2023 Wisconsin Badgers Positional Review: Safeties

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 safeties, a position where rather unexpected faces saw plenty of playing time.

Those close to Wisconsin's football program had known Hunter Wohler was a star waiting to happen for some time. The telltale signs were abundant: his immediate impact on the defense whenever inserted into the lineup last season, his abundant physicality and versatility. Still, the safety from Muskego was relatively unknown outside of Madison. That is, until the 2023 season.

There's a reason Fickell described Wohler as his "rock" this year. The safety led the Badgers defense with 120 tackles, displaying an innate nose for the football. But what's so impressive about Wohler is that he isn't a one-trick pony. Of the nine FBS defensive backs to record 100-plus tackles, Wohler was the only one to also notch at least one sack, two interceptions and two pass breakups. Long story short, Wohler is one of the most versatile defenders in the nation, and he proved it in 2023.

The safety spent most of his time playing in the box this season, which explains how he racked up 120 tackles. But the defensive staff was confident deploying him everywhere, as he also spent significant time in both the back end and the slot. Wohler is exactly the kind of player Mike Tressel wants in his defense — a somewhat position-less defensive back with a diverse skillset. Wohler was, and will continue to be, the key to Tressel's defense.

Wisconsin got the 2023 season started with a victory over Buffalo, but it was a performance that, especially on the defensive side of the ball, warranted more cause for concern than praise.

The Badgers' defense ultimately stifled the Bulls, but there were a few glaring red flags from the defensive performance. For starters, Wisconsin failed to register either a sack or a takeaway against a clearly inferior opponent. What's more, the Badgers struggled immensely to tackle. The safeties alone accounted for seven missed tackles, with a whopping five of those coming from Kamo'i Latu.

At the onset of the season, Latu was expected to be a staple of the safety rotation alongside fellow projected starters Wohler and Travian Blaylock. In the opener against Buffalo, he was — Latu logged 59 snaps and was a mainstay of the secondary. But after an abysmal tacking performance, he never saw that many snaps again.

The defense was a work in progress all season, with Tressel and his staff still tinkering with rotations and personnel deep into the season. It became clear early on, however, that the staff saw Latu's tacking as a liability, one that would severely limit his playing time.

Wisconsin was able to clean up some of its missed tackling issues as the season progressed, and we didn't see another individual performance that poor from a safety or otherwise. Nonetheless, the Buffalo game was a low point for Badgers' safeties.

Wisconsin's safety room should look quite familiar in 2024. The top four of Wohler, Preston Zachman, Austin Brown and Latu are all expected to return to the team next fall. It's reasonable to expect Brown's role to expand as he enters his third collegiate season, and should Zachman continue to take strides his role could expand as well. If Latu can clean up his tackling issues and mental mistakes, he has the potential to be an impactful player for the Badgers back end.

However, there's an influx of safety talent arriving in Madison that will be chomping at the bit for playing time. From the class of 2023, Braedyn Moore is a player that was mentioned by Luke Fickell during bowl prep as someone who's taken a jump and could be poised for more playing time. In the class of 2024, Raphael Dunn is a versatile secondary piece whose positional fluidity could have him poised for an early shot at snaps.

The Badgers are pretty set at the safety position for 2024 as they return their top four players in terms of snaps. Still, young secondary talent abounds in Madison, and considering most if not all of the four returning safeties figure to depart after the 2024 campaign, getting some of the younger players acclimated with experience will be key next year.

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