MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst says part of the spring football practice plan each year involves a willingness to sacrifice some of the details that come with constantly using the same players on the field in favor of more players garnering more reps. So by the time the Badgers completed their 15th and final spring practice Friday evening in the McClain Center, Chryst had to feel pretty good about the learning opportunities the bulk of the roster earned.
The coaching staff had a chance to evaluate every healthy player over the past five weeks during hundreds of 11-on-11 team snaps, as well as individual drills. Reporters also got a first-hand look at the team’s progress because each of the last 12 practices was open in its entirety to the media.
Here’s an in-depth look at my key takeaways from an eventful and productive spring that provided plenty of insight into which players emerged and where things stand for Wisconsin’s program as it enters the summer.
1. Wisconsin’s offense will go as far as Graham Mertz can take it next season. Mertz showed this spring that his ceiling remains high but that he still has room for growth when it comes to consistently delivering good balls that give teammates a chance — something Chryst said would be a point of emphasis before practices began.
There were bound to be hiccups with the entire offense learning a new scheme under first-year offensive coordinator Bobby Engram, so some mistakes are understandable. It’s also important to note that Mertz is working with a young and largely inexperienced group of receivers other than junior Chimere Dike, which affects the quarterback’s progress because timing and rhythm with those players are so important. Still, Mertz was up and down, and practice on Tuesday provided a microcosm of his spring.
He opened 11-on-11 drills by throwing incomplete behind wide receiver Keontez Lewis on a crossing route. On the next play, Mertz’s throw into the left flat fell incomplete with tailback Braelon Allen several yards away. Later in an 11-on-11 session, Mertz tried to throw off play-action into traffic over the middle for Dike but didn’t see safety John Torchio standing in front of the play. Mertz’s pass hit Torchio right in the numbers for an interception. Then, on Thursday, he underthrew a pass intended for receiver Haakon Anderson that cornerback Justin Clark intercepted.
What should give fans reason for optimism is that Mertz has shown he’s capable of giving Wisconsin big plays in the passing game. He responded from his early pick Tuesday by throwing back-to-back bombs to Dike. Mertz completed a 40-yard pass to Dike down the left hash inside the 5-yard line with Dike working in the slot against Clark. He then delivered his best throw of the day by finding Dike again out of the slot down the left side for a perfectly-placed 50-yard touchdown. Mertz later hit receiver Skyler Bell over the middle for about a 35-yard gain. During the final practice Friday night, Dike broke free down the field after the entire defense bit on a fake and caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from Mertz.
Mertz has great arm strength and can make some tough throws, including 10-to-15-yard out routes across the field. The key for him will be limiting turnovers, as well as putting the majority of his passes in a catchable area for receivers. Overall, he made critical strides in the spring and remains comfortably the top quarterback as he is set to start for a third consecutive season.
2. Wisconsin’s offense isn’t going to stray from some of the staples that have allowed the Badgers to be successful over the last three decades — namely a stout offensive line with an emphasis on the run game. But I come away from the spring believing that coaches are trying to reinvigorate the passing game and have taken some key measures in search of that advancement under Engram.
Multiple players told me the same thing. Tight end Jack Eschenbach, who was out this spring recovering from shoulder surgery, said “the vibe of the offense is a lot better right now.” There were numerous instances during the spring in which Wisconsin used four or five players as legitimate pass-catching threats on a given play. There could be three wide receivers with a tight end and a running back involved, as well as a variety of other combinations.
“In my mind, I feel like as an offense, we’re doing more to utilize the talent we have, like having certain guys do certain things,” said wide receiver Stephan Bracey, who missed most of the spring with a hamstring injury. “Like someone like me getting some short passes, letting me work after the catch. And having bigger guys doing more deep routes. I feel like that’s something that we haven’t really tapped into like we should have.”
Wisconsin certainly appears to have the weapons around Mertz to succeed, beginning with running back Braelon Allen, a freshman All-American last season. The difference could be in the depth and talent the Badgers appear to be developing at wide receiver. Dike showed this spring why he is the definitive No. 1 receiver and was a favorite target of Wisconsin’s quarterbacks. His route running and ability to use his body to fend off defenders are exceptional. Dike was on the end of two huge passing plays from Mertz at practice Tuesday. He caught three passes over the middle from Mertz on Thursday, hauled in a nice catch from backup quarterback Chase Wolf in the back of the end zone during red zone skeleton work and snatched another touchdown bomb from Mertz on Friday.
Dike’s ascension is no surprise given that receivers coach Alvis Whitted said he was ready for the role even last season when Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor were still in the program. The receiver who impressed me the most this spring was Skyler Bell, who has emerged as a top-line piece to the passing puzzle. Bell is fast and physical and can catch passes all over the field — in the flat, on crossing routes and on deep balls. He also could be a threat in the run game as a speedster around the edge, which has been a part of Wisconsin’s offensive arsenal to varying degrees in recent years.
Bell, Dike and UCLA transfer Keontez Lewis earned the bulk of the first-team offense work and could be utilized in three-receiver sets next season. Lewis is 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds and a legitimate deep-play threat. But Markus Allen and Dean Engram showed explosiveness as well. Allen came on strong late in the spring and caught a pair of touchdowns from Wolf on Friday, including a 45-yarder. Engram, who moved this offseason to receiver after playing corner for the past three seasons, was one of the more pleasant surprises of the spring. He can help Wisconsin, potentially as a slot receiver. If Bracey is healthy, that gives the Badgers another option.
“Honestly, I think we’re going to be really explosive, really good,” Bracey said. “I think we’re going to wake up a lot of people.”
3. One of my big questions is: What happens to the offensive line when starting center Joe Tippmann returns? Former Badgers offensive line coach Joe Rudolph said in December that, by the time last season finished, Tippmann “was as good as anyone in the (Big Ten).” When he is healthy, he is the clear-cut starter at center. That means Tanor Bortolini, who worked at center with the first-team offense this spring while Tippmann was sidelined, needs to find a new position.
Bortolini has shown during his career and in spring practice that he is worthy of being a starter. Bortolini played 329 snaps last season across left guard, right guard and right tackle. According to Pro Football Focus, he finished with the best run-blocking grade on the team (89.5) and the second-best overall offensive grade (87.0). O-line coach Bob Bostad said he envisions Bortolini on the interior, and coaches like his potential as a guard. It’s hard to see Tyler Beach, who returned for a sixth season and is now at left guard, losing his spot. That could mean Bortolini ultimately beats out Michael Furtney for the right guard spot. Furtney has played in 31 career games with two starts and took all the first-team right guard reps in the spring. Bortolini did earn some work at left guard with the reserves this spring.
Another spot of interest overall on the line could be at right tackle as Logan Brown continues to try to master the role after moving from left tackle, where he played his entire high school and college career. Brown struggled with some of Wisconsin’s edge rushers and surrendered his share of pressures during practices. He appears capable of locking down the starting job but needs to be more consistent.
“He got a lot of reps, and there’s times they were good reps,” Chryst said. “And then there’s times where, ‘OK, you’ve got to be better than that.’ Logan is a perfect example: What do you take from spring and how can you work on it in the summer and then when fall comes, all right, where are we at with it? I’m excited. It means something to him. He works at it. So this is a starting point. But they’re all steps you’ve got to take.”
Redshirt freshman Nolan Rucci worked as Brown’s backup and showed his potential. Riley Mahlman is another offensive lineman who impressed in the spring. Mahlman can play left tackle or right tackle and was used in some situations as a jumbo tight end. He could potentially push for more snaps next season.
4. Vito Calvaruso transferred from Arkansas to Wisconsin because he wanted a shot at the starting kicker job in addition to handling kickoffs. Calvaruso missed multiple weeks of spring practice with a right leg injury but returned for the final three practices this past week. What he showed was quite possibly the strongest leg I can remember seeing as I enter my 12th season on the Wisconsin football beat. The ball simply rockets off Calvaruso’s leg in a different way and clears the goalposts with room to spare. His field goal tries boomed and rattled off the siding of the McClain Center.
Calvaruso just needs to show he can regularly make some of the shorter kicks. During one field goal segment early in practice Friday, he badly missed wide left on a field goal try of 37 yards, only to come back on the next snap and bury a 54-yard field goal from between the hashes that would have been good from an even longer distance. For Calvaruso to be trusted, he’ll need to be consistent and seemed to find his groove later during team drills Friday when he connected on field goal tries of 42, 40, 37 and 38 yards.
Calvaruso told me after he transferred that, while at Arkansas, he made a 64-yard field goal in front of the whole team and also connected on a 73-yard field goal during practice. He was stuck at Arkansas behind Cam Little, who became the first Razorbacks kicker to make 20 field goals in a season since 1989 and was named to the all-SEC freshman team last season.
If Calvaruso can remain healthy, he has an excellent opportunity to prove why Wisconsin put him on scholarship, a rarity among Badgers specialists. Kicker Nate Van Zelst also had a good spring and handled all the field goal tries when Calvaruso was out. During one week, he made all 12 of his field goal tries early in practices, though he did not attempt one that was longer than 45 yards. Van Zelst made field goal tries of 39 and 43 yards during team drills Friday and missed one from 43 yards wide right. Van Zelst doesn’t have the range that Calvaruso does but is eager to challenge him in the fall.
“At the end of the day, three points is three points,” Van Zelst said. “It doesn’t matter sometimes how big your leg is. If it goes in, it goes in. Obviously, it’s nice to have that extra strength, but how many times are you going to get a 57-yard field goal? So just trying to stay consistent within my range and not try to do too much.”
5. Braelon Allen looked this spring like the Allen fans remember from last season, when he went from a fifth-string tailback to a starter and bulldozed his way through opponents in the second half of the season. Allen has added to his game, particularly as a pass-catcher, and it’s easy to forget this was the first spring of his college football career. Allen dealt with leg injuries the more his workload increased last season, and even Chryst acknowledged after practice Thursday that “it wore on” Allen when starter Chez Mellusi suffered a torn ACL in his left knee. The success of Wisconsin’s rushing attack next season will be predicated on who can help Allen.
Mellusi, Isaac Guerendo and Brady Schipper all missed the spring while recovering from injuries. That left the bulk of the carries for Allen, Julius Davis and walk-on Grover Bortolotti. Chryst said that Davis “did a nice job with trying to maximize his opportunities.” Davis showed good burst and power one spring after he missed time with a slightly torn meniscus in his left knee. Davis had several long runs and, during one practice, hurdled walk-on cornerback Amaun Williams 20 yards down the field. Davis missed the last practice with his left wrist area wrapped but has the talent to help Wisconsin in the backfield. Given the injuries to three of the team’s top tailbacks, Chryst was asked whether he might consider pursuing the transfer portal at the position this offseason.
“Honestly, I’m excited about that group,” Chryst said. “I’ve appreciated the way that Isaac and Chez and Schip have attacked this. They didn’t get to go through spring, but I really don’t think at all that they cheated themselves in the preparation. Fortunately, Schip’s played a lot of football. I felt last spring was really important for Schip. It gave him a position.
“I think certainly Chez played a lot. And I think you never want to see him go through or anyone go through what he did. But I think he’s done a great job of channeling his energy and his competitiveness with what he’s done in the weight room. And now the more he can run, I think he’ll come out of it in some ways better. And then Isaac, I’ve always been really excited about Isaac. Part of it is I get the energy from them. They’re excited about what they’ve done and where they’re at. … I do feel good about that group.”
6. Coaches were extremely selective in the transfers they brought in at cornerback, and it’s safe to say after spring practice that the Badgers hit a home run at the position. UCLA transfer Jay Shaw, Kentucky transfer Cedrick Dort Jr. and Toledo transfer Justin Clark all should help the Badgers’ secondary next season. Shaw missed some time with an abdominal injury but established himself as a likely starter next season. Dort progressively earned more work with the first-team unit and lined up during practice Thursday opposite cornerback Ricardo Hallman, who had a big spring as well.
Clark, who will be a seventh-year senior next season, was one of the most impressive and consistently impactful defensive players that I saw during the spring. Clark was regularly matched up against receiver Chimere Dike in the slot, and both players won 1-on-1 battles at different times. During one practice two weeks ago, Dike beat Clark for a touchdown in the red zone on a fade route, and the offense went back to the play one series later. Clark was ready and ripped a 50-50 ball away from Dike. During practice Thursday, Clark read an underthrown ball by Mertz and intercepted another pass.
Clark has emerged as Wisconsin’s top nickel cornerback, which is an especially important role because the Badgers played in the nickel on 56.6 percent of their defensive snaps last season, per PFF. Clark played for four seasons under current Badgers cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat while the two were together at Toledo, understands the coaching points and has the skill to play on the outside. Last season, 371 of his 425 defensive snaps at Toledo were as a wide corner. He figures to work plenty in the slot with Shaw and Alexander Smith, who are Wisconsin’s top outside corners. Overall, the cornerbacks might be the best defensive position group on the team, ahead of the outside linebackers because of the game experience in the room.
The biggest question in the secondary involves the lack of depth at safety. With Travian Blaylock suffering a right leg injury this spring, John Torchio and Hunter Wohler were the only players with any game experience in the group. Wisconsin is so thin at the position that the Badgers may need to look at the transfer portal this offseason.
7. Backup quarterback Chase Wolf hasn’t received a ton of attention with Mertz holding down the starting role. But Wolf quietly put together a good spring while running the second-team offense and showed his playmaking ability. Two Saturdays ago, Wolf put a great play-action pass on receiver Dean Engram down the right hash for a 55-yard touchdown that beat cornerback Al Ashford III in coverage. On Tuesday, Wolf dropped in another perfectly-placed play-action pass, this time to receiver Keontez Lewis for about a 50-yard touchdown. He caught fire Friday, completing three straight passes that culminated in a 49-yard touchdown to receiver Skyler Bell. Wolf later threw a 45-yard touchdown to Markus Allen down the left side and found Allen again for a red zone score in the back left corner of the endzone.
Wolf’s biggest challenge, as it has been during the limited in-game snaps he has earned in his career, is scaling back on mistakes. He has thrown four interceptions on 24 passing attempts over the past two seasons. During practice Tuesday, defensive end Cade McDonald batted a Wolf pass at the line of scrimmage into the air that cornerback Cedrick Dort Jr. intercepted. Wolf was nearly intercepted Thursday by cornerback Amaun Williams when he chucked the ball downfield past all of his receivers. On Friday, he threw into traffic for tight end Cole Dakovich and was intercepted by safety Owen Arnett. He also was intercepted by cornerback Avyonne Jones on a deep throw.
“I think that sometimes when you haven’t played, when you get out there you want to show what you can do and you want to be aggressive,” Bobby Engram said of Wolf’s career turnovers. “It’s just like stay within the scheme of the offense and stay within the scheme of the play. But those conversations have been had. Those guys understand how we want them to play the position, and we’re working hard to do that.”
Wolf has a tremendous knack for escaping pressure and making plays with his legs. He also can complete throws that other quarterbacks on the roster can’t because of his ability to drop down into different arm angles while facing pressure. Wolf was not made available to reporters this spring because his class schedule conflicted with interview days. But teammates said he has handled himself well in his backup role.
“He doesn’t really show very much frustration, at least to me when we talk football,” said safety John Torchio, one of Wolf’s good friends on the team. “He’s a guy who just loves the program, loves Wisconsin, loves the guys. He’s going to challenge Graham. Obviously, I don’t know the position and stuff like that. But Chase knows the playbook really well. He makes plays. So I think just his approach and everything about it is something I look up to because he shows up every day and doesn’t complain. He just does his job.”
Deacon Hill, meanwhile, exits spring as the third-string quarterback and, like the two signal-callers ahead of him, continues to battle consistency issues. Hill delivered some of the best balls of the spring, including a well-placed 55-yard touchdown to receiver Markus Allen down the left hash two Saturdays ago and a bullet to tight end Jaylan Franklin in red zone skeleton drills for a score Thursday. But Hill often struggled with overthrows and, despite his big arm, must develop better touch.
8. Wisconsin’s tight end group has talent and potential, but that’s only if the Badgers have enough healthy bodies to use. Jack Eschenbach, Clay Cundiff and Cam Large all missed the spring while recovering from injuries. Eschenbach and Cundiff both said they expect to be ready by the summer and will likely be Wisconsin’s top two tight ends next season. Jack Pugh, who flashed in multiple practices and made a great catch from Wolf for about a 30-yard gain Tuesday, missed the final two practices of the spring with a right leg injury. He had his leg wrapped with a bulky brace covering it and was on crutches.
Hayden Rucci, Jaylan Franklin, Cole Dakovich and Riley Nowakowski (who is listed as a fullback) were the only players to finish the spring healthy at the position. Rucci should have a major role as a blocker but caught back-to-back passes Thursday over the middle from Mertz in red zone team drills. Dakovich continues to work his way back after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee last spring. Franklin could be a difference-maker in his fifth year in the program because of his athleticism and was involved in the passing game this spring more than at any point the past two seasons.
“I think I add physicality, athleticism, confidence and relentlessness,” Franklin said. “I want to get better every single day and I want to be the best possible player that I can be. And I’m willing to do anything to get to that point. My ability to run routes and catch the ball and make those red zone catches to finish off drives, I think that’s my specialty. I’m also working on trying to get my blocking up to par in certain aspects, perimeter blocking, back blocking. Those little things are some things that I’m trying to work on to get better.”
9. Finally, a spring wrap-up wouldn’t be complete without addressing Wisconsin’s defensive front seven, which certainly looks as though it is going to be formidable next season. Isaiah Mullens and Rodas Johnson exit spring as the first-team defensive ends with Keeanu Benton as the nose guard. But the development of James Thompson Jr. and Isaac Townsend at defensive end was vital for Wisconsin. Thompson earned all the starter reps in the last week of the spring with Mullens sidelined due to a right arm injury. Ben Barten also impressed as the second-team nose guard and earned all the starter reps with Benton out (right arm) in the final week.
At outside linebacker, Nick Herbig is a bona fide star after leading the team with nine sacks as a sophomore last season. He missed time early in the spring with a left arm injury, which provided even more playmaking opportunities for C.J. Goetz, Darryl Peterson, Kaden Johnson and T.J. Bollers.
Goetz is a fifth-year senior whom outside linebackers coach Bobby April considers to be the best run stopper in the group. But Bollers and Peterson could be ready for breakout redshirt freshman seasons. Bollers trimmed down this offseason and jumped out Friday with four would-be sacks. Peterson impacted multiple throws throughout the spring with would-be sacks and was the only outside linebacker April was using on both the boundary and field side. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said Peterson “is a guy we really love” and someone who was more consistent even as he undertook a huge workload.
“We know what DP can do going forward,” Leonhard said. “We know what he does physically in the run game, in rushing the passer. Now it’s just how much can we develop him in space and in coverage? We know what we have in Nick. We know the success that he has. How many guys can you develop to feel confident that you can rotate and possibly move Nick around? You get some different matchups that you can create by moving guys around the field.”
Wisconsin’s top inside linebacker tandem is Tatum Grass and Jordan Turner, who made his move into the top group in the fourth week of the spring. Maema Njongmeta and Jake Chaney were backups. Turner, in particular, looks ready for a breakout season. On one play during practice Thursday, he ran through running back Grover Bortolotti in pass protection and would have sacked Wolf. Wisconsin may not have a Jack Sanborn-Leo Chenal combination inside, but the Badgers do have quality at the top and a defense that should be among the nation’s best again next season.
(Top photo of Nick Herbig courtesy of Wisconsin Athletic Communications)