MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin crossed the halfway mark of spring football by completing its eighth practice Tuesday morning inside the McClain Center. Here are five takeaways on where things stand for the Badgers.
1. Tuesday represented an important day on the college football calendar because it marked the opening of the 15-day spring transfer portal window. For Wisconsin, that has meant a pair of departures, which is a small number relative to the volume of exits at many other programs. Quarterback Nick Evers publicly announced Saturday after practice that he would enter the portal. Defensive lineman T.J. Bollers announced Monday that he would transfer.
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Wisconsin’s unofficial scholarship count is 86 — one more than the allotted number under NCAA rules. With the portal window remaining open for two more weeks, there could still be movement from players. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell indicated last week that part of the reason he scheduled spring practices as late as he did, to overlap with the portal window, was so “we can look our guys in the eyes and not have to worry about that.”
How active will Wisconsin be in pursuing players from the portal during this stretch? That remains to be seen. Evers’ departure means Wisconsin has four scholarship quarterbacks, three of whom are healthy this spring. Wisconsin’s offensive line has very little experience beyond its starters, though it’s generally tricky to find portal additions at any position who are willing to come in and play in a reserve role. Fickell declined to address the Badgers’ portal plans after practice Tuesday.
“I’m focused on spring ball right now,” Fickell said. “That’s something that unfortunately we’ll have to deal with, but it’s not something I want to talk a whole lot about. These guys that we’ve got right here are what we’ve got to focus on. The spring portal time is not a big time for us. I’m not saying it won’t be something. But the idea of keeping the guys that we’ve got, maintaining these guys, I think is really going to be the most important thing for us.
“So I don’t want to talk about it because if I’m talking about it, then the kids are talking about it. The reality is how do we stay focused? How do we be consistent? It’s making sure that we’re locked into what we’re doing here.”
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2. The biggest beneficiaries from Evers and Bollers leaving the program are quarterback Mabrey Mettauer and defensive lineman Elijah Hills. Mettauer, a freshman early enrollee, is now handling all the third-team reps rather than splitting them with Evers. Mettauer had some strong moments Tuesday, which included a 25-yard touchdown pass during skeleton drills to walk-on receiver Davion-Thomas Kumpula against a reserve defensive back in the front left corner of the end zone. He also followed up that throw with an interception, when cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean stepped in front of walk-on receiver Alex Moeller in the right flat.
Hills, meanwhile, earned a significant number of snaps with the second-team defense Tuesday. Bollers had been on the second-team unit with Cade McDonald. With more opportunities, Hill had his best day this spring, though it’s important to note that success was coming against the second-team offensive line.
Hills made a good move on center Kerry Kodanko during an inside run period in the red zone to clear him out of the way. Later, in 11-on-11 team drills, Hills picked up a sack of quarterback Braedyn Locke and, three plays later, came off his block well to stop running back Nate White. Hills, who transferred this offseason from FCS Albany, is in the mix to be a rotational piece along the defensive line.
Fickell said he felt good about being at least four deep along the defensive line, with James Thompson Jr., Curt Neal, Ben Barten and McDonald, though he noted Hills is “going to provide some difference for us.” Thompson, Neal and Barten have earned reps with the first-team defense. Fickell noted that he would like to find out who the fifth and sixth players could be to create some competition. But Wisconsin could offset that concern by utilizing some of its outside linebackers as defensive linemen in certain packages.
“This is a really, really big time for us because we’ll find out, mentally, where we are as a football team.”
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3. Wisconsin’s starting quarterback competition between Tyler Van Dyke and Locke remains ongoing, which isn’t likely to change by the end of spring practice. Their performances on Tuesday were uneven. Just when it appeared as though one of them could be gaining some momentum, mistakes spoiled that notion.
Van Dyke threw an interception during 11-on-11 team drills when cornerback RJ Delancy, a Toledo transfer, played good coverage on a pass intended for receiver Quincy Burroughs. The ball popped into the air and safety Austin Brown snatched it away for a pick. Later, during 11-on-11 action, Van Dyke made consecutive excellent throws, a completion to receiver Vinny Anthony on a slant with Delancy in coverage and then a deep pass down the left sideline to Burroughs. But Van Dyke threw behind slot receiver Will Pauling for an incompletion on the next throw.
During skeleton drills, Van Dyke threw a pass over his receiver that cornerback Jonas Duclona intercepted. Three plays later, he threw another interception when safety Owen Arnett jumped in front of receiver Trech Kekahuna for what would have been a pick-six.
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Locke had a great three-play sequence in skeleton drills, completing a throw across the field to receiver Bryson Green on the right sideline, a deep ball to Pauling and a pass to Anthony over the top of Brown. He also threw high to receivers on three consecutive incompletions while working with the second-team offense in 11-on-11 and later tossed a red zone interception when he didn’t see inside linebacker Jaheim Thomas underneath.
Fickell said both quarterbacks were dealing with having to constantly rotate between the first- and second-team offense, which made it “a tougher situation.”
“I want to see them both kind of come out of their shells leadership-wise when they’re in there to take charge,” Fickell said. “And I think in particular Tyler is still learning a lot of the system. Sometimes that makes it a little bit more difficult on him. But, for anything, I want to see consistency. I want to see leadership. I want to see that demeanor, that body language, regardless of what happens.
“When we throw a pick today, you can just kind of tell. Then, all of a sudden, we throw a deep ball and it’s a really nice catch down the sidelines and you can see them stand tall with a little bit of bounce. At that position, you can’t have those emotional rollercoasters.”
4. Wisconsin continues to try to determine its best options at cornerback, and Delancy is among the players firmly in that evaluation process. Delancy, who had been working with the second-team defense, played with the first-team group on Tuesday opposite Fourqurean and with Max Lofy in the slot. Delancy took the place of Jonas Duclona, who earned second-team snaps Tuesday.
Delancy played good coverage on Burroughs for the play that resulted in a Brown interception. He later came off the edge on a corner blitz to sack Van Dyke. Wisconsin’s most productive returning cornerback, Ricardo Hallman, remains sidelined while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. It would seem to be a good bet that he’ll pair on the outside with Fourqurean, whom Fickell called “one of the most improved guys.” But Delancy has created competition for snaps.
“He’s come in, he’s competed,” Fickell said. “He hasn’t caused any issues of any sort. He’s bought into the things that we do and the way in which we do them. So I think the ceiling, from 178 pounds to 192 pounds (this offseason), there are some really good things that are created and he’s bringing not just to us but also in the competitive nature.”
5. Fickell has been open about some of the areas for growth that he learned from coaching his first season at Wisconsin. One item he and his staff have made a point of emphasis this spring is finding opportunities for more live snaps.
He noted that Wisconsin’s lengthy practice on Saturday featured roughly 65 snaps with full live tackling. That represented a marked difference from the approach he took last year, in large part because he didn’t like the on-field results during the season. More live reps have been a consistent theme this spring. Fickell’s hope is that it will help to eliminate some of the mistakes that bit the Badgers last season, when they finished 7-6.
“All of a sudden, you go live and your fundamentals go out the window because in your mind it’s just like, ‘Finally, we get to play live,’” Fickell said. “It’s not something we get to do as often. We did it zero times last year, I think, in spring other than the spring game in the second half. And we didn’t do it much in fall camp.
“And then we get in Game 1 and we recognize that we’re not very good tacklers, we’re really poor in space, we don’t hold onto the football well enough when we’re in live situations. We were 120th in the country in fumbles lost. There’s a balance between getting guys hurt and things like that. But it’s the opportunity for us to go live, to see how guys handle some of those emotional situations and can they kind of refer back to their fundamentals and do the little things really well?”
(Top photo of Vinny Anthony: Mark Stewart / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA Today)
