Key Wisconsin Badgers: No. 18 - Offensive lineman Joe Huber

Wisconsin's 2024 football season is right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com ranked the top 30 players who we think will be the keys to success for Luke Fickell's squad this year.

Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored into our staff rankings.

Joe Huber followed his head coach from Cincinnati to Wisconsin following the 2022 season. After a winter visit to Madison, Huber transferred to the Badgers in early January of 2023, and would soon be joined by fellow Cincinnati offensive lineman Jake Renfro.

There was little drama with Huber's transfer to Wisconsin. It was announced late on a Friday night, and was likely already in the works for some time given the lineman's connection to the coaching staff.

Huber was initially a walk-on at Cincinnati before he earned a starting role with the Bearcats' offensive line. That level of competitiveness, along with his versatility, were likely two of the biggest reasons Fickell wanted Huber to join him at Wisconsin.

Huber is a well-documented man of few words, but his play certainly does plenty of talking. He's very stout as a pass blocker, allowing just 12 pressures all of last season, according to Pro Football Focus. What's more, his versatility is extremely impressive, especially for a former walk-on.

During Huber's first year at Cincinnati, he played — albeit sparingly — at left tackle. As a sophomore, he started at right tackle. Last season, he started at left guard. This spring, he was the starting right guard, with Joe Brunner manning the left interior spot.

"It doesn’t matter to me (where I play)," Huber said. "Each position is a little bit different. You have to adjust to each position."

Huber does a good job keeping his quarterback upright and nearly has 1-through-5 versatility up front. Where Huber, as does the rest of the offensive line, needs to improve is creating more consistent running lanes for Badger ballcarriers.

This spring, Huber looked excellent. The entire interior of the offensive line was particularly punishing to Wisconsin's defensive line, especially in terms of run-blocking. That's a great sign; now that play just needs to carry into the season.

Huber is hugely important for the Badgers' offensive line. First and foremost, his versatility will come in handy should Wisconsin begin to suffer injuries up front. Huber is essentially plug-and-play at any position but center.

His experience is also invaluable. The Badgers have a relatively battle-tested top group of offensive lineman, but Huber's running-mate at guard Brunner has yet to play significant snaps in Madison. His experience should help counteract some of Brunner's lack thereof.

Finally, Wisconsin looks relatively thin on the offensive line, even with the spring portal additions of Leyton Nelson and Joey Okla. Both Nelson and Okla figure to provide some depth to the interior of the offensive line, which, prior to their commitments, was working with redshirt freshman James Durand and walk-on Kerry Kodanko as its top backups.

Once again, Huber is a critical piece of Wisconsin's offense heading into the fall. His position flexibility and work ethic has firmly entrenched him into the Badgers' top group of offensive lineman. When asked about Huber last summer, Fickell gave a very telling answer.

"Joe just does everything well. He's a great example of what effort looks like."

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