Wisconsin dropped a hard-fought bowl game against No. 13 LSU to close out its 2023 campaign and the debut season of head coach Luke Fickell. Soon, winter conditioning will get underway, shortly followed by spring practice.

Over the next two weeks, BadgerBlitz.com will examine the 2023 Badgers position by position. Today, we'll wrap up the defensive side of the ball in the trenches.

Towards the end of the 2022 campaign, it became clear that James Thompson Jr. was the best thing the Badgers had going for them on the defensive line. He closed out the season with three sacks in the final two games, while also ramping up his pressures and overall impact on the game. While the lineman's statistics were rather disappointing this year, he continued to prove that he's the best trench defender on the Badgers' roster.

Thompson led the defensive line in tackles, sacks and tackles-for-loss. On a unit starved for impact players, Thompson was the closest thing to that for Wisconsin. His season started off hot, as he registered three sacks through the first four games. However, his production tapered off after Big Ten play started.

Thompson's dip in production as the season wore on is certainly a curious case. After Week 6 against Rutgers, he would only log one more pressure all season long, according to Pro Football Focus. Prior to that, he had racked up 17 pressures through five games.

The lineman will return in 2024, and once again likely be the Badgers' top player at the position. If he can put together a complete season, Thompson could finally develop into the consistently disruptive force along the defensive line his coaches and teammates say he's capable of.

As is becoming a familiar refrain with the "lows" section of these positional reviews, the defensive line simply didn't offer enough in the way of production. By and large, it was a disappointing season for the defensive trenches in the first year under Gregg Scruggs.

There was some adversity — namely, 6th-year senior defensive end Isaiah Mullens was injured and didn't see the field all year. Still, 4.5 sacks from the entire defensive line is an alarmingly low number. It wasn't just the lack of a pass-rush, though. The Badgers' defensive trenches just never felt like they made much of an impact on the game. The lack of dominant players in the absence of Keeanu Benton is a big reason why — this is a defensive line that needs reinforcements, and quickly.

For all of the negativity surrounding Scruggs and his recruiting efforts, he's landed some big fish in his brief time as a recruiter in Madison. Getting Chicago native Jamel Howard to re-commit to Wisconsin in the 2023 class was a huge win. And late in the 2024 class, after already securing pledges from Hank Weber and Dillan Johnson, Scruggs landed the biggest commitment of his Wisconsin career, signing one of the top lineman in the nation in Ernest Willor.

Now, that cavalry needs to arrive, and fast. It's a tough ask for the class of 2024 players to contribute right away as true freshman — the jump from high school to the trenches of the Big Ten is an unforgiving one. It's somewhat rare to see freshman lineman contribute immediately.

In the 2023 class, however, the aforementioned Howard could be a big piece to the defensive line puzzle. He's had a year in Madison to mature physically and get stronger in Brady Collins' weight program. Will that be enough to propel him towards meaningful playing time? Time will tell, but this is a defensive line that badly needs fresh faces. The youth movement could begin in 2024.

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook