Tag: Ranking

Wisconsin starting RT one of PFF’s ’10 offensive tackles to know ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft’

Wisconsin has a highly-touted starting tackle entering 2024:

Wisconsin right tackle Riley Mahlman was named an ‘offensive tackle to know ahead of the 2025 NFL draft’ by ProFootballFocus on Monday.

Mahlman was one of 10 players included, along with LSU’s Will Campbell, Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr., Arizona’s Jonah Savaiinaea, LSU’s Emery Jones, Oregon’s Ajani Cornelius, Clemson’s Blake Miller, West Virginia’s Wyatt Milum, Oregon’s Josh Conerly Jr. and Georgia’s Ernest Greene III.

Related: Post-spring Big Ten football 2024 power rankings, starting quarterback rankings

The veteran is set to again be Wisconsin’s starting right tackle in 2024. He started all 13 games at the position in 2023 and six in 2022 — though that number would have also been 13 had it not been for an early-season injury.

Mahlman’s 78.1 PFF last season was the highest for any Wisconsin lineman and the 5th-highest in the Big Ten. He enters 2024 primed for his best collegiate season and as one of the conference’s best tackles.

While the play of Wisconsin’s offensive line has been up and down since 2019, Mahlman has been arguably its best performer over that time. His play, at the least, has not been a part of what is now a multi-year struggle for the position.

Another offseason to prepare for Phil Longo’s offense should pay dividends for Mahlman and the rest of the line. Early struggles adjusting to the new pace and approach are understandable, though year two should be when we see those issues ironed out.

As we inch closer to the season and to 2025 NFL draft discussion, here is what PFF thinks of the Wisconsin starter:

After missing nearly half of his redshirt freshman season with an injury, Mahlman took a major leap as a redshirt sophomore. In 2023, the right tackle was the sixth-most valuable offensive tackle in the country according to our wins above average metric. Mahlman’s 78.1 PFF grade was a top-15 mark among Power Five tackles as was his 73.1 run-blocking grade. He was also among the 20 best Power Five offensive tackles in pressure rate allowed (3%).

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Wisconsin football could see a seven-year streak end in 2024

Wisconsin football could see a seven-year streak end in 2024

Wisconsin football is on the outside of nearly every post-spring way-too-early top 25 ranking ahead of the 2024 season. The program is coming off consecutive 7-6 campaigns and is beginning to lose the reputation for consistent winning its held for more than two decades.

There was a good reason behind that reputation. Wisconsin has not had a losing season since going 5-7 in 2001 and is on a 23-year bowl streak. But one of Wisconsin’s recent streaks is in jeopardy entering 2024: The program has been ranked in every preseason AP Poll since 2017.

Related: Post-spring Big Ten football 2024 power rankings, starting quarterback rankings

It was No. 9 entering 2017, No. 4 entering 2018, No. 19 in 2019, No. 12 in 2020 and 2021, No. 18 in 2022 and No. 19 in 2023.

Wisconsin’s streak ranks among the longest in the nation, behind only Ohio State, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama and Clemson. Wisconsin lacks the College Football Playoff success of those powerhouses, but it has maintained a similar level of consistency.

Given the 2024 team’s lack of inclusion in way-too-early top 25 rankings, it looks like that consistency will take a step backward for the time being.

Luke Fickell and his staff are working to return the program to where it was under Paul Chryst from 2016-2019. That stretch included three double-digit-win seasons and three Big Ten Championship appearances. Its outlook in the new-look Big Ten Conference is a big question mark, but a return to a double-digit-win baseline would make the hire a resounding success.

2022 and 2023 produced enough regression for the streak of preseason AP Top 25 rankings to end. Badgers fans hope a resurgent 2024 season is the start of a new decade-long streak.

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

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ESPN’s Way-Too-Early NCAAM top 25 ranks Alabama No. 6 in the country

Alabama ranked No. 6 in ESPN College Basketball Expert’s way-too-early top 25

While the NBA draft process may still be ongoing, the transfer portal window is closed and we can start to assess what teams are going to look like next year. For [autotag]Nate Oats[/autotag] and the Alabama Crimson Tide, it was a wildly successful spring as they landed four key transfers in Aden Holloway from Auburn, Clifford Omoruyi from Rutgers, Chris Youngblood from USF and Houston Mallette from Pepperdine. Oats also earned a commitment from the No. 32 ranked player in the 2024 class in former Kansas commit Labaron Philon.

Grant Nelson announced his decision to return to the Crimson Tide next year, but we are still nervously waiting on a decision from Mark Sears. It sounds more likely than not that Sears, Alabama’s best player from a season ago, will be back in Tuscaloosa, but nothing is official yet. Freshman Jarin Stevenson also entered his name in the draft process, but we haven’t heard much about his status yet.

With one of the best coaches in the sport and a top two or three roster, the expectations will be high for Alabama coming off the programs first ever Final Four. In ESPN college basketball expert Jeff Borzello’s Way-Too-Early top 25, the Crimson Tide are ranked No. 6 in the country.

Borzello says of Alabama, “Nate Oats spent the first part of the offseason overhauling the perimeter group. Aaron Estrada, Rylan Griffen — and perhaps Mark Sears — are out the door, while Aden Holloway (Auburn), Chris Youngblood (South Florida) and Houston Mallette (Pepperdine) have arrived. The past couple of weeks, however, he’s been focused on the frontcourt, first getting starting forward Grant Nelson back and then beating out North Carolina for Rutgers transfer Clifford Omoruyi.”

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama basketball throughout the 2024 offseason.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell one of On3’s best coaches in college football

Where should Luke Fickell land on the list?

Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is On3 columnist Jesse Simonton’s No. 18 coach in college football, according to a recently released list.

Fickell is the No. 5 Big Ten coach listed, trailing only Ohio State’s Ryan Day at No. 4 overall, USC’s Lincoln Riley at No. 9, Oregon’s Dan Lanning at No. 11 and Penn State’s James Franklin at No. 13.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker

The current Badgers head coach enters 2024 off a disappointing first year in Madison. The program finished 7-6, and did so against a favorable schedule in the final year of the Big Ten West.

Fickell took a big swing with the hire of air raid offensive coordinator Phil Longo when he first arrived on campus. 2024 should teach us a lot about the future of the program under Fickell and whether the Longo experiment will work.

The schedule is much tougher, but the Badgers coaching staff got another year to re-shape the roster to the specific offensive and defensive systems. Fickell’s current No. 18 ranking is due in large part to his impressive work at Cincinnati. The first-year honeymoon period will likely end this fall, and the rating should start to change based on the team’s results.

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

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Kalen DeBoer is just behind Kirby Smart in latest SEC head coach rankings

Kalen DeBoer sits behind only Kirby Smart in the latest SEC head coach rankings, but that may not last long.

The Alabama Crimson Tide begin the 2024 college football season against Western Kentucky, and it will be the first time in over 17 seasons that the Tide will take the field without the legendary [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] on the sideline. Saban’s retirement still doesn’t feel real, but seeing new head coach Kalen DeBoer on the sideline could be a breath of fresh air too.

Losing Saban was always going to be incredibly difficult, but athletic director Greg Byrne reacted quickly and landed a phenomenal head coach in DeBoer.

In two seasons with the Washington Huskies, DeBoer was 25-3 with a PAC-12 title and national championship appearance. Between NAIA and D1 football, DeBoer has posted an outstanding career record of 104-12. It was just a matter of time before other programs started calling on DeBoer, so while Saban’s retirement wasn’t a great thing, the timing definitely could have been worse. DeBoer has also shown he can beat the best coaches in the country as he is a combined 5-0 against Dan Lanning and Steve Sarkisian.

Heading into the 2024 season, ESPN ranks DeBoer as the second-best coach in America behind only Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs.

Even in Saban’s later years at the helm of the Alabama program, Smart had begun to catch up. Now, Smart is the undisputed top head coach in the conference, but it may not take long for DeBoer to overtake him. Though, there’s also the risk that some slip-ups lead to DeBoer falling in the rankings.

With a new-look coaching staff and a roster that lost plenty of last season’s playmakers, there’s much unknown about the 2024 Alabama team. While some may see this as a negative, there’s a good chance this can be utilized to the Tide’s advantage. A certain level of unpredictability can boost the team against the strong opponents on the upcoming schedule.

Fans won’t have to wait long to see DeBoer and Smart go head-to-head, as Georgia visits Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama in a regular-season matchup on  Sep. 28, 2024.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow DeBoer and the Alabama football program as the 2024 offseason progresses.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Week 10 USA TODAY Sports ranks Alabama baseball No. 14 in the country

USA TODAY Coaches Poll ranks Alabama baseball No.14 in the nation

In his first year with the Alabama Crimson Tide, head baseball coach Rob Vaughn is certainly making a strong impression on the Tuscaloosa faithful as he has guided the Tide to a 24-13 record so far this season. Alabama is one of the best teams in the country, but the record can be a bit deceiving. The SEC is just simply a gauntlet as the Tide are 6-9 in conference on the year, however, they are very good at home with an 18-5 record at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

On Tuesday, USA TODAY Sports released their Week 10 coaches poll for men’s college baseball and they have the Crimson Tide ranked at No. 14 in the country. The ranking comes on the heels of a crucial 2-1 series victory against the No. 1 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. The Tide have various rankings depending on the website you look at with D1 ranking Alabama down at No. 18 in the country. Unfortunately, later in the day, Alabama dropped a game in Tuscaloosa against in-state rival the UAB Blazers.

The Tide will need to respond quick though as they take on the No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies in Tuscaloosa this weekend in a three-game series starting on Thursday.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Wisconsin basketball makes Andy Katz’s way-too-early Power 36

Where should the Badgers be ranked entering 2024-25?

Wisconsin basketball is included in Andy Katz’s way-too-early Power 36 for the 2024-25 season.

The Badgers are in at No. 21 overall, ranked as the No. 3 team in the Big Ten behind Purdue (No. 13 overall) and Illinois (No. 15 overall).

Related: Tracking Wisconsin basketball’s reported transfer portal visits and targets

Greg Gard’s team is off a disappointing 22-14 2023-24 campaign that included a rise to No. 6 in the AP Poll, a steep six-week drought entering postseason play, a run to the final of the Big Ten Tournament and another first-round NCAA Tournament exit.

The Badgers return starters Chucky Hepburn, Max Klesmit and Steven Crowl, plus promising youngster John Blackwell. The program is also set to welcome in top 2024 point guard Daniel Freitag in addition to whatever it does in the transfer portal. The roster should be well-equipped entering the season after losing A.J. Storr and Tyler Wahl from the 2023-24 team.

Expectations will be high for the Badgers entering 2024-25. I’d expect a ranking between 20 and 25 entering the season in most polls.

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

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Wisconsin basketball drops out of final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Was Wisconsin’s 2023-24 season a success?

Wisconsin basketball found itself on the outside of the final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll of the 2023-24 season.

The Badgers entered March Madness ranked No. 24 and with a ton of momentum after a run to the finals of the Big Ten Tournament. What followed was an unfortunate first-round NCAA Tournament loss to No. 12-seed James Madison and a subsequent drop from the top 25.

Related: Tracking Wisconsin basketball’s reported transfer portal visits and targets

The loss draped a dark cloud over what looked to be a promising season. On one hand, the Badgers clearly improved after 2022-23 and had once of the best offenses in program history. On the other hand, the team lost early in the tournament — and that’s most of what matters to many.

The Badgers finish 2023-24 in the ‘receiving votes’ category of the poll — tied with James Madison at 30 points.

Only two Big Ten teams finished the season in this top 25: Purdue at No. 2 and Illinois at No. 7. It was another promising regular season of Big Ten basketball, but yet another campaign with little postseason success.

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Wisconsin football adds specialist Sean West to its class of 2024

Wisconsin football adds specialist Sean West to its class of 2024

Wisconsin added a preferred walk-on commitment from class of 2024 kicker/punter Sean West Wednesday afternoon.

West went 15/19 on field goal attempts and 23/26 on extra points for Homestead High School in 2023. The specialist also averaged 42.9 yards per punt.

Related: Wisconsin football’s starting offense and defense begin to take shape at spring practice

The Badger walk-on earned the Kevin Stemke Award after his 2023 high school season —  the award given to Wisconsin’s best high school senior specialist.

West will join a specialist room in Madison currently led by returning kicker Nathanial Vakos and punter Atticus Bertrams. He will join the Wisconsin football program alongside a class of 2024 that finished ranked No. 25 in the nation with a blue-chip ratio of 50%.

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

Former Wisconsin Badger is 247Sports’ best player in the transfer portal

Former Wisconsin Badger is 247Sports’ best player in the transfer portal

Former Wisconsin guard A.J. Storr is 247Sports’ top available player in the transfer portal.

The website updated its rankings after Storr entered the portal on Thursday. Storr leads a list that includes Stanford big man Maxime Raynaud, Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi, USC small forward Kobe Johnson and Stanford guard Kanaan Carlyle.

Related: An early look at the Wisconsin basketball roster entering 2024-25

Storr entered the portal after one stellar season with the Badgers. He averaged 28.8 minutes, 16.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.6 steals for Greg Gard’s team in 2023-24 and was a driving force behind much of its offensive success.

The former Wisconsin and St. John’s guard also entered his name into the NBA draft, so even returning for another collegiate season is a question.

Gard and his staff are sure to be active in the transfer portal this offseason. Both Storr and Tyler Wahl’s production must be accounted for entering a pivotal 2024-25.

For more on Wisconsin’s roster and transfer portal activity, check out Badgers Wire’s ongoing 2024 transfer portal tracker.

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

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