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 fullbacks from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:
The loss of fullback Alec Ingold following the conclusion of the 2018 season was a big loss for Wisconsin’s offense. Not every team at the college or even pro level utilizes the fullback like Wisconsin does.
But over Ingold’s four year career at Wisconsin he truly was an offensive weapon for the Badgers offense. Considering, Ingold in his career scored a total of 21 touchdowns (17 rushing, four receiving) on a total of 117 career touches. If you do the math that’s a touchdown every 5.6 touches.
With Ingold off to the NFL with the Oakland Raiders it left redshirt junior Mason Stokke and sophomore John Chenal to try and effectively fill the role that was left behind by Ingold.
Although Stokke and Chenal didn’t have the same kind of scoring impact as Ingold had in his career both did fill in well for Ingold.
Chenal started the season as the starter at fullback before Stokke took over as the starter as the season wore on. Overall Stokke started seven games and Chenal started three games.
One of the low points from the season at fullback came in Wisconsin’s loss to Illinois. Stokke was out with a head injury against Illinois one of two games he missed.
In the fourth quarter with Wisconsin up 20-14 at Illinois 2-yard line the Badgers called a fullback run up the middle with Chenal on second and goal but he could only pick up one yard. Wisconsin called Chenal’s number again on third and goal from the one but he was tackled for a loss of one yard. With Wisconsin not being able to punch it in for six the Badgers had to settle for a field goal to give them a 23-14 lead.
Chenal certainly didn’t cost Wisconsin the win that day as a lot of things went wrong for Wisconsin against Illinois. But in those types of scenarios Chenal needs to be able to find a way to pick up those tough yards and capitalize on his opportunities.
Chenal did have one rushing touchdown, which came against Michigan as he finished the season with 65 yards on 18 carries. Stokke carried the football three fewer times than Chenal as he finished the season with 51 yards and two touchdowns.
One area where Stokke did find success toward the end of the year was in the passing game. He finished the season with six receptions for 47 yards as he caught a pass in four of Wisconsin’s last five games. Stokke’s best game came against Minnesota when he registered 44 yards of total offense as he caught three passes for 30 yards and registered two rushes for 14 yards.
2020 Wisconsin Fullbacks
Wisconsin’s fullbacks in 2020 should look to expand on their roles from this past season and become more reliable in both the run and pass game. Stokke showed what he was capable of doing against Minnesota. Wisconsin will also have Quan Easterling who redshirted this past year from Akron, Ohio. Easterling did play in one game, which came against Illinois. Easterling, Chenal, and Stokke are all on scholarship at the fullback position and in order for the run game to have success next year, the trio will need to continue to excel in their primary responsibility, which is blocking and helping the Badgers rushing attack consistently pick up positive yards.