Wisconsin continues its out-of-conference play against FCS South Dakota. As kickoff inches closer, let's analyze the Coyotes' roster by breaking it down, position-by-position, ahead of the Badgers' Saturday afternoon clash.

South Dakota's offense is led by returning starter Aidan Bouman. The redshirt junior from Buffalo, Minnesota who previously played for Iowa State, operates an experienced offense. He won't exactly flood the stat sheet — last season, he threw for 2,551 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 66.8 percent of his passes. In the Coyotes' Week 1 win over Northern State, he was 9-for-12 passing with 85 yards in a run-heavy game-plan. Bouman is 12-6 as a starter and is the experienced facilitator the Coyotes need.

His backup on the two-deep is Jarrett Synek, who is far less experienced. He's thrown just 13 passes in his career, including one in the Coyotes' season-opening win last week. South Dakota should roll over plenty of FCS opponents this season, giving Synek an opportunity to gain experience in late-game blowout situations. If he needs to take snaps in Madison, however, the Coyotes will be in trouble.

South Dakota has a very solid staple of tailbacks, including the excellent one-two punch of Charles Pierre Jr. and Travis Theis. Though Theis is listed as the starter, Pierre out-paced him last week in every category. Pierre ran for 136 yards and two scores on 13 carries, while Theis tallied 12 carries for 86 yards and one touchdown.

These two are the face of the Coyotes' backfield. Against severely overmatched Northern State, South Dakota ran the ball 75 percent of the time. That likely won't be the case in Madison, although it'll still try to lean on its two talented ball-carriers as much as possible. Theis, who is in his sixth year of college football, is another example of the experience the Coyotes have across the board.

South Dakota's wideouts weren't asked to do much in the opener, as the aforementioned run-heavy game-plan worked to perfection against hapless Northern State. Still, they're led by one of the top receivers at the FCS level, the 5-foot-10 sixth-year senior Carter Bell.

Bell is coming off a career year in which he reeled in 51 catches for 896 yards and five scores. In Week 1, he caught three balls for 32 yards. He's shifty and elusive in the open field, as evidenced by his 55-yard punt return touchdown in the opener.

Behind Bell is the junior Jack Martens, who is also coming off a solid season of 28 catches for 405 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore Quaron Adams rounds out the starters.

An interesting note about South Dakota's receivers: none of its starters are 6 feet tall. Bell, Martens and Adams (the latter especially at 5-foot-7) make up a rather slight trio of wideouts. There's size further down the depth chart, however, with the 6-foot-4 senior AJ Coons and the 6-foot-6 junior Tristian Michaud populating the two-deep.

South Dakota's starting tight end JJ Galbreath is one of its most dangerous receiving threats, second only to the receiver Bell. The senior, who is coming off a 36-catch, 579-yard season, has been named to both the Reese's Senior Bowl watchlist as well as the East-West Shrine Bowl watch list. In the opener, he wasn't needed as a receiver, catching two passes for seven yards.

Behind him is Zach Witte, the bigger, taller junior. He has just two career catches for 16 yards, and with his 6-foot-6, 260-pound frame, he figures to be more of an in-line blocking option for the Coyotes.

The South Dakota offensive line is one of its relatively less-experienced position groups on the roster. The left side in particular has two sophomores starting at guard and tackle: Jordan Larsen and Joe Cotton, respectively. Senior Joey Lombard mans the center position, while the right side features two juniors in guard Adrian Hawkins and tackle Bryce Henderson.

For an FCS team, the Coyotes' starting linemen have some size to them. Each player tops 300 pounds, and the starting tackles are 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-7.

South Dakota's offensive front features three returning starters — Cotton, Lombard and Henderson — as well as a Monmouth transfer in Hawkins. This unit has size and cohesion; it's no wonder the Coyotes are one of the better rushing teams in the FCS.

South Dakota's defensive line is the elder nucleus of this side of the ball. It features four seniors in the two-deep. Of the returnees, Blake Holden had the most tackles last season with 53 total, as well as 2.5 tackles-for-loss and one sack. He's slated to start at one of the defensive tackle spots. The other two starters this season, Mosai Newsom and Nick Gaes, logged five and seven starts respectively in 2023. Gaes, especially, is a problem: he logged 10 tackles-for-loss, 6.0 sacks, seven quarterback hits and a forced fumble last fall. Though relatively undersized as a defensive end at 6-foot-4, 275 pounds, he more than makes up for it with his athleticism.

There's much less in-game experience with the backups in the Coyotes' defensive trenches, although senior backup Will Dunn did start one game last fall while appearing in seven. Sophomore Chris Dixon, meanwhile, played in five games as a redshirt freshman last season. Overall, this line has experience, as well as two legitimate playmakers — at the FCS level at least — in Holden and Gaes.

The headliner of this unit is Mi'Quise Grace, who is an edge player and something of a defensive lineman/linebacker hybrid. Of South Dakota's starting linebackers on the two deep, he was the most productive last fall with 34 tackles, 7.5 tackles-for-loss and 5.5 sacks. Toss in 6 pass breakups, and Grace is a legit all-around player who the Coyotes' unleash off the edge and let wreck havoc.

The other two starters with prior South Dakota experience, Teven McKelvey and Gary Bryant III, are both in for the biggest workload of their careers this season. McKelvey logged 25 tackles last season and started three games, while Bryant logged just three tackles and appeared in seven contests without logging a start. Between those two and transfer Nate Ewell, this is a somewhat pieced-together linebacker corps.

Several of the backups at linebacker have plenty of game experience, such as Matt Walsh (13 games last season) and Austin Rosetta (10 games last season), but none of them have logged a start for South Dakota.

The Coyotes' have two starting cornerbacks that differ greatly in experience and pedigree. On one hand, you have left cornerback Mike Reid, another Monmouth transfer. A two-time all-conference player in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association), he recorded 27 pass breakups in three seasons with the Hawks, including a team-leading eight last fall. He's extremely experienced with 31 starts in 33 games under his belt.

Meanwhile, starting opposite Reid will be Roman Tillman. The redshirt freshman appeared in six games last season and logged three tackles. The dichotomy between the experience levels of the two starting corners is fascinating here.

Backups Dominic Reaves and Caleb McKenzie both appeared in 13 games each last fall, so there is some experience with the Coyotes' cornerback depth. Reid is the one to watch, though, and it'll be interesting to see how South Dakota deploys him against the Badgers' plethora of receivers.

The Coyotes' starting safety duo likely makes it the strongest unit on the defense. Dennis Shorter and Josiah "JoJo" Ganues each return as seniors in 2024 after starting every game last season.

Both players finished top four on the team in tackles last fall: Shorter recorded 97, while Ganues tallied 59. Shorter added 2.5 tackles-for-loss, an interception and seven passes defended, while Ganues logged 3.5 tackles-for-loss, 1.5 sacks and two interceptions. These two are both playmakers that will be key pieces in the chess match with the Badgers' offense.

The two top backups at safety, Tim White and Clayton Denker, each played in all 13 games last fall as well. This is an experienced position group that figures to serve as the primary playmakers for South Dakota's defense this season.

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