Wisconsin finished its fifth season under head coach Paul Chryst as Chryst improved his overall record to 52-16 and has a posted a 34-10 record in conference games. After not winning the Big Ten West Division title in 2018 the Badgers were back in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship game as the West representative for the fourth time in the last six years since the Big Ten went to its current format.
In this Badgers Wire feature we will examine the play of Wisconsin’s specialists from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:
Wisconsin excelled in certain areas on special teams in 2019 and then there were other areas where the Badgers were inconsistent.
Let’s begin with the highlight of the special teams in 2019, which was the kickoff return team. The Badgers certainly excelled in this area as Aron Cruickshank was able to return two kicks with one coming against Nebraska and another in the Rose Bowl against Oregon.
Cruickshank certainly proved to be a weapon for the Badgers on special teams as he averaged 29.3 yards per return on 23 attempts. As Cruickshank earned Second Team All-Big Ten on special teams this past year.
Although Cruickshank excelled in this area he wouldn’t have been able to have the success he had if it wasn’t for his blockers helping open up return lanes for him to utilize his speed to help set up Wisconsin with good field position.
When it came to punt returns from a game-to-game basis it was hit or miss. For a second consecutive year Jack Dunn handled the primary responsibilites as the punt returner.
Dunn was able to statistically improve as a punt returner as he improved his average from 5.5 yards to 8.3 and he went for 94 punt return yards to 200.
In terms of punting the football, Wisconsin struggled as Anthony Lotti handled the punting duties. Although he was inconsistent his last two games as a Badger weren’t strong as in the Big Ten Championship game and the Rose Bowl game he struggled to handle a snap resulting in a fumble as Ohio State and Oregon were able to take advantage of the miscue by Lotti.
Overall Lotti finished the season averaging 39.7 yards per punt on 45 attempts.
While the punting game struggled with consistency kickoff specialist Zach Hintze was a model of consistency. Hintze routinely kicked the football in the end zone as 69 of his 89 kickoffs resulted in touchbacks.
Hintze’s strong leg came useful when the Badgers played Purdue as he made a program record 62-yard field goal before halftime. Hintze went 2-for-3 on his field goal attempts.
Collin Larsh was the regular kicker when it came to field goals and PAT’s as he finished the season 12-for-18 on his field goal attempts and made all of his PAT’s except one.
Larsh started the season 3-for-6 on his field goal attempts over the Badgers first six games but ended the year going 9-for-12.
2020 Wisconsin Specialists
Wisconsin will need to find a new kickoff returner as Cruickshank following the season announced he was transferring the Badgers also lose Lotti, Connor Allen who held for PAT’s and field goals, and Hintze. Spring will be important for all the specialists to continue to work and try to make Wisconsin’s kicking and punting game more consistent. Who replaces Lotti at punter and Hintze on kickoffs won’t be determined until fall camp. The Badgers will also likely try a combination at kickoff returner as the two that may get long looks at filling the role could be Isaac Guerendo or Kendric Pryor.