Tag: UW Badgers

Two Wisconsin defensive playmakers make 2024 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list

Two Wisconsin defensive playmakers make 2024 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list

Wisconsin star defensive backs Hunter Wohler and Ricardo Hallman cracked the 2024 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list on Monday.

The honor annually recognizes the most outstanding defensive player in college football. 2024 marks the 30th installation of the honor.

This marks Wohler’s fourth preseason award watch list nomination. He’s also been named to the watch list for the 2024 Wuerffel Trophy (community service), 2024 Jim Thorpe Award (best defensive back) and Bronko Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player).

Despite Hallman’s stellar AP Third Team All-American output in 2023, this marks only his first award watch list recognition of the 2024 preseason.

A total of nineteen Big Ten athletes cracked the final list, which was compiled by the Maxwell Football Club, Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Phil Steele Publications as the award’s selection committee partners.

Purdue safety Dillon Thieneman, Penn State safety Kevin Winston Jr., Oregon cornerback Jabbar Muhammad and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs are among the two Badgers’ conference rivals to make the final list at their respective positions.

Notable former winners include Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr. (2022), Georgia’s Jordan Davis (2021), Ohio State’s Chase Young (2019) and Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick (2017).

Hallman and Wohler will serve as the two leaders of Wisconsin’s defensive backfield in 2024. Wohler recorded 120 tackles in 2023, and Hallman was one of two players in the country to record seven interceptions a season ago.

Both will look to build on their spectacular 2023 season outputs for the Badgers this fall with hopes of bolstering their stocks for the 2025 NFL draft.

LOOK: Wisconsin women’s basketball releases jersey numbers for 2024 season

LOOK: Wisconsin women’s basketball releases jersey numbers for 2024 season

Wisconsin women’s basketball released its jersey numbers for the 2024-25 season last week.

A total of seven newcomers will make their Wisconsin debuts this fall. That list includes former Northern Kentucky center Carter McCray, former Duquesne guard Tess Myers, true freshman Alie Bistable, true freshman Gracie Grzesk, walk-on Reese Jaramillo, Spanish signee Alba MartΓ­n Mesa and Serbian wing Jovana Spasovski.

Junior guard Ronnie Porter, sophomore D’Yanis Jimenez, sophomore Tessa Grady, junior Lily Krahn and sophomore Leena Patibandla will contribute as second or third-year playmakers while star forward Serah Williams, veteran guard Halle Douglass and fifth-year guard Natalie Leuzinger return as Wisconsin’s veteran presences.

 

Wisconsin enters this fall fresh off its 15-17 performance from a season ago, a campaign in which the crew clinched a postseason berth for the first time in 10 years.

This will also mark head coach Marisa Moseley’s fourth season running the show on Wisconsin’s sidelines this winter. Since she’s taken over, the Badgers have experienced an overhaul in culture and winning approach.

Wisconsin 2025 OT commit earns MaxPreps second-team All-America honors

Wisconsin 2025 OT commit earns MaxPreps second-team All-America honors

Wisconsin football three-star class of 2025 offensive tackle commit Nolan Davenport was included on MaxPreps’ All-America second-team on Monday.

Davenport earned the recognition alongside fellow 2025 Wisconsin commit Erik Schmidt, who was named MaxPreps’ first-team punter. Davenport, a product of Washington High School in Ohio, joins 2025 linemen Elyiss Williams (Georgia), Andrew Babalola (uncommitted), Solomon Thomas (Florida State) and Michael Fasusi (uncommitted) on the second-team offensive line.

A total of 56 high schoolers from across the country earned a berth to this squad. Despite only being 247Sports’ No. 690-ranked overall recruit in the class, Davenport is part of a prestigious group.

The 6-foot-6, 260-pound tackle committed to Wisconsin in early June over opportunities at Missouri and Penn State.

At the time, Davenport was Wisconsin’s No. 14 overall commitment in the class. The Badgers group has since grown to 23 commitments. It currently ranks No. 25 in the nation at this late stage in the cycle.

Four-star OT Logan Powell, four-star iOL Hardy Watts, three-star OT Michael Roeske and three-star OT Cam Clark round out the group of offensive linemen currently committed to Luke Fickell’s class.