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 inside linebacker from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:
Wisconsin lost two impact players in inside linebackers T.J. Edwards and Ryan Connelly as the two led Wisconsin in tackles with 113 and 89 respectively last season. In addition, Edwards 11.5 tackles for loss and Connelly’s 10 tackles for loss ranked first and second on the team not to mention Edwards had a team leading three interceptions.
Despite losing two high impact players the expectation was that the Badgers were going to simply reload with Chris Orr and Jack Sanborn officially taking over at inside linebacker.
Those expectations were correct.
As the previous season, the top two tacklers by the end of the year were Wisconsin’s middle linebackers as Sanborn finished with 80 tackles and Orr registered 78 tackles.
Orr outside of outside linebacker Zack Baun was one of the clear leaders of not only Wisconsin’s defense but also the team. Orr was able to find a way of consistently making impact plays for Wisconsin’s defense.
Orr who appeared in 50 career games started all 14 games for the Badgers this past season as he posted career highs in both tackles for loss (14) and sacks (11.5).
Orr’s ability to generate pressure up the middle complemented Baun well on the outside and made it difficult for opposing offenses to move the football down the field consistently against Wisconsin’s defense.
Sanborn who played as a true freshman made a nice jump from his freshman to sophomore season. Sanborn with Orr made it difficult to rush the football up the middle. Sanborn did a good job of diagnosing plays and then hitting the rushing lanes for him to execute at a high level.
Fellow inside linebackers Mike Maskalunas and true freshman Leo Chenal were able to make positive contributions on the inside too.
Maskalunas appeared in 14 games finishing the season with 16 tackles and registered 2 pass breakups and recovered one fumble. Chenal missed three games because of a head injury but still finished the season with 20 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, two quarterback hurries and recovered a fumble too.
2020 Wisconsin Inside Linebackers
Losing Orr will hurt as he was a great leader for Wisconsin as he had the respect of all of his teammates. But at the same time with Sanborn returning and the expectation that Chenal will slide in at the other inside linebacker position the Badgers once again should be set at the position like they have been the last few years. Maskalunas will return for his senior season as he’s a reliable player that the coaches can count on as he has a comfort in Wisconsin’s 3-4 defense. The Badgers will need to have a reliable fourth inside linebacker as that responsibility could fall to redshirt freshman Maema Njongmeta or Malik Reed, Jordan Turner, or Preston Zachman as the three will be true freshman. Turner and Zachman both enrolled early at Wisconsin, which will give themselves a good chance of seeing the field early if they can gain a comfort in Wisconsin’s defense.