Published Jan 8, 2018
2017 Season in Review: Offensive Line
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John Veldhuis  •  BadgerBlitz
Senior Writer
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@JohnVeldhuis

Wisconsin's 2017 football season was one for the record books, capped off with a 34-24 win over No. 10 Miami in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.

Now BadgerBlitz.com takes a look back at the season that was, breaking down the bright spots and low points at each position, with an eye on the future as well.

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High Point: Michael Deiter's rushing touchdown

This one's going to go down in the record books. The Badgers drew up a trick play that they used late in their win over Illinois, with Alex Hornibrook running to his right before throwing a backwards pass to Deiter on the left side of the play. Deiter caught the ball cleanly and rumbled in for the score, giving him a highlight to kick off his Piesman Trophy campaign.

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Low Point: Badgers struggle to move the ball against Ohio State

The Badgers struggled to both move the ball and protect Alex Hornibrook during the Big Ten championship game. At the end of the day the Badgers allowed Ohio State's tough defense to rack up three total sacks and hold Wisconsin's running game to just 60 net rushing yards - 1.9 yards per carry. The Badgers were able to move the ball down the field through the air somewhat, but they couldn't recover from letting the Buckeyes dictate what they could do on offense.

Other Memorable Moments

-- If you're looking for another highlight other than Deiter's touchdown, Wisconsin's offensive line did a good job against Florida Atlantic of both protecting Alex Hornibrook (no sacks allowed in the game) and opening holes for Jonathan Taylor, who rushed for 223 yards and two touchdowns against the Owls. The Badgers finished the game with 357 total rushing yards, after Chris James added in 101 yards on 16 carries.

-- Give a hand to redshirt freshman center Tyler Biadasz, who took over for Michael Deiter in the spring and ran away with the starting job. Biadasz proved himself early on and allowed the Badgers to shift Deiter out to tackle, which isn't his best position but let UW put their best five linemen on the field at the same time.

2018 Snapshot

Seniors

Juniors

Sophomores

Redshirt Freshmen

True Freshmen

What To Watch In Spring Camp

At this point we're assuming that Michael Deiter will return to Wisconsin instead of turning pro, so the biggest story line to watch this spring might be where Deiter ends up playing on the line. Deiter's future position in the NFL is likely either at guard or center, and we're betting that Deiter will want to play on the inside to show teams what he can do instead of playing out of position at left tackle again. That might mean sliding Deiter to left guard and playing either David Edwards or Cole Van Lanen at tackle again, assuming everyone is healthy and able to swap positions. How the spring plays out should give us an idea of if moving Deiter back inside is a plan that could pay dividends - both for Deiter and the offensive line as a whole.

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.