MADISON, WIS. -- Wisconsin's outside linebacker room numbers this spring have dwindled due to injury at the group. However, it has allowed four players -- C.J. Goetz, Kaden Johnson, Darryl Peterson and T.J. Bollers -- an extensive amount of reps. Each have showcased abilities to get in the backfield at particular points during the eight open practices to reporters thus far.
That can only help when standout Nick Herbig, who jumped back onto the field but in limited capacity his week, returns as a full participant down the road.
Position coach Bobby April III spoke to reporters on Wednesday inside the McClain Center to discuss his room, and BadgerBlitz.com captured his full session. Questions and answers are lightly edited for clarity.
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The players talked the other day about how when you guys met in January, you mentioned you felt like this was the most talented group you had overall. What made you say that, or what gives you that belief about this group from top to bottom?
"These guys are all hand-selected, and they're all hand-selected by myself. In the process of going through the recruitment of all these kids, it's really starting to pan out for them. So from the top down, it's the most depth we've had, talent-wise."
What do you need to see, or what do you think they need to do, to turn that potential in your mind to productivity on the field next year? Because you know what Nick can do, but I'm guessing the other guys, there are still some question marks.
"Yeah, I think it's going to take time for them to get adjusted to the speed of the game, and we've talked about that before, and taking advantage of opportunity. And when the opportunity shows, the preparation got you there. That's when production shows."
It looks like Bollers, who talked about the other day that he had dropped some weight, that he is starting to be productive on the field. What have you seen from him this spring?
"Yeah, the one thing we talked about with T.J. was that he's gotta trim up and twitch up, and that's showing up a lot for him so far."
What led you to use Darryl in the way that you did in that bowl game, which was kind of a new feature for him? And where is he taking his game now in the spring?
"Darryl is a violent player. He plays hard, he's heavy-handed, and we felt like giving him some opportunities there in the bowl game, would kind of spur him on as a player as well, but also gave him an opportunity to showcase some of his ability without it being a one week and you're ready to go. We gave him plenty of time to learn the plays that he would be involved in.
What did you see from him that night?
"For the bowl game?"
Yeah.
"I tell you what, he played hard, he played physical. He was dependable, and he checked the boxes for me after that game."
Has he been able to translate that to spring?
"For sure, and we've got him working both boundary and field right now, with Nick being down. So he's learning a lot of football, a lot of what we do, and he's got the pass rush, kind of natural ability. It's really working on on some of the coverage skills that are coming along for him."
Nick is pretty open to talking about his goals, what he calls his failures, and why he wants to avoid those in the future. Talking about some plays that haunt him. What do you think is his No. 1 asset?
"As far as a player?"
Anything. When you say, 'This is why Nick Herbig is a player we can depend on, what would you list the number one quality?
"He plays like a Badger. He's smart, tough, dependable, he takes ownership to his role. He puts others accountable, not in a cocky way. He's just a great kid that wants to be good, and when you want to be good, you can kind of fight off the demon that wants you to be bad. He's done a really good job of translating his work ethic into others, but at the same time pushing himself."
Nick and Noah (Burks) took the bulk of the reps last year. Obviously, Nick will take a bunch this year, but do you envision, or would you like to have more of a rotation because of the talent and the depth? Do you feel like that's something you could do more of this season?
"I do. I think the talent there is getting as deep as we've ever had so guys are gonna be fighting to get reps. They're not gonna be as much as say, splitting reps with a starter, but you can say that they're gonna find more reps throughout the game."
How do you determine that? Because some coaches, if you have a guy like Nick, I'm sure there's part of you that says, 'I don't want to take him off the field.' How do you determine when to sprinkle guys in?
"I think it's situationally driven. Obviously, you always want to play. ... I think there are situations within a game where you can spell a guy like, 'Hey, this first, second down, we're backed up. Hey, let's pull you out a little bit here. It's third down, we gotta get you back out on the field.' So that's where they will come in.
"Last year did not do that with Nick. I kept him in most of the time. Same thing with Noah. I just think the guys have come a lot further from where they've been in the past."
When looking at Darryl and TJ, we've seen seven practices. Is there an area or a key example about their progress or growth or strides this spring compared to what you saw last year from them?
"I think you're seeing a lot more plays made in the backfield. Where last year they're catching up the line of scrimmage, playing a little bit long armed instead of striking guys. And within camp so far, you're seeing the growth in the outside longer linebacker play, playing in the two-point stance. That's something that they both had to learn."
What about C.J. Goetz? He played, but this is a chance for him to step into the biggest role of his career. What is his skill set that gives you confidence because he can, you can do that this year?
"He's probably our best run stopper. One of the stronger guys in the group. Athletically, he's got freak explosion, power cleans and vertical jumping. He just needs to put it all together with footwork, and understand when to release off blocks and that nature, and he's starting to get it. It's getting close, so I'm confident he'll get it by time we get out of camp.
We saw a very little bit of Aaron Witt two years ago.
Yeah, me too. (Laughs)
He looked good, right? Are you expecting him back in the summer or potentially fall camp?
"I hope he's back in the summer. Ideally, for him, I know having the surgery recently, his goal is to be back as soon as he can. The timetable for him has always been, "Oh, shoot, we got to go back another.'
"So ideally, he's there for the summer for us."
What do you like about him, when you did see him?
"Aaron, he's a goon. He's long, he's physical. He's got that blue-collar mentality, and it's really all those guys in that room are fitting that check the box realm, but he definitely has all that and the length, right? He's the longest and tallest guy in the group."
He's got to sit and watch, obviously a long time. Is there anything you can do as a coach, or is it all on him to remain engaged as much as he can mentally?
"During the season, we gave him projects to do. He did reports on tackles and different run game schemes. Now, he watches a lot of NFL tape and just kind of reports on what he sees, and he's engaged anyway. I don't know if you watch him at practice, he is into it. He knows what's right. He knows what's wrong. He's a high football IQ guy.
"Character-wise, you can't beat the guy, so don't really have to push him."
Kaden Johnson and his progress, where is he at?
"Kaden, this is his best he's ever been. His best body is right now. His best pass rush is right now, so everything he's doing is outstanding, and he's getting extra reps right now with Nick not being out there. So this is a big bonus for him, and he's taking advantage of it.
You guys work on both sides. You mentioned Daryl working in field and boundary. Do you have everybody else doing that too, or is it just (Darryl)?
"Yeah, just Darryl right now. Just Darryl and trying to find his perfect role, and teach him more of the field stuff just because it's a lot more space play and coverage demand, and allowing him to have that feeling of the field sides of the position. And it's going to be an easy transition when he's on the boundary side."
Bobby, you talked before about how you've recruited all these guys I don't know how much you guys as coaches focus on the stars or anything like that, but among position groups, this is about as good as it is outside of the offensive line. How much is that a focus of yours, and how do you go about acquiring the best talent you can at this position, because it does seem as though it is elevated a couple levels since you've gotten here?
"I appreciate that, and I definitely am not chasing the stars, I'm chasing the character. And fortunately for us, we found characters that have the stars behind their names. But we'll also get some kids that aren't star-driven, that we feel really highly on, too.
"So I'm definitely not going after the ranking system, but it's fortunate that these guys are ranked that high for sure."
With having starters replaced on every level of the defense this year, and obviously, Noah not being here, but Nick, also not getting team reps, how have you seen the group that's been healthy -- the players have been healthy -- communicate with the inside linebackers that are seeing turnover? The defensive line, you have a couple of starters and some rotational guys, but you're also missing Matt Henningsen. How are you seeing the communication between your linebackers and others in that front seven throughout the spring?
"It's coming together. It's coming together, and I think we are where we would expect to be at this point in spring. It's definitely a challenge with new voices in there and really trying to find who those new voices are with each group. You've got mixtures of ones with twos and twos with threes so the communication is a huge part of it, but we're getting there."
Who are the players that you'd say you show these guys on film? Are there consistent guys, or is it different for each player because their skill set is different? How do you go about showing them film?
"More like NFL?"
Pros or college guys that have played at a high level?
"I go at it a couple different ways. Definitely by a guy's size. Like, this guy matches this man's size profile, so we will find those matchups. I like to find guys that play really hard. I like to find guys that don't play very hard and kind of compare them. What's the reason behind it? I'll always take a look at the top 10 edge guys that are going into the draft. Those guys have the ability to kind of reflect on who they are against them as far as production or even talent wise.
"We watch a ton of T.J. Watt. T.J. has been a great asset to us. We'll jump on Zoom calls with him. When he came to Pro Day, Nick had an opportunity to sit down with him. He's been the No. 1 kind of man that we've studied for the most part.
"And you know, other guys have come through like Zack Baun. He's there in a heartbeat if a guy wanted to call. Andrew Van Ginkel's there, 'Schobs' (Joe Schobert) is there, so we've been fortunate to have a good list of guys that are playing the NFL currently that we watch their tape, and those guys can ask those guys questions."
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