One of the stories of the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season was the young names that emerged on the offensive side of the football.
The team’s initial depth chart was supposed to have senior Jack Coan at QB, seniors Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor at WR and senior Garrett Groshek leading the way at RB.
What did the depth chart soon become? Freshman Graham Mertz at QB, freshman Chimere Dike as one of the team’s top receivers and freshman Jalen Berger leading the way at RB.
Related: Wisconsin’s projected 2021 depth chart on offense, defense
While it wasn’t pretty at times, what the experience from the season will do is set up the team’s offensive core to succeed for years.
Then you look at the whole roster and see Jack Sanborn and Jake Ferguson, arguably the team’s two best players, returning along with the three underclassmen I listed above, Leo Chenal, Caesar Williams, Scott Nelson and Nick Herbig. The list goes on and on.
Related: Notable departures from Wisconsin football heading into 2021
So while the 2020 season was defined by the team’s inexperience at key positions, the 2021 campaign is lining up to be the complete opposite story. One of the most important factors for success at the college level is production, and the 2021 Badgers will have it.
Related: Top 10 returning Wisconsin football players for 2021
Now backing up to look at the Big Ten as a whole, ESPN ranked FBS football programs based purely on how much production they’ll return in 2021. I went through the list and ranked every Big Ten team, but first here are the Badgers’ three out-of-conference opponents.
- Eastern Michigan: No. 61 overall (71% returning production), No. 45 offense (78%), No. 85 defense (64%)
- Notre Dame: No. 123 overall (49% returning production), No. 123 offense (44%), No. 108 defense (53%)
- Army: No. 42 overall (77% returning production), No. 42 offense (79%), No. 46 defense (76%)
Now, the Wisconsin Badgers and the rest of the Big Ten:
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