Tag: position battle

Wisconsin DL coach E.J. Whitlow: Badgers defensive line needs to earn trust

Wisconsin DL coach E.J. Whitlow: Badgers defensive line needs to earn trust

Wisconsin defensive line coach E.J. Whitlow met with the media earlier this week as the Badgers progressed through their first week of 2024 training camp.

Defensive line is one of the bigger unknowns entering the season, that due largely to sub-par 2023 performance, key departures from the room and two impactful transfer additions both coming from the FCS level.

Related: Everything to know about the Wisconsin Badgers defensive line entering 2024 season

Whitlow acknowledged that unknown, noting that the room is still working to build trust entering the season.

“Guys have to come out here with the right mentality and work on and off the field, in the weight room, doing all those little things right to earn that trust,” Whitlow said. “And have that trust, for your brothers that they believe in you and that we can roll guys so we can play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

His next line sums up where the position stands entering training camp:

“Everybody in the room has a piece of the pie, if they earn it.”

In other words: There are available snaps to go around to everybody, but those snaps won’t be won without the requisite performance level, approach and consistency.

Those in the room specifically include redshirt senior James Thompson Jr. (29 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 3.0 sacks, 2 pass deflections in 2023), redshirt sophomore Curt Neal (13 tackles, 1.5 TFLs in 2023), redshirt senior Ben Barten (13 tackles, 1.0 TFLs, 1.0 sacks, 1 pass deflection in 2023) and transfers Elijah Hills (Albany) and Brandon Lane (Stephen F. Austin).

The group looks somewhat deep and effective if both Hills and Lane can translate their previous production to the Big Ten level. Both had strong careers before transferring to Wisconsin, though didn’t face Big Ten-caliber offensive lines every week.

That’s where Whitlow’s comments directly apply. Thompson Jr. is cemented as the room’s leader, with Curt Neal gradually developing and both Barten and senior Cade McDonald set to play rotational roles. The wild cards are the two transfers. If everything is handled correctly and the two both earn legitimate snaps, the position may not be as big of a weakness as most believe it to be.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. 

2024 Preseason Previews

Big Ten Team Previews: Indiana Hoosiers — Purdue Boilermakers — Illinois Fighting Illini — Northwestern Wildcats — Minnesota Golden Gophers — Nebraska Cornhuskers — Iowa Hawkeyes — Rutgers Scarlet Knights — Maryland Terrapins — Michigan State Spartans — USC Trojans — UCLA Bruins — Washington Huskies — Michigan Wolverines — Penn State Nittany Lions — Ohio State Buckeyes — Oregon Ducks — Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Position Previews: Quarterbacks — Running Backs — Wide Receivers — Offensive Lines — Tight Ends — Defensive Line — Linebackers — Cornerbacks — Safeties

Wisconsin Position Previews: Quarterback — Running Back — Wide Receiver — Tight End — Offensive Line — Defensive Line — Outside Linebacker

Wisconsin WRs coach Kenny Guiton highlights the position’s versatility entering 2024

Wisconsin wide receivers coach Kenny Guiton highlights the group’s versatility

Wisconsin wide receivers coach Kenny Guiton met with the assembled media on Friday after the Badgers completed their first full week of fall training camp.

One focus of the conversation was the Badgers’ newfound depth at wide receiver. Guiton highlighted the room’s versatility — a room that looks night-and-day different than it looked when head coach Luke Fickell and offensive coordinator Phil Longo joined the program ahead of the 2023 season.

Related: Everything to know about the Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver corps entering 2024 football season

“The versatility in the room has really picked up,” Guiton said. “It’s always a room that had versatility in it, now you got more guys out the outside that can go inside. I think it’s picking up the competition level to where every little detail that we talk about, these guys know they have to be great at it because the next man’s going to step up and try to do it as well.”

That added versatility is thanks to the offseason additions of Boston College WR Joseph Griffin Jr. and Michigan State WR Tyrell Henry. They join a group led by star slot receiver Will Pauling, established outside threat Bryson Green and a host of other players.

Longo likes to rotate wide receivers often, sometimes going as far down as No. 7 on the depth chart to do so. Wisconsin’s room is well-equipped to provide that option in 2024. Pauling, Green, Griffin Jr., Quincy Burroughs, C.J. Williams, Trech Kekahuna, Vinny Anthony and Henry should all see legitimate snaps.

 

The position will be one of the clear strengths on the 2024 Badgers as the team looks for a resurgent season in year two under Fickell. That strength is due to the talent of top-end options Pauling and Green, but also due to the versatility and depth in the room.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. 

2024 Preseason Previews

Big Ten Team Previews: Indiana Hoosiers — Purdue Boilermakers — Illinois Fighting Illini — Northwestern Wildcats — Minnesota Golden Gophers — Nebraska Cornhuskers — Iowa Hawkeyes — Rutgers Scarlet Knights — Maryland Terrapins — Michigan State Spartans — USC Trojans — UCLA Bruins — Washington Huskies — Michigan Wolverines — Penn State Nittany Lions — Ohio State Buckeyes — Oregon Ducks — Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Position Previews: Quarterbacks — Running Backs — Wide Receivers — Offensive Lines — Tight Ends — Defensive Line — Linebackers — Cornerbacks — Safeties

Wisconsin Position Previews: Quarterback — Running Back — Wide Receiver — Tight End — Offensive Line — Defensive Line — Outside Linebacker

Seth Vernon and Ryan Wright poised for battle to earn punting job

It is not often that we see special teams position battles, but in 2024, we are poised for just that between Ryan Wright and Seth Vernon.

It is not often that we see special teams position battles, but in 2024, we are poised for just that. Ryan Wright and Seth Vernon, both punters on the roster, are jockeying for the most undervalued position in football.

Alec Lewis of The Athletic reported that the position battle had taken place recently. In his piece, Lewis hints that tenure does not mean much for the team in terms of making a decision.

“Earlier this spring, the Vikings signed Seth Vernon, a Portland State product who also went undrafted in 2022. Vernon arrived ready, impressed in organized team activities and has launched a full-on competition. Kevin O’Connell’s view might mirror his approach to the offensive line: Best man wins, prior ties be damned.”

No matter the position, hearing that prior ties to the team mean nothing is not only the right thing you want to hear but also refreshing. Kevin O’Connell is entering a pivotal year in his tenure with the Vikings; he can’t afford to have any biases. Putting the best team out there is all that matters at this point. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and himself have done well in building the roster; all that is left is to assemble them.

Even if that calls for position battles at the punter position.

Could Akayleb Evans be an emerging dark horse defensive starter?

Evans has legitimate starting potential.

As we enter the second week of training camp, competitions for starting spots and positions on the depth chart are starting to heat up. One position, in particular, is cornerback.

The two starting jobs are currently a battle between incumbents Patrick Peterson and Cameron Dantzler with second-round pick Andrew Booth Jr trying to overtake one of them. All three players have reportedly had a good camp, which is a great sign for a Vikings defense that needs it.

One element to that competition is fourth-round rookie Akayleb Evans. The Vikings traded back into the fourth round by sending picks 156 and a 2023 fourth-round pick to get the Missouri product. Over the course of camp, Evans has played really well.

Plays like this are littered all over his college film.

He does a great job of staying in-phase with the route and displays ball skills at the catch point. If Evans can keep growing with his ball skills, he could enter the race for one of the starting cornerback spots.

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Jaguars OT position battle is worth watching

After a strong training camp, Walker Little could be pushing for a starting tackle spot.

Heading into the offseason, many expected that one of Jacksonville’s top priorities would be bringing in an offensive tackle, either in free agency or the draft. Left tackle Cam Robinson’s rookie contract had expired, and right tackle Jawaan Taylor has been a bit more of a project player than the team had hoped when it drafted him.

However, such a move never materialized, and Jacksonville instead decided to franchise tag Cam Robinson, making him the team’s biggest cap hit in 2021. It’s hard to put a player being paid nearly $14 million on the bench, but that’s exactly the situation the Jaguars could find themselves in with Robinson.

In the second round of the 2021 NFL draft, Jacksonville took Stanford offensive tackle Walker Little, a player who at one point was considered an elite prospect before missing nearly the entire 2019 season with an injury and opting out in 2020. Little wasn’t expected to be an impact player in Year 1, but after a very impressive training camp, that may be changing.

ESPN’s Mike DiRocco listed the offensive tackle position battle as the most interesting to watch on the team.

Second-round pick Walker Little has been very impressive in camp, so much so that right tackle Jawaan Taylor and left tackle Cam Robinson better be on notice. Coach Urban Meyer said both players needed to be better in 2021 than they were last season (per ESPN Stats & Information, Taylor gave up 18 sacks and Robinson nine). Even though the Jaguars picked up the fifth-year option on Robinson and will pay him $13.75 million in 2021, he’s not a lock to start if Little, who played left tackle at Stanford and has begun cross-training at right tackle this past week, continues to impress.

Little could push for a starting job at either tackle spot, though he has the most familiarity playing on the left side. That would also make more sense, considering Taylor likely projects to be a part of this team’s future longer than Robinson.

But considering the fact that the team is cross-training Little, it seems Meyer and his staff are at least keeping their options open on the right side. If Taylor doesn’t take a major step up in 2021, his job could be on the line, as well.

On Wednesday, Robinson was asked about his relationship with Little. Though he said the two have a solid relationship, it was stated with some clear edge. Perhaps the race for a starting tackle job is even more neck-and-neck than was first thought.

Only time will tell how the battle will shake out, but the preseason should be a good opportunity for Little to demonstrate what he’s shown in practice in a real-game atmosphere. Though it seems unlikely that the team will use a rookie to protect Lawrence’s blindside, it’s clear that the job is far from being won.

Three glaring questions surrounding Texas football ahead of fall camp

Texas begins their fall football camp on Friday. With new coordinators on each side of the ball, several questions remain.

As the Texas football program prepares to head into fall camp on Friday, there’s several intriguing storylines to take a look at.

It all starts with the two new coordinators on each side of the ball. Mike Yurcich has plenty of talented weapons at his disposal to have one of the most high-powered offenses in the country. But how will he use them?

Chris Ash has changed the defensive scheme entirely in hopes of creating a consistent pass rush. There’s no reason that Texas shouldn’t field the best defensive unit in the Big 12.

Several question marks surround this roster. Some may be answered throughout camp and practice reps, while others won’t be quite figured out until several games through the season. Longhorns Wire staff took a dive into three glaring questions that remain.

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Deland McCullough details Chiefs RB position battle in 2020 offseason

It sounds like the Kansas City Chiefs are leaving their options open at the running back position.

Kansas City Chiefs running backs coach Deland McCullough is leaving his options open when it comes to his position group.

The team drafted LSU RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire at No. 32 overall. It was a move that excited Coach McCullough, who stayed in touch with Edwards-Helaire throughout the pre-draft process. He didn’t have control over the Chiefs’ draft pick, but he kept faith that Edwards-Helaire would be the guy.

“I like his short-area quickness, I like his ability to make guys miss in short spaces,” McCullough told reporters on Thursday. “I like the fact that he makes the first guy miss either by just outright making him miss or running through him. Probably the No. 1 thing, his disposition, his demeanor, and his football mind. He’s very smart. It has been evident in what we’ve seen in the combine process and everything leading up to the draft. He has not disappointed at all during the process with all the virtual meetings and that.”

McCullough isn’t interested in naming starters or hammering down roles for Kansas City. He believes all of that will work itself out once the players are able to get on the field. Right now, he’s committed to making sure that his players have the tools to do everything the offense requires of them.

“Everybody in this offense, all of the halfbacks need to be able to do everything,” McCullough said. “They need to be able to everything and everything will sort itself out from there. Clyde [Edwards-Helaire], he’s not going to be pigeon-holed — this guy is a third-down back or this guy is this or this guy is that. He’s going to take on everything that the offense has and then we’re going to let the chips fall where they may. . . Again a room full of great competitors, a bunch of great players, guys who can do a bunch of things. And the beauty of this is, once we’re able to get back on the field, we’ll be able to sort out where guys fall. In the meantime, every man in that room is preparing to do everything.”

Whether the Chiefs settle on a workhorse running back or a committee approach remains to be seen. McCullough, however, is confident that he has a room full of talented and capable players. He knows that they’ll all compete and collectively elevate the level of play for the position group.

“You want to get all these guys out there and get going and see what we’ve got,” McCullough explained. “One thing we know is just looking at some guys’ pasts and some snapshots we got of guys, whether it be DeAndre Washington, obviously with Darrel [Williams] and Damien [Williams], and Darwin [Thompson] with us. And then you look at where we draft Clyde [Edwards-Helaire] and what his body of work was in college, you know that we’ve got some high-end players. I know with the guys that are returning — [those are] some guys that we feel comfortable with. But again, you always want to continue to enhance the room and create competition and just raise the level of the room. I think that’s what we have done.”

Things sound about as close to an open competition as Kansas City has seen at the running back position as they’ve been in recent years.

“How it all shakes out ultimately, we’re going to let that play out on the football field,” McCullough said. “That’s the beauty of our game. We get a chance to go out and see what is what. The whole room knows that and these guys are looking forward to it. They get along well, very competitive, however, very supportive also. And they know at the end of the day, what they do is going to speak to where their role is when the season gets started. I’m looking forward to that.”

What McCullough’s players accomplish during the virtual offseason will help them once they’re finally able to hit the field. Guys are getting antsy, but if they take care of their business now, it’ll help once they finally get a chance to practice and compete with their teammates.

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