ILB Jake Chaney's junior season is off to a blistering start
Madison — Badgers’ inside linebacker Jake Chaney’s combination of speed and power has earned him an appropriate nickname.
“Bottle Rocket, that’s what we call him,” defensive lineman James Thompson said. “He’s explosive, man, we see it every day.”
A third of the way through the season, Chaney has led the way for Wisconsin’s inside linebackers thus far. Maema Njongmeta and Jordan Turner are listed as starters, but he’s played the most snaps, and easily has the most production.
His 23 total tackles and two sacks are both tops amongst inside backers. His missed tackle rate, meanwhile, is the lowest of the three and he leads the trio in stops, according to Pro Football Focus. Essentially, Chaney has played lights out in his junior season.
“I think it’s just evolving with age and evolving with knowledge,” he said. “Just being here for a little minute now.”
When the first two-deep of the season dropped in Week 1, Chaney was listed as an “OR” starter alongside Turner. The defensive staff maintained that they saw him as a third starter inside. And yet, the linebacker didn’t expect to be the most-used player in his room through four games.
“In all honesty, not really. You know, I thought it’d just be a good cycle, more than last year, but I wouldn’t have expected that I would end up having the most snaps at this point,” he said. “Not sad about it, not angry about it, but I didn’t expect it.”
“With the new staff, I’ve been knowing I’d have the opportunity to play. Maybe a little early on, I was like, ‘man, I don’t know how these guys operate, I don’t know what their rotation is,’” Chaney continued. “They gave me a chance, they’re still giving me a chance and I really appreciate it. With that being said, you’ve gotta earn it with these guys, a lot of stuff isn’t handed out. I knew what it was and what it’s gonna be.”
Now, Chaney is reaping the benefits of his hard work and persistence, flying around the field for Mike Tressel’s defense. Luke Fickell said that they played Chaney in place of Njongmeta against Purdue largely because they liked what he had to offer against a spread offense. With his sideline-to-sideline speed, that’s not a surprise.
What is somewhat of a surprise, though, is Chaney’s production as a pass-rusher. Tressel made it clear before the season that he’s comfortable letting his inside backers hunt the quarterback if he’s not getting pressure with his defensive line and outside backers. Still, Chaney was hardly utilized in that department a season ago, and now he’s already matched his total pressures from last year and doubled his total sacks.
“Playing more, you’re gonna get more of an opportunity to rush the passer. Last year, I was playing more on third down, dropping into coverage,” he said. “I think it’s just the more opportunities you have being in there.”
Chaney, Njongmeta and Turner make up somewhat of a “Big Three” for Wisconsin at inside linebacker, in the sense that the new staff feels highly comfortable with all three players in a starting role. Regardless, the position group as a whole is a tight-knit unit.
“Hang out with JT all the time, hang out with Maema all the time, hang out with Tate (Grass) all the time, hang out with Brian (Sanborn) all the time. Aidan Vaughan, we’re bringing Christian Alliegro along, getting him in the system. It’s like a brotherhood,” Chaney said.
The three starters’ bond, however, goes way back. Back to when they were essentially benchwarmers, watching Jack Sanborn and Leo Chenal terrorize offenses in the middle of the field.
“We’ve always been close…There’s a difference between playing real early on and being a scout team guy. Maema, Tate, JT, they didn’t play when Jack and Leo were here. Not saying it’s their fault; Jack and Leo were really good. When you’re on bus three of the travel squad, top of the hotel together, you just build relationships and it doesn’t really change when you finally get to play together. When you have those relationships built early on, people don’t change, and when people start turning, you can be like, ‘hey bro, that’s not you,’” he said. “I think we’ll be friends for the rest of our lives.”
From the third bus and the top of the hotel to being one of the most productive players on the Badgers’ defense, Chaney, like the rest of the starting inside linebackers, has come a long way. To Thompson, it’s far from a surprise.
“You see him working day and night, you see him on the field. Now he’s got a shot and an opportunity to play and everything, and you can see how he produces.”
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