Last year, the Wisconsin defense was nothing short of amazing for most of the season. They had star players in key positions like Chris Orr at linebacker, Zack Baun at edge rusher, as well as Eric Burrell and Reggie Pearson at safety.
Pro Football Focus tweeted the top five power five defenses last season in defensive touchdowns. Wisconsin ranked at fourth tied with the Oregon Ducks at four defensive touchdowns behind Missouri and Utah with five, and Illinois with six. Wisconsin had 21 total turnovers with 11 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries that led to a plus-three turnover margin overall for the Badgers.
Most defensive touchdowns in 2019:
🔸 Illinois – 6
🔸 Utah – 5
🔸 Missouri – 5
🔸 Wisconsin – 4
🔸 Oregon – 4 pic.twitter.com/ngNFITklvX— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 15, 2020
The Badgers defense has been consistently rated highly by analysts and other coaches, yet it is a very underrated aspect of this Wisconsin team. This team even had three big parts of their defense from last season return for this year in Reggie Pearson, Jack Sanborn, and Eric Burrell before the postponement of the season. It will be tough to not watch them play this fall, but it will be promising to see how some of our recent highly rated recruits perform in the coming years.