Wisconsin defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Mike Tressel spoke to the media during fall camp for the first time since the spring. He touched on plenty of topics, from his defensive philosophies in year two to getting his young talent involved.

Here's everything Tressel said at his availability:

*Authors note: Some questions and answers are slightly rephrased for clarity.

"I honestly think that we have five guys right now that can play on Saturdays, which gives us the ability to package some things, get people out in specific situations, which will force us as coaches to get them on the field. Jake Chaney is the leader; you absolutely love what he's doing and the impact he has. But we need to force-feed packages, because he can't be on the field 70 snaps for 12, 13, 14, 15 games a year. But we have a number of dudes that can play on Saturdays."

"It opens our guys' eyes up very quickly in terms of things they have to continue to hunt and work at. If the first time you have an opportunity is game day — and we've never been like that, but some people are — you don't realize, 'oh, I'm not quite where I need to be' until game day. That's too late. We have some big tailbacks that are running hard right now. So it is a big eye-opener to everybody on defense, what it takes when it's real and what we need to work on."

"Dilin Jones, yeah, I mean Tawee (Walker). There's a load. If our defensive backs can't go low on that man, it's not fair. I'll tell you what, you see no fear out of our guys either. So we're playing closer to real football than I think most people across the country are."

"I'm excited about the fact that we can get some pressure with just four-man. Because all of the sudden, when you bring extra people, that's not maybe where the offensive line, the quarterback, the coordinator's attention is. But the other thing besides having some real athletes on edges, and upgrading talent and knowledge of the defense across the board, I really think we have some great communicators and problem-solvers on the field. Jake Chaney and Hunter Wohler, I really believe are special in terms of being communicators and problem-solvers, which allows you to open up the game plan a little more."

"The second fall camp is going very well. Camp one, you're trying to get to know your guys, and it's not until the live bullets start flying that you realize, 'okay, we didn't know everything we need to know.' I know Coach (Luke) Fickell has been talking about that. But in addition to knowing your guys better, I'm really impressed with how many of our players really truly understand the defense now. That's exciting to see. We're emphasizing, we need a whole bunch of 1Bs. Twos are the backups that don't get on the field on Saturdays, 1Bs are the guys who you're absolutely setting a rotation for, and you see more of those now than you did at this time last year."

"It's comparable to, is the offensive coordinator the quarterbacks' coach. Different staffs can handle it different ways, but I do feel like when you eliminate the middle-man as much as possible that's a really big thing. One of our philosophies is front multiplicity. If we truly understand leverage and how to disengage off of blocks, we can get to a bunch of front multiplicity which can manipulate protections and blocking schemes, but you have to be pretty precise about where you're aligned and how you're showing. It's nice to work first-hand with those guys."

"Yeah, I don't know if you look back, how many times would we have been in the playoff if it was 12 teams. I don't know the answer to that. I'm worried about this year, obviously. Shoot, there's three times as many teams that are making the playoffs. Being in the Big Ten conference, you know there's going to be a guaranteed number of teams in the Big Ten conference that are in the playoffs, so the opportunities are certainly there. The nice thing is, in the past, you lose one and you feel like all shots are done. The importance of your season, the meaningfulness of your season, it's always there for us, but for the outside world, it remains longer too."

"He does have more familiarity with myself and Coach Fickell, to be quite honest, than even the guys that have been here for two years. He's been through more game-plan adjustments, more in-week preparations than anybody else on our team other than a couple other guys that came from Cincinnati. But I also think he's a kid that's really grown up and has made himself a really mature guy. He's in the training room even when he's not hurt. He's studying film when it's not mandated. And that rubs off on younger guys too, and he didn't do that when he was younger, so it's exciting to see that."

"That means you're on the attack all the time. There's never anything that you can be satisfied with. It's a constant hunt. As hard as we go in fall camp here, it really helps us as coaches and players identify what we need to hunt. So there's never a relaxation when we're on the football field type of mentality."

"Probably after practice five or six, he took a huge jump. What people don't really think about is, he did not go through spring ball. He did walk-throughs, he did run-throughs, but he wasn't playing full speed, full contact, so this is his first time doing that. I think you see his confidence really growing fast at this point, which is exciting. And he's a guy that without a doubt, you feel like he can be out there on the football field. How many different packages he can be in will continue to grow, but right off the bat, you feel like there's packages where he can be an impact."

"First of all, Tyler goes as hard as anybody we have on our team. I mean, he goes hard all the time. Which is fantastic, but that made him a little out of control at times. It did. He knows that; he's really reigned that in. It hasn't slowed him down, but his mind has slowed down, which is really exciting. It puts him in that group of guys at linebacker where, 'okay, he can get out there on the field Saturday.' It's a battle, because now we start talking about those guys, there's five guys, six guys that could all get onto the field. It might not be real that they all do, but he's right there in the battle. It's great to have competition in a meeting room."

"I think they have, and we have as coaches, identified what their strengths are. Okay, so you have some new tools on the edges, which you're very very excited about. But I think coach (Matt) Mitchell has done a great job helping them really reign in and focus on what their strengths are, how they're going to attack. Because they're different types of kids, the fact that they're different types of kids is a really huge advantage as well."

"So, he started out at the WILL because the WILL does rotate to the edge a fair amount. We knew he had great athleticism getting off the ball, some twitch and some ability to lean edges. But no, did I think he was gonna be an outside backer off the bat? No, I thought he was gonna be an inside backer. Who knows what he's gonna be in the long run, but he's certainly right now, he can focus in on one spot where he can be an impact. A little less going on, because most everything happens on this side of you, as opposed to both sides of you. Little easier to pick up for a new guy in a new defense."

"Yes, it absolutely is. It's important for the ability to have details at one spot, but also just for confidence. You just start thinking on the football field if you're bouncing back and fourth. That's why for a guy like Tackett, we're gonna be focusing on our primary nickel package right now. And once we know that's 100 miles-per-hour and there's no thinking, we add more. You can go across the board. Big picture, though, with scholarship and roster limits, there are some players that have to be utility players for you. It's needed."

"A) he's long, B) he's fast, but I really like the fact that he's consistent. He's consistent in terms of his personality. He's getting more consistent as a football player, but his personality. He is a happy kid. There's not many ups and downs. If something hits on him, he's competitive, he doesn't like it, but he's gonna stay who he is, he's gonna maintain confidence. At corner, besides all the physical skills, that's a critical thing. As he continues to be out here and shows that he knows what he's doing, and can be consistent, the older guys start believing in him too."

"First of all, you better have a whole bag of tricks at this point in camp, there's no doubt about it. Coach Fick does a fantastic job, and we have leaders on this team that hold a high high standard, so that really helps us a bunch as coaches. Specifically, though, with our vets, just continuing to add small tweaks. Today we had a couple pressures that were the same pressures we had, but we changed our alignment and look to try to manipulate the protections. That keeps the older guys engaged. The younger guys, you've limited what their play-call package is. But add a thing, add a thing, hopefully something that they can get excited about. Those are the things that, besides having the leadership, that enforces our standard, those are the things that keep people engaged."

"He moves really well for his size and his age. You don't know, when he's in Coach (Brady) Collins' strength program for a few years, how big he's gonna end up or what spot he's gonna be. But right now for our team and the impact he can have at this stage, it's a smart move for him. He picks stuff up really well. I'm excited to see what his development looks like, it's really exciting."

"He's close, but I'm seeing improvement out of the older guys. So that's one of those things where people notice Dillan Johnson and what he does on the field and that pushes the older guys, but I'll give the defensive line credit. They're pushing themselves, it's exciting to see. If it had been last year, we might've said, 'we're gonna need Dillan in there right now.' This year, the bar is being pushed by their unit, which is great to see."

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