Tag: wisconsin depth chart

HC Paul Chryst gives an update on the status of WRs Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis

Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst talked this week about the injury status of wide receivers Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor ahead of Minnesota

When the Wisconsin Badgers took the field in Iowa City last weekend and faced the Hawkeyes they were without top offensive playmakers running back Jalen Berger and wide receivers Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis.

Berger was a late scratch from the game while both Pryor and Davis have been battling injuries all season. The result of their absences, obviously, was yet another lackluster offensive performance and the team’s third straight loss.

Related: Five things the Wisconsin Badgers must do to keep Paul Bunyan’s Axe

When the team’s game-week depth chart was released, the two wide receivers were listed but Berger was not, as his extended absence appears to be due to testing positive for COVID-19.

Just because Pryor and Davis were on the two-deep, though, doesn’t mean they’ll be healthy to suit up against Minnesota tomorrow.

Paul Chryst gave an update on the status of both wide receivers during his game-week press conference yesterday.

“They haven’t done a ton,” Chryst said. “So they’re not ruled out but haven’t done a ton.

Related: What Minnesota HC P.J. Fleck is saying about Wisconsin before the game

The two wideouts have played a total of five games this season and their absence has caused the offense to struggle mightily.

It has been a challenging year on many fronts, including a delayed start to the season, a COVID-19 outbreak within the program and injuries to key players.

A win against rival Minnesota will do a lot to change the narrative surrounding the year, though sings currently point towards the Badgers taking the field on Saturday without their two key upperclassmen wide receivers.

They aren’t ruled out just yet, but their chances of playing aren’t looking good at this point.

LOOK: Wisconsin’s Week 8 depth chart is missing a key offensive player

The 2-3 Wisconsin Badgers released their depth chart earlier today ahead of this weekend’s rivalry matchup against the Minnesota…

The 2-3 Wisconsin Badgers released their depth chart earlier today ahead of this weekend’s rivalry matchup against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Included in the two-deep are wide receivers Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis, though the two players have been listed on the early depth chart even during weeks where they ended up missing the contest.

Related: Film room: The good, the bad and the questionable from Graham Mertz’s performance against Iowa

The key omission from the list is true freshman running back Jalen Berger–a player who had won the starting role after impressive performances against Michigan, Northwestern and Indiana before missing last Saturday’s game against Iowa.

Berger was a late scratch from Saturday’s game, and reading into Graham Mertz’s postgame comments it appears he tested positive for COVID-19 sometime last week.

If that is the case, the running back will miss Saturday’s game against Minnesota and then be eligible to return for the team’s bowl game.

Stay tuned to BadgersWire throughout the week as we keep up with the status of Pryor and Davis and preview who we will see out on the field on Saturday.

Related: Fab Four: Selecting Wisconsin football’s Mount Rushmore of all-time recruits

LOOK: Wisconsin’s Week 8 depth chart is missing a key offensive player

The 2-3 Wisconsin Badgers released their depth chart earlier today ahead of this weekend’s rivalry matchup against the Minnesota…

The 2-3 Wisconsin Badgers released their depth chart earlier today ahead of this weekend’s rivalry matchup against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Included in the two-deep are wide receivers Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis, though the two players have been listed on the early depth chart even during weeks where they ended up missing the contest.

Related: Film room: The good, the bad and the questionable from Graham Mertz’s performance against Iowa

The key omission from the list is true freshman running back Jalen Berger–a player who had won the starting role after impressive performances against Michigan, Northwestern and Indiana before missing last Saturday’s game against Iowa.

Berger was a late scratch from Saturday’s game, and reading into Graham Mertz’s postgame comments it appears he tested positive for COVID-19 sometime last week.

If that is the case, the running back will miss Saturday’s game against Minnesota and then be eligible to return for the team’s bowl game.

Stay tuned to BadgersWire throughout the week as we keep up with the status of Pryor and Davis and preview who we will see out on the field on Saturday.

Related: Fab Four: Selecting Wisconsin football’s Mount Rushmore of all-time recruits

A few key players will be out for Wisconsin today against Indiana

One of the storylines during the No. 18 Wisconsin Badgers’ 17-7 loss at No. 16 Northwestern two weeks ago was the team’s top…

One of the storylines during the No. 18 Wisconsin Badgers’ 17-7 loss at No. 16 Northwestern two weeks ago was the team’s top two receivers being unavailable to play.

Those two players–Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis–are critical to the offense’s success, as we saw what happened to quarterback Graham Mertz when they were unable to suit up.

Today against Indiana, Head Coach Paul Chryst will get Pryor back into the lineup, though his offense will still be without Davis.

Related: Opinion: A Big Ten rule is close to taking away the remaining credibility of the 2020 season

Davis is one of six inactives for the Badgers today, other notable ones including RB Isaac Guerendo, CB Semar Melvin and WR/KR Stephan Bracey.

The game is set to kick off at 2:30 p.m. CST with the Badgers looking to stop Indiana and backup quarterback Jack Tuttle from ending the 10-game win streak the Badgers have against the Hoosiers.

 

Indiana Preview:

LOOK: Wisconsin releases their depth chart for Michigan

In about an hour the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers will take the field and face off against the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines…

In about an hour the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers will take the field and face off against the 1-2 Michigan Wolverines.

There were a lot of question marks surrounding the contest, mainly which players will be available after the program experienced a COVID-19 outbreak in the last few weeks.

Well, some of those questions are now answered as the program released its depth chart for the game.

Regular starters missing from the depth chart: cornerback Rachad Wildgoose, running back Garrett Groshek, defensive end Garrett Rand, outside linebacker Izayah Green-May and punter Andy Vujnovich.

The notable inclusion in the depth chart, obviously, is redshirt freshman quarterback Graham Mertz who returned to practice recently after testing positive for COVID-19 after the team’s Week 1 game.

Stay tuned to BadgersWire as we follow the Badgers’ Week 4 contest and give you the analysis, insight and news you need to stay up to date with the team.

 

Gameday work:

How Wisconsin’s defense will find success against Illinois

Wisconsin football and good defense: words that are seemingly inseparable. Tomorrow the new-look Badger defense will take the field and…

Wisconsin football and good defense: words that are seemingly inseparable.

Tomorrow the new-look Badger defense will take the field and look to build upon their impressive 2019 campaign, though obviously will do so without the services of Zack Baun and Chris Orr.

As I wrote in my five keys to victory, there are two major things the Badger defense must do tomorrow if they want to shut down the Illinois Fighting Illini and help the team come away with a victory.

Related: Players to watch in the Illinois vs. Wisconsin matchup tomorrow

The first: they must hold Illinois to under 3 yards-per-carry.

As Defensive Coordinator Jim Leonhard said this week, “for us it always starts with stopping the run. When we do a good job of stopping the run we can dictate a little bit more, we can be a little more aggressive.”

Any Badger fan when asked about what the defense needs to do well would cite the run game, but it’s more than just shutting down the opposing running back. If they can hold the Fighting Illini to under 3 yards-per-carry they will force the issue in the passing game and create turnovers, get their opponent to third-and-long scenarios and get off the field and, overall, allow the Badger offense to dictate the football game.

You don’t need me to tell you this, but the unit did not do that last season when they visited Illinois as they allowed 141 yards on the ground with a clip of 4 yards-per-carry.

This isn’t only about last year’s contest between the two, though, as holding opponents to less than 3 yards-per-carry last season actually had a significant effect on whether the Badgers won each game.

Their record last season when they held their opponent to less than 3 yards-per-carry? 8-1 with the only loss coming against Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Their record last season when didn’t? 2-3.

It sounds obvious at first, but shutting down the Fighting Illini in the running game will dictate whether the defense is effective.

Related: Breaking down the strangest stat from last year’s loss at Illinois

Now on to major focal point No. 2: taking Illinois wide receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe out of the game.

Last year Imatorbhebhe was the Fighting Illini’s leading receiver with 33 catches for 634 yards and 9 touchdowns, one of those catches being a 29-yard touchdown against the Badgers.

Leonhard returns his entire secondary from last season–a unit that projects to be one of the best the conference has to offer. So, for them to shut down the Illinois passing attack on Friday they must take Imatorbhebhe out of the game.

The wide receiver is a big, physical, point-of-catch, big-playmaking wide receiver with late-round NFL Draft potential. Oh, and he averaged an insane 19.2 yards-per-reception last year.

Leonhard’s secondary has the talent to shut him down but it will need to be done on the field if the defense is going to play a complete game and have success.

 

If the Badger defense comes out on Friday and consistently wins in the trenches against Illinois in addition to shutting down Imatorbhebhe they will have a successful outing. If not? It could become a close game and give Badger fans scary flashbacks to last year’s contest.

Why this weird year in college football actually helps the Badgers’ chances

You don’t need me to tell you that this is a weird and challenging year in college football. With limited or no fans at games, contract…

You don’t need me to tell you that this is a weird and challenging year in college football.

With limited or no fans at games, contract tracing protocols, constant COVID-19 testing, altered schedules and more, there is one word to accurately explain the situation: chaos.

During a normal year Camp Randall Stadium would be packed with 80,000 fans and the team would already be through the first quarter of their season.

Related: Three true freshmen who will make an early impact for Wisconsin football

So why, in a chaotic year, are the Badgers actually benefitting from all of this? Because in times of chaos the most buttoned-up and well-prepared people, teams, etc. are the ones that find the most success.

This is obviously about the product on the football field, but it’s also about crisis management and leadership.

You look around the college football landscape thus far and what do you see? Sloppy play, bad clock and game management, blown coverages on defense, bad turnovers and more.

Not that other programs aren’t coached well or have bad leadership, but if there’s one team in the country that brings consistency to the football field, is tremendously-coached, and is fit to deal with chaos more than anybody else it’s the Wisconsin Badgers.

Yes, they have a redshirt freshman in Graham Mertz at quarterback after starter Jack Coan injured his foot. But while teams around them struggle to execute and play under the current circumstances, the Badgers’ consistency and identity will end up playing a huge role in their success.

As Joel Klatt beautifully said last week on The Herd with Colin Cowherd:

“If you’re asking me about which team, fanbase, administration knows themselves better than anybody else in the country, it’s Wisconsin. They know who they are, how they have success, why they have success, and that’s why they do have success year, over year, over year.”

The team and program know exactly who they are, what they need to do to succeed and how to go out on the field and do it.

So while Auburn loses games because of turnovers, UNC gives up 31 points to a bad Florida State team and Oklahoma and Texas look like dumpster fires, it will be Wisconsin, their style of play, their coaching and their identity that deals with the current chaos better than anybody and has one of the more impressive seasons in their program’s history.

LOOK: Wisconsin football releases their week one depth chart

The Badgers depth chart is now out

With a Wisconsin football game just five days away, we now have a look at the week one depth chart. Filled with surprises, especially if you had thought about what it may look a few months ago, the Badgers boast a team filled with juniors and seniors but led by a redshirt-freshman under center. ImageEarly notes that stick out begin on offense with Jon Dietzen returning to football and returning to the starting unit on the line. Expect to see Garrett Groshek in on third down with Nakia Watson taking a majority of the handoffs at RB in week one.

Defensively, Houston transfer Collin Wilder gets the initial nod alongside Eric Burrell at safety. After an impressive preseason, freshman LB Nick Herbig is listed behind Izayah Green-May at OLB. Division III transfer Andy Vujnovich is now eligible and gets the nod at punter.