the tools to be successful in Wisconsin’s defense as he works his way from contributor to potentially multi-year starter for Wisconsin’s defense as he looks to add his name to the other disruptive outside linebackers that have come before him.