2019 Wisconsin fall camp preview: New starters, familiar faces on o-line

In less than a month, Wisconsin will open fall camp in preparation for the 2019 season opener against South Florida.

Gone are four starters from last season's offensive line, but UW appears ready to reload in offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph's position group.

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Despite losing David Edwards, Michael Deiter and Beau Benzschawel to the NFL - then seeing Jon Dietzen retire from the game of football itself - Wisconsin returns this season with talent and experience on the offensive line.

That starts with redshirt junior center Tyler Biadasz (6-foot-3, 318 pounds), who has started all 27 games of his UW career. Despite only starting one game, redshirt junior Cole Van Lanen (6-foot-5, 300 pounds) saw significant reps at left tackle with Dietzen needing to be spelled last season. And though both missed spring practices - the former due to recovery from hip surgery - the duo should lock down those respective positions on the line.

Logan Bruss (6-foot-5, 305 pounds) worked at right guard early on in spring sessions open to the media before suffering a left thumb injury that required a cast when he returned to the field. Based on Rudolph's comments to the media on April 16, it appeared that work as an interior lineman was planned all along to develop versatility. Bruss, from Kimberly (WI) High School, was slated all along to move back out to tackle the last couple weeks of the spring before his injury.

If you lock down those three spots, it appears the two interior guard positions could be the ones up for grabs, and there are four talented linemen who will likely compete.

In mid-April, Rudolph praised the fifth-year senior in David Moorman, who worked at the tackle positions this spring but also has experience on the interior (he was the No. 2 left guard behind Deiter in the 2018 Pinstripe Bowl game notes).

"He’s busting his butt, man. He’s the one guy to me that’s kind of saying, ‘I want this,'" Rudolph said of the 6-foot-5, 297-pound Moorman. "There’s a lot more time left, so we’ll see how it continues.”

Kayden Lyles switched over to the offensive line after he moved to the opposite side of the ball last year. The 6-foot-3, 318-pound redshirt sophomore now has game experience -though as a defensive end - and Rudolph mentioned during the spring how the former four-star offensive lineman was knocking off the rust.

“The hardest thing for him - which I go back and forth am I being fair with him - is we need him to play some center this spring, and we need him to play guard," Rudolph said. "Going against our defense, with a number of variations that we see, that’s not easy, but he is progressing. He’s progressing well.

"Every once in a while, you get a little bit ‘lost in the sauce’ because there’s so much going on. You kind of forget about - you get to who I have and what my assignment is but you forget a little bit with technique - but I have been really impressed with what he’s been able to handle to this point, and he’s competing his tail off for one of those spots.”

Now in his final year at UW, Jason Erdmann (6-foot-6, 330-pound) has already played in 40 games and has been a plug-and-play type lineman when injuries have arisen in recent years. A former walk-on, the Richfield, Wis., native can play guard and center. He could likely be the backup center behind Biadasz when needed as well (with Lyles and Moorman potentially being the third and emergency centers, respectively), but Erdmann should definitely factor into the mix and could lock down a spot.

Then another former walk-on, Josh Seltzner (6-foot-4, 326 pounds), also saw time at both guard spots during spring ball.

Fall camp will lead to Wisconsin finding its top five guys for the line. However, the group has large shoes to fill for a group that allowed Jonathan Taylor to lead the nation in rushing with 2,194 yards. When asked in mid-April if this year's line can play to the level of last season's iteration, Rudolph mentioned he did not know at the time.

"I do look at Cole as though he is a returning starter," Rudolph said. "I do, and I know he didn’t start many games, maybe one, but I do look at him that way because of the number of reps he did play in big situations and the way he competed. But I think there’s a lot of question marks still, and good question marks, as long as guys are growing and competing to fill those shoes. Bruss, with three starts at the end of the year, I kind of look at him as a guy that has been out there in that situation. Now, finding the best spot for him.

"Kayden has started some games on the other side of the ball, coming back and doing that, but guys like Seltzner, a guy like Erdmann, who’s played a lot of ball, and a guy like Moorman who’s played a lot and has been around but really starting to put it together, which is pretty awesome. So I think we got great competition along with [Tyler] Beach at tackle, and it’s a good group, but I can’t tell you if we’ll reach that level or not. I just don’t know yet.”

Logan Brown, a four-star talent, No. 47 overall player and No. 6 offensive tackle in the nation for the 2019 class, did not enroll early for spring ball but he does not feel any pressure being so highly-touted. In fact, he told BadgerBlitz.com in June that his main goal is the start or play his freshman year.

"The way I look at goals, I have one goal and one goal only right now and that is to be able to start as a freshman at some point in time," Brown said. "I haven’t looked any further than that because a lot can change, and all I know is I have that one goal set and that is to start my freshman year."

Outside of who earns the starting guard spots, this could be the secondary storyline of fall camp for the offensive line. In order to receive playing time, Brown will need to pass up not just Van Lanen and Bruss, but likely Moorman, Beach, Aaron Vopal, Cormac Sampson and others that have experience ahead of him.

In terms of making the depth charts in the two-deep, however, Rudolph pointed to another standout lineman who did it a few seasons ago.

“I think when you say ‘make the two-deep,’ I think that’s always possible," Rudolph said. "Tyler Biadasz was one who came in, and he was about to play as we traveled to Iowa as a true freshman. We got 'Dietz' back off of [injury], he goes, ‘I can play.’ 'Dietz' is the best, I miss him.

"He played and kind of saved Tyler’s redshirt, but he was easily in the two-deep that year. So, absolutely, someone could compete and get into the two-deep."