MADISON - As opposed to the shuffling that former offensive line coach Joe Rudolph would go through along the offensive line, Bob Bostad has made it known he wants to keep a solid group and let the unit gel.

That, however, wasn’t the case this past Saturday. In the middle of the second quarter, Bostad opted to swap out Michael Furtney and Logan Brown at right guard and right tackle, respectively, in favor of Tanor Bortolini and Trey Wedig.

If cleared during warm ups and Bortolini’s knee felt good, the plan was for the two to get snaps in at some point. The two just weren’t sure when their number would be called. Upon their insertion into the lineup, the offense followed up prior drives that led to two punts with four consecutive touchdowns.

“Both of those guys have the capability of being big, physical guys,” offensive coordinator Bobby Engram said. “Just continuing to challenge them in pass protection and it’s always great having healthy competition.”

The duo has worked together throughout their time in Madison with Bortolini seeing time at both guard positions, right tackle and center. Wedig, though to a lesser extent, moved between center, right guard and right tackle during fall camp.

“We’ve been working together probably the whole time we’ve been here,” Wedig said. “Whether that’s me at guard, him at tackle. Me at tackle, him at guard. Him at center, me at guard. We work next to each other a lot, so it’s pretty easy.”

Bortolini made his return after having missed a month of time with a partially torn meniscus.

“Just nice to knock the rust off after the game,” Bortilini said following the win. “At least get some snaps against real, live competition. Now I feel confident that my knee isn’t a factor and I can just go out there and go play.”

With Bostad looking for depth at center, the plan coming into camp was for Bortolini to be the top back up. Wedig also mentioned that about a week before the injury to Bortolini the plan was for him to get work at center before being ramped up given Bortolini’s injury.

After Bortolini went down, sophomore Dylan Barrett stepped up as the No. 2 center. That move likely solidified roles, with Bortolini now primarily seeing work at right guard during practice and Wedig getting reps at right tackle.

Wedig revealed that the two have been seeing a share of snaps with the first-team during preparation. With head coach Paul Chryst indicating that starting right tackle Riley Mahlman would be out against Ohio State, Wedig could play a prominent role again. Against the Aggies, Wedig graded out the best on team, according to Pro Football Focus (96.3).

Chryst and Wedig noted that the rotation for this Saturday would depend on how practice played out. Following competition in the fall, Wedig could solidify the right tackle position, and Bortolini’s standing as one of the five best linemen could force Bostad’s hand.

“Right now I think it’s just we’ll see who does it,” Wedig said. “Right now Bo is giving me and Tanor a shot, and it’s just kind of see if we can grab it. Thought I did pretty good. Thought I gave myself a shot to prove myself next week against a better team.”

The Badgers will once again be down Mahlman and placekicker Vito Calvaruso this weekend.

"Riley is making progress but probably not this week," Chryst said of his status on Thursday.

Mahlman has been out since injuring his left leg in the third quarter of Wisconsin's win over Illinois State in the season opener. Logan Brown has started the last two games in his place.

On special teams, Chryst said, "Vito (Calvaruso) will be out for a couple of weeks," which leaves field goals up to Nate Van Zelst for the foreseeable future. In his first start this past weekend, Van Zelst hit all nine of his extra point attempts and a 27-yard field goal.

It sounded as though the unit could be getting kickoff specialist Jack Van Dyke back with Chryst saying he's "been able to do more so that's been positive there." Against New Mexico State, true freshman Gavin Lahm served as the kickoff specialist with six of his 11 kickoffs going for touchbacks. In his career, Van Dyke has totaled 56 touchbacks on his 108 attempts.

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