2008 Wisconsin Badgers Preview

The 2007 season was supposed to be their time, a season in which the University of Wisconsin Badgers challenged for a national championship. UW returned the bulk of the talent from a team that finished 12–1 in 2006 and opened the season at No. 7 in both major polls. The players talked openly about proving those rankings were legit. So what happened? “We weren’t as good as we thought,” linebacker Jonathan Casillas says.

Two Minute Drill

A Quick Look at the Badgers

The No. 1 issue facing this team will be its health. The Badgers were without five defensive starters during the spring, three of whom suffered torn anterior cruciate ligaments last season. The MASH unit: cornerbacks Allen Langford (knee) and Aaron Henry (knee); tackles Jason Chapman (knee) and Mike Newkirk (shoulder); and end Kirk DeCremer (back). No one knows whether they’ll all be ready by the opener on Aug. 30 or how effective any of them will be. If the injuries up front lead to mediocre line play for the second consecutive season, UW’s mobile but undersized linebackers will again struggle to make plays. And if the line can’t generate a consistent pass rush, that will put more pressure on a suspect secondary. To compensate, UW’s offense must control the ball and maximize its scoring chances. With a first-year starter at quarterback, little experience at wide receiver and four capable tailbacks ready to run behind an experienced line, UW probably will rely heavily on its ground game. If the Badgers can run the ball consistently and keep their defense off the field, they could challenge for a top-3 Big Ten finish. However, if the bulk of the injured players don’t come back healthy, particularly the defensive linemen, UW will struggle to stop anyone, and the Badgers could drop into the middle of the pack.

Thanks largely to a defense that slipped from magnificent to mediocre, UW dropped from second to fourth in the Big Ten standings and, thanks to a bitter 21–17 loss to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, finished with a 9–4 record. When the final polls came out, UW was No. 21 in the AP poll and No. 24 in the USA Today poll.

And these guys were thinking about winning a national title?

“That was the problem last year,” senior defensive end Matt Shaughnessy says. “Everybody started thinking: ‘We can do this. We can do that.’ We just need to come out and play every game, not think ahead.”

As the 2008 season approaches, UW doesn’t appear to be much stronger than it was last season. With five potential starters on defense (three linemen and two cornerbacks) sidelined in the spring because of surgery, a suspect defense could be even more porous.

With a new quarterback and a young, unproven corps of wide receivers, the offense might struggle to match its scoring average over the last three seasons (31.0 ppg).

With UW facing significant questions on defense and offense and faced with the task of having to replace its punter and kicker, you won’t hear the players talking about winning titles.

Quarterbacks

For the first time since 2004, UW will open the season with a quarterback who did not start at least one game the previous season. The spring closed with senior Allan Evridge holding a slight lead over junior Dustin Sherer for the starting spot and no one else close. Evridge has six starts on his résumé — as a redshirt freshman at Kansas State in 2005. After transferring to UW, he sat out the 2006 season and played sparingly in seven games last season, completing 5-of-12 passes for 66 yards. His arm strength and mobility are fine. His accuracy is up and down. Sherer has played a handful of snaps in two seasons and is more of an unknown than Evridge.

Running backs

UW has three runners with significant experience and complementary skills — starter P.J. Hill and backups Zach Brown and Lance Smith — each of whom averaged at least 4.8 yards per carry last season. The emergence in the spring of redshirt freshman John Clay, a 231-pound brute with surprising speed, allowed the staff to implement two-back sets with Smith split out wide as a receiver. Hill, who rushed for a total of 2,805 yards and 29 touchdowns in his first two seasons, was healthy in the spring for the first time since coming to UW. That allowed him to work on his conditioning, and he looked strong and fresh. With four capable runners, Hill shouldn’t get worn down this season, and the Badgers should be able to throw fresh backs at opponents all game.

Receivers

UW’s most productive receivers last season were tight ends Travis Beckum (75 catches, 982 yards, six TDs) and Garrett Graham (30-328-4), and that could be the case again this season. Beckum is an All-America candidate; Graham is underrated. But recruiting misses at wide receiver have left UW without a proven junior or senior. Kyle Jefferson had 26 catches for 412 yards as a freshman. The rest of the young crew combined for four catches. More questions than answers here.

Offensive linemen

This unit is blessed with size (the average is 6'6" and 316), above-average athletic ability and experience with right guard Kraig Urbik entering his fourth season as a starter and left guard Andy Kemp and right tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel entering their third seasons as starters. The keys for this group to maximize its potential lie with the play of sophomore left tackle Gabe Carimi and sophomore center John Moffitt. Carimi was solid as a 13-game starter last season but must improve his lower-body strength to better squash bull-rushers. Moffitt started six games at guard after injuries hit and needs to make a smooth transition to his new position.

Defensive linemen

The significant questions hanging over UW’s defense begin here, the most important unit. The Badgers lost only one starter — tackle Nick Hayden — and know they have an anchor in senior end Shaughnessy, entering his third season as a full-time starter. However, three potential starters missed spring practice while recovering from surgery, and overall eight linemen missed the bulk of spring workouts. No one can predict how many of those players will be healthy this season, but the key figures are senior tackles Jason Chapman (knee) and Mike Newkirk (shoulder), who had a combined 23 starts last season, and sophomore end Kirk DeCremer (back), who showed flashes of big-play ability last season. Defensive coordinator Dave Doeren and first-year line coach Charlie Partridge, who came over from Pittsburgh, want a minimum of three capable ends and three capable tackles. They won’t know until well into camp whether they’ll have those numbers.

Linebackers

This unit was largely disappointing last season, in part because opposing offensive linemen found it too easy to get out onto the fast but small linebackers and smother them. Casillas and DeAndre Levy, now seniors, too often ran themselves out of plays and must return to their form of 2006 when UW’s defense was stout. Levy is a tenacious hitter who must lead this unit by word and deed. UW must get better production out of the middle from either junior Elijah Hodge, who was plagued by knee problems last season, or sophomore Culmer St. Jean, whose inexperience at the position was his downfall in ’07. The wild card is junior Jaevery McFadden, who can play on the strong side or weak side and should be a fixture in the team’s nickel and dime packages.

Defensive backs

More injuries, more questions. Jack Ikegwuonu, the team’s best cornerback, bypassed his senior year for the NFL (and then suffered a serious knee injury that could keep him out until the 2009 season). Senior Allen Langford and sophomore Aaron Henry, the possible starters at cornerback, are coming off ACL injuries. Langford suffered his in Week 10 last season; Henry went down in December during bowl practice. Both are expected back this season, but how effective will they be? There are no proven backups, and only one cornerback — redshirt freshman Mario Goins — made significant gains in the spring. The safety positions appear set, though the productivity must improve. Junior free safety Shane Carter intercepted seven passes last season, his first as a starter, but absolutely must improve his tackling. Jay Valai must be more consistent than last year’s starter Aubrey Pleasant, who struggled with pursuit angles.

Specialists

Although talented replacements are on hand, UW will miss the productivity and experience of departed kicker Taylor Mehlhaff and punter Ken DeBauche. DeBauche was solid and poised and a four-year starter. Mehlhaff handled kickoffs for four seasons and placements for three. Freshman Philip Welch should handle kickoffs and field goals. He has a stronger leg than Mehlhaff, but can he perform under pressure? Brad Nortman, who signed in February, was rated among the top punters in the nation as a high school senior. The one sure thing is sophomore David Gilreath, who helped jump-start UW’s sagging return units last season. Gilreath led the Big Ten in punt returns with a 14.0-yard average and averaged 23.0 yards on kickoff returns.

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