MADISON, Wis. – The No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers are gearing up for another heavyweight bout in the state of Michigan this weekend against the No. 4 Wolverines, but their game prep isn’t preventing the UW coaching staff from praising the progress Michigan has made over the last two years.
And while there are a lot of reasons why the Wolverines have become conference and national title contenders once again since Jim Harbaugh returned to his alma mater as the head coach, the Badgers seem to have a particular amount of respect for Michigan’s do-it-all athlete Jabrill Peppers.
While technically listed as a linebacker / defensive back on the Wolverines’ roster, that doesn’t quite encompass all the ways he contributes on game days. He can rush the passer or he can fill running lanes as a linebacker. He can play up near the line of scrimmage or drop in to pass coverage. He can return kicks and catch passes, and he can run the ball if they need him to. Calling him a two-way player doesn’t quite do his role justice.
Put that all together, and it shouldn’t surprise you that Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst called him the best player in college football on Monday as his team started to prepare to play the Wolverines.
“He is a special football player,” Chryst said of Peppers during his weekly press conference. “There’s two things, when I think of him. One is there aren’t a lot of players that can impact the game in all three phases like he does. And then when you watch him some more, he does a lot of the little things that are kind of reserved for … when you specialize in it. That’s what’s impressive, his knowledge and awareness of the game.”
“Clearly as an athlete he’s special, but I think the football part of him, the understanding, that’s what to me really makes him, I mean he’s got to be the best player in college football right now.”
The versatility that Peppers offers makes him a game plan-breaker for spread teams, who would normally try to trap a defense by increasing their tempo and not letting the defense substitute players. That might not be as useful against the Badgers, who would never be mistaken for an up-tempo offense, but UW offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph said Peppers’ versatility still makes things more difficult for a pro-style offense like his.
“A lot of times (a player’s) skillset will dictate where a guy plays or what they do, and (when) you can move a guy from linebacker to nickel to safety, it really creates variations in your defense, and they do a nice job of it,” Rudolph said.
That could present some difficulties for redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook, who will be making his second career start against the Wolverines this weekend. With a player like Peppers at their disposal you can be sure that Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Don Brown will do what they can to give Hornibrook different looks, but the Badgers won’t be flying in to the game blind.
He’s just a football player, man,” Rudolph said of Peppers. “I think he could play any position and look really good doing it. He’ll tackle, he’ll get off blocks, he’ll run the ball, he’ll return kicks. They’ve got great faith in him lining up in different spots, which speaks to me that he’s really smart (and has) a great understanding of the game. It’s tough to do all that stuff and be good at it. He’s definitely someone we’re going to have to be aware of.”
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.
