2023 Wisconsin Badgers Positional Review: Offensive line

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 continue with the offensive line, a unit that is now on its fourth position coach in the past four seasons.

After the disappointing loss to Washington State, Wisconsin's win over Georgia Southern in its final out-of-conference game of the season did little to satiate an understandably aggravated fanbase. That, however, was mostly due to the Golden Eagles arial attack carving up the Badgers' secondary to the tune of 383 passing yards. Wisconsin thrived in other areas, namely the offensive trenches.

The Badgers' run game was good if not great — Wisconsin accumulated 207 yards on 38 carries for a solid 5.4 yards-per-carry. But where the offensive line stood out was in pass protection. Tanner Mordecai, who finished with an efficient 236 yards through the air, was barely touched. The Eagles got the smallest sliver of pressure on the right side of Wisconsin's offensive front, as Pro Football Focus credited both Riley Malhman and Michael Furtney with allowing a single pressure each. But that was it. Two pressures, no sacks. It was a phenomenal day of pass protection across the board from the starting five.

In the regular season finale against Minnesota, Wisconsin put up a similar performance — two pressures, no sacks and Mordecai was hardly breathed on. Against the Gophers, however, the run-blocking was there too. The Badgers ran for 267 total yards including a workhorse performance from Braelon Allen in his final game donning the Motion W. Lineman not only kept Mordecai clean, but they got downfield and paved the way for Allen to put up 165 yards on the ground alone, his best rushing output of the year.

To their credit, Wisconsin's offensive line was decent in pass protection all year. Run blocking was more spotty, but when it was there it was dominant, like it was against the Gophers.

Having played them the year prior, the Badgers knew all about Washington State's dynamic pass-rushing duo of Ron Stone Jr. and Brennan Jackson. That didn't seem to matter much, as the Cougars had their way with Wisconsin's pass protection, especially in the first half. The primary culprit was left tackle Jack Nelson, who played a shockingly poor game.

Nelson was generally considered Wisconsin's best offensive lineman and one of the best pro prospects in Madison before the season started. The tackle had a decent year, but that perception has since changed. One of the reasons is his performance in Pullman. Again, especially early in the first half, Nelson was absolutely waxed by Stone Jr. off the edge.

Nelson allowed two sacks in the first half, both of which resulted in fumbles, one of which was scooped up and taken to the house for six. Those were critical plays that ultimately had a sizable effect on the outcome of the game.

The tackle's struggles against the Cougars were and remain very puzzling. Nelson allowed six pressures, but didn't allow more than two in a game the rest of the season. He gave up two sacks, and gave up two in total the rest of the season. It was an outlier of a performance, but it was incredibly costly.

Plenty has been made about the fact that with the demotion of Jack Bicknell and the hiring of AJ Blazek. Wisconsin is now on its fourth offensive line coach in the past four seasons. The same goes for the poor performances and injuries that have plagued Wisconsin's offensive front for the past several seasons. A program that can arguably lay claim to the moniker "O-line U" has experienced some turmoil along the offensive front.

Continuity is key for any offensive line. That's not to say a patchwork offensive line won't work in a pinch, but when five players play side-by-side all season, it's simply better for the overall health of the offense. Can 2024 finally be the season in which Wisconsin gets to play who it wants, when it wants and where it wants on the offensive line?

The Badgers appeared set to deploy a steady and formidable front this past fall, but an ankle sprain to presumed starting center Jake Renfro disrupted the team's plans. Tanor Bortolini was thrust into that role, and while he performed admirably, it was clear that center wasn't his most natural position when issues like bad snaps became prevalent.

With the way the roster is currently constructed, an ideal starting five would be, from left to right, Nelson, Joe Huber, Renfro, either Joe Brunner or JP Benzschawel at right guard, and Riley Mahlman. Can the Badgers avoid injuries and/or other scenarios that might disrupt the starting five next fall?

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