Bryson Green adds needed physicality to Wisconsin’s wide receiver room

MADISON — It may not be hyperbole to say that Wisconsin’s wide receiver room is the deepest it’s ever been heading into the 2023 season. Bryson Green, a transfer from Oklahoma State with two years of experience catching passes in Stillwater, certainly seems to agree.

“Every single one of us can make plays,” the receiver said. “I catch a ball, Chim (Dike) catches a ball, CJ (Williams) catches a ball and someone can just sub right in.

“And we can do the same thing over and over and over again.”

The much-discussed six-man rotation the Badgers plan to deploy at wide out — wide receivers coach Mike Brown said that number is the “sweet spot” — will certainly be a dangerous facet of Phil Longo’s offense that wears defenses out while keeping receivers fresh. But what good is a six-man rotation if those receivers don’t compliment each other?

That’s where Green comes in. The Badgers have an established veteran leader in Chimere Dike. They have a twitchy slot receiver in Will Pauling. They have a dynamic athlete with sticky hands in Williams. Green, however, is a physical bully of a receiver who gives Wisconsin something it desperately needed: an imposing, contested catch guru.

Between the three receivers that return from last year’s team — Dike, Skyler Bell and Keontez Lewis — Badger wideouts caught just 32 percent of their contested catch opportunities, per numbers from Pro Football Focus. Dike had five, Lewis had four, and Bell had no contested catches.

And how about Green? Last season, he reeled in 50 percent of his contested catch opportunities. Throw it up to Wisconsin’s receivers last season, and it was essentially one in three. Throw it up to Green when he’s tightly covered, and it’s a true 50/50 ball.

“I was in the weight room with him every single day, he’s a really good guy,” Dike said of Green. “When he comes out onto the field…you can just tell he has certain attributes that not everybody has physically.”

Green was with the Badgers during the spring, but a shoulder injury kept him from participating in team drills. In the winter, the receiver continued to work on the defining characteristic of his game — strength.

“During the offseason I couldn’t do much. So I’d just be in the weight room six days a week, whether it’s band work, weight room…learning the playbook and being ready for the spring so I can be healthier and do what I can do.”

Now, he’s healthy and “good to go 100 percent,” as he put it. And it’s shown.

The receiver has been an early fall camp darling, consistently making spectacular catches. The most recent example came during Wednesday’s practice, when he climbed the ladder to reel in a touchdown from a scrambling Braedyn Locke during red zone work. In the middle of the end zone, he looked like a center in the low post, boxing out his defender and plucking the ball from the top shelf.

“I think Bryson’s doing a really good job,” Brown said of his new weapon. “He’s getting his feet back under him this spring, a little rusty in some areas but you see flashes of the same things that you saw on film — tracking the ball, making contested catches, he had a big one down there at the end of practice…So really excited about his trajectory.”

So where does Green get his signature physical playstyle from? Having a twin brother and one that’s five years older will certainly teach you some chippiness.

“Growing up with my older brother, and my twin brother, you always get into little scuffles and things like that. (My) older brother Seth is five years older than us, so just trying to compete with him all the time is what it came from,” he said.

“Sometimes, you’re not as fast as someone or maybe you’re not as elusive as someone, but if you go hard every play and use your body to your ability, I feel like that’s what makes a player.”

Green uses his body extremely well, and he’s in line to be the Badgers’ go-to jump ball receiver. His physicality and contested catch ability is an element Wisconsin sorely missed last year, and an element they’ll surely relish in 2023. Green, though, has made it expressly clear that he just wants to win football games.

“It feels good to be back on the field. I always have a smile on my face when I get to do what I love.”