Graham Mertz, second-year Badgers making impact on program early on

From his inside linebacker spot, Jack Sanborn can see his teammates making plays in front of him on the line. While the group boasts battle-tested redshirt senior defensive ends Garrett Rand and Isaiahh Loudermilk, along with redshirt junior Matt Henningsen, sophomore Keeanu Benton holds down an imposing anchor at nose tackle.

Sanborn praised the second-year lineman with quite a strong adjective.

“He’s just dominating," Sanborn said of Benton via Zoom on Tuesday. "It's hard to put in any other words, he's just dominating."

Sanborn pointed reporters to the fact during Wisconsin's first two wins against Illinois and Michigan, there would be gaps open on the line. Next thing the 'backer sees, Benton "comes and just closes it off and tackles the ball carrier."

"He's playing great, and I expect him to just continue to even build off that in the future," Sanborn said.

Wisconsin's defensive line can be thought of as a microcosm for the team. There are experienced, talented upperclassmen intertwined with highly-touted youth at the position groups that have shined during UW's 2-0 start.

In the latter category, true freshmen Nick Herbig, Jalen Berger and Chimere Dike have broken through to be contributors at some points during the first couple of conference contests. However, a few members of Wisconsin's class of 2019 -- either redshirt freshmen or sophomores -- have solidified significant spots and amplified the team's success with their roles early on.

When looking at that class, all signs first point to the quarterback position, Graham Mertz and the early numbers he has accumulated. Thrusted into the QB1 role with Jack Coan's right foot injury in early October, the redshirt freshman started off the season with a record-breaking starting debut against Illinois on Oct. 23. He completed 20 of 21 passes for 248 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.

After Wisconsin's games against Nebraska and Purdue were canceled due to the positive number of COVID-19 cases in the program, Mertz himself returned to the field and put together an overall sound performance while the run game lifted up the offense with 341 rushing yards in a 49-11 win inside Michigan Stadium last weekend.

Mertz, who officially told reporters that he tested positive for the new coronavirus after the victory, finished the game completing 12 of 22 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Chatting with media thereafter, he noted he "was really just getting back into playing."

A couple of days later, Mertz stated "there were definitely a handful of plays, where I graded myself down just on either footwork or decision."

"I think that there are definitely a bunch of, a couple plays where I could have extended some plays or thrown to a different place," Mertz told reporters on Monday via Zoom. "In total, I think that it was solid, first game back, just getting back in the swing of things. Definitely a couple that I wish we could have could have gotten back. First drive, I had Danny run on on a seven [route] that would have been a touchdown and just kind of let it out a little bit too early, could have made a little pocket movement and gotten it out."

That being said, Mertz still enters Saturday's contest at Northwestern (2:30 p.m. CT, ABC) completing 74.4% of his passes overall for 357 yards and seven touchdowns to zero interceptions. The Kansas native has shown his ability to utilize a wide array of accurate throws the redshirt freshman on film, whether adding some touch, airing it out deep or summoning a strike with his arm strength.

Overall, the offense is averaging 6.1 yards per play, along with 449 yards and 47 points per contest.

Head coach Paul Chryst sees how Mertz works, and he believes his young quarterback "wants to be as good as he can be for this team."

"That part is genuine, and so I think those are the things that maybe you don't see when just turning on the TV and watching him play," Chryst said on Thursday via Zoom. “He’ll put the time in, and I think a big driving force for him is how could he best help this team right now.

"Another thing I've been impressed with is, I like the way that he continues to grow and learn and [is] open to learning. I think he approaches the game with kind of an open mind and yet has a good poise to him and sees things well. The biggest thing, I think, what drives him is he wants to do all he can for this team.”

Hayden Rucci did not play during his first year as a Badger, but he has solidified the No. 2 tight end spot behind redshirt junior Jake Ferguson early on this season and has played often.

“I love 'Ruc.' The kid’s a beast," Ferguson said on Tuesday via Zoom. "We’ll have a play, and he'll come back to me. He's like, 'I just had a really good block there,' and I’m like, ‘Dude, you're a monster.’

“You see it in practice all the time. He's making big blocks for a young kid who's just, he's only got two games under his belt really. I think he's really taken on that role, and really just throwing it in there. Like I said, he's young. He’s got a lot of steps, but I think he's making the strides right now to be really, really good. It's exciting to watch him because you see it now. You see it in games, and you see it in practice a lot.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Rucci has played 68 snaps in Wisconsin's two wins and currently grades out at 73.6, including an 80.4 rating particuarly in run blocking. Offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph said that what got the young tight end "on the field was his physical nature."

"He was physical, he was tough, and then, when the ball came to him, he made plays on the ball all through practice," Rudolph told reporters on Wednesday via Zoom. "That would show up so it was like, 'OK this guy's physical. He's tough.’ A d-end, a linebacker, doesn't matter the matchup. And then boom, when we need him in the pass game, he makes plays, and so the battle with any young player is consistency. That's the battle, and that's kind of what earns your place on the field in your role.

"Physical, tough, able to be a complete tight end, and then the battle is just being consistent. So I love where he's at, and we’re going to keep squeezing him to kind of keep being consistent.”

Benton, the Janesville (WI) Craig product, needed to jump in last season with Bryson Williams sidelined due to injury. In 2019, he played in 13 games, starting six of the them, and recorded 12 tackles. Four of those went for a loss, and both of his sacks came against Ohio State. Through two contests in 2020, he has registered five tackles, including four in the season opener.

From the perspective of defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, "the biggest thing is you see him attacking all the time."

"He's not trying to ease into anything, and he's figuring out problems by being aggressive, and that's usually good for a guy as talented as he is," Leonhard told reporters on Wednesday via Zoom. "He can affect so many different things just by lining up on that center and being a problem all game. Just the aggressiveness that he's shown consistently is huge for our defense."

Benton told the media on Tuesday that he believes he has "improved a lot" with the playbook, along with his physicality and strength. Honing in on the latter part, he believes "during the offseason, I got comfortable being uncomfortable."

“I really worked my butt off in knowing what I wanted to accomplish this season and the next season," Benton said via Zoom on Tuesday. "I know what my long term goal is, which is to make it to the NFL, so I really just try to look long term and where I want to be, and it helps me push what I'm doing now.”

Benton also noted that he is striving to improve his work in Wisconsin's nickel package to continue playing in games longer, which would add another versatile aspect to the lineman's repertoire.

“We've had him in there at times, and he's gonna continue to to grow into that role," Leonhard said. "Obviously, it's just different spacing. It's kind of a different flip in mentality with what we do with a little bit more movement. So he's working lateral a little bit at times. Just kind of timing and footwork, and obviously, your hands and kind of how your hands and feet work together as you're working more lateral rather than straight ahead like he does at nose [tackle].

“It's going to continue to make him better in all aspects of the game, just because of the footwork and how to play with power, kind of on the move. That's a trick. There's kind of a trick to it, the balance and the timing. As he continues to get better at that, you're just going to see any little holes he has in his game just continue to disappear.”

Alongside Sanborn, Chenal has taken the place of Chris Orr at inside linebacker and has been up to the challenge of replacing another NFL-bound player at the position. Last season, Orr recorded 78 tackles, 14 for loss, along with 11.5 sacks -- ranking second on the team in all three of those categories.

In Wisconsin's first two games, Chenal has fared well, tying for the team lead with three others in tackles (seven) on way to the defense allowing just 11 points. Against Michigan last weekend, he recorded a sack and intercepted his first career pass against quarterback Joe Milton that he returned 31 yards to set up UW's second touchdown of the evening.

“Leo, he’s handled the expanded role really well," Leonhard said. "Different physical presence for us in there. Obviously he made some really, really big plays in this past game."

Last season, Chenal played in 11 games in a backup role. He contributed 20 tackles, two for loss, along with a sack and fumble recovery. Sanborn stated how he has seen the young linebacker grow and called out his communication as an area of improvement from 2019.

“I think last year, there were times where he was a little quiet then, and you just noticed that," Sanborn said of Chenal. "But going into this year, he's really taken the next step in terms of communicating, and communicating not only to me or the defensive line, but also to the back end."

That particular development could bode well not just against the matchup with the Wildcats this weekend, but throughout the rest of the season.

"A lot of these offenses we play, there are a lot of motions. There's a lot of adjustments and communication that has to happen, and he's done a really good job," Leonhard said of Chenal. "He really has handled that well up to this point, and it's going to be more of the same here at Northwestern. They do a lot of things to stress out a defense as far as awareness and communication, and we're going to need him to continue to grow and be more comfortable in that role.”