MADISON -- Senior cornerback Jay Shaw, who transferred to Wisconsin after five seasons at UCLA, had been used to playing alongside defensive back Quinten Lake. The two had a kind of unspoken connection after sharing the field and practicing together for years.

Joining a new program in Madison, Shaw added his name to what looked to be a talented defense on paper, but one that needed to replace eight starters. Now nine games into the 2022 season, the senior corner is seeing the same connection on the field take shape.

When asked how Wisconsin has been able to shut down a pair of pass-happy offenses in consecutive games - holding Purdue to 24 points and limiting Maryland to 10 - Shaw didn't have a magic answer.

"We're just playing well," Shaw said following the win over Maryland. "We been around each other for a minute, and in the beginning there were some formations that tripped us up. It's kind of that comfortability that was being established. We wanted it to be established quicker and it took a little bit more time, but I think we're playing how we're supposed to be playing.

"It's just growing pains and getting used to people. Now me and Ced(rick) (Dort), we're vets. I don't even got to talk to him."

It's taken longer than the group would have liked, but its exactly what Shaw envisioned when he chose the Badgers.

"Coming in I knew this was the No. 1 defense, so for me my thought from the jump was let’s redo that - to just keep it going," he said.

Captain Nick Herbig was a major piece of last season's defense and hasn't been shy in voicing his thoughts on the team's potential. He felt the defense could be "scary" when they figured it out. Herbig paused himself before answering a question about the Wisconsin's identity on Saturday.

"I think we're figuring out who we want to be," he said. "It's unfortunate - I wouldn't say that. I would just say better late than never."

It was always going to be tough to follow up a defense a that was tops in the nation. In the middle, inexperienced linebackers like Jake Chaney, Jordan Turner and Maema Njongmeta were asked to replace Jack Sanborn and Leo Chenal, who are now in the NFL. In the secondary, a trio of transfer corners - Shaw, Justin Clark and Dort - were tasked with filling in for multi-year starters Caesar Williams and Faion Hicks. And at safety, the defense saw Scott Nelson and Collin Wilder depart from the program.

"I think the confidence is growing in each other," Herbig said. "I'm confident that Jay is going to do his job and Ced is going to do his job that makes me like, 'OK, I can go let it loose.' Them having confidence in me that I'm going to make plays for them, we just feed off of that."

The unit has spent nine weeks with one another now, but improved health has been just as important to their success. Two weeks ago, the unit welcomed back Alex Smith, the team's top cornerback, while Wohler returned against Maryland.

"Absolutely," interim head coach Jim Leonhard was asked if this was the depth he envisioned on defense coming in to the year. "You lose a guy like Hunter Wohler and the versatility he has. We were able to put him in a lot of different positions today. Really playing some of our outside backer roles to the field in certain packages."

Wohler has been sidelined since Week 1 but his emergence was part of a group of young talent stepping into larger roles this season. Along with Njongmeta, Turner, Shaw and Kamo'i Latu, Wohler is part of a group that is gelling together. With each making plays throughout the game, the performance against Maryland was what the unit envisioned coming into the year.

"You can see how talented this team is and how much they love the game so this is always the expectation, especially at Wisconsin," Wohler said after the win. "This is the expectation, that we're going to play hard, we're going to play physical and we're going to dominate.

"Coming in today and being able to do that three of the last four games is huge. You can see that there is a different type of energy. The guys are playing for each other and it's fun to see."

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